Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Labor Cost

I need new tires, front brake pads, fork seals, and fork gators for my Bonneville. The local dealer here charges crazy amounts for labor. The next closest dealer is much less but is 45 minutes away.

Rocket Motorcycles (Mostly Triumph, San Diego) $900
North County Motorsports (Yamaha, Triumph, KTM, Polaris and Victory in San Marcos 45 minutes away) $670

I'm thinking that it's worth the trip to NC.

Anyone familiar with North County's work?

Maybe you could reduce the cost by putting front brake pads on yourself. They're only about $37 and pretty easy to install. Seals are a little tougher. Both estimates seem high to me.

Have you also thought of using a "non-dealer" shop? We only have one Triumph dealer here in OK. now. It is over 100 miles awayfrom me. There is a professional shop here in Tulsa that services different MC brands. I use them for tires and even had the 12,000 mile service done there. They are cheaper and you can usually get in and out in a day compared to our old dealer that usually took 2 weeks for even simple repairs.

my closest dealer is 45 min one way.
But they are a bmw Europe glamor shop.
So I use The dealer in the town where I once lived, 269 miles away!

The lengths we will go for good fair service.
Scott

Neight, I agree with PES, see if there are any just plain 'ol motorcycle shops around there. They should be able to do everything you are needing to have done. If not head up to the North County Motorsports, it will save you a couple of bucks and might end up being a decent ride.

Scott, I assume you are talking about Cascade Moto Classics. It is the absolute best shop that I know of. Let me know when you'll be up this way again.

Soren

Thanks for the input. I'm going to call around.

If anyone in San Diego sees this. Let me know who you use.

Thanks.

I have been using Rocket since I bought my bike from them, so I never had to worry much about going anywhere else. There are more than a few shops here in town that I am sure can do work cheaper, but factory parts and skilled people are not as abundant. I have no perfect reason other than convenience for me to use Rocket as I only live down the street. I was there last week and if I remember correctly their rates were $65/hr by appointment, and $75/hr for walk in. Those don't seem too bad to me, as I charge $50/hr to work on customers computers and I guarantee my work just as they do. Though I get complaints on my price sometimes, I have never not had a satisfied customer, and I get repeat and word of mouth business.
I hope you get back up to speed and the road soon. Good luck.

The thing with Rocket that makes it so expensive is that they charge for a whole hour if something takes only half an hour. They wont split the time up and charge accordingly.

I'm sure that other shops have guarantees on their work as well.

Thanks for the input.

Now that I didn't know. I have yet to have any work done that was less than an hour and I never asked that question.
The guys there seem like good guys, but the owner seems a little interesting sometimes. I had the front sprocket replaced recently and I caught some flak about the sprocket was not a factory one with the balancer on it. I don't really feel that small balancer was going to make much difference so I told them to do it anyway.