HELP GUYS! HA!

[bookoochad422]

Hey guys-

I know it's been a while since I have made a post on here..Just have been extremely busy working and getting ready for summer. Finally have saved some money to get my bike fixed.

So I told a friend from the internet (don't know him other than the internet) that I was looking for a cheap/good mechanic to take it to since all the local bike shops are multiple weeks behind. So I take it to him, we took off the crank case cover and it took us maybe 30 mins. He said he would break it down more and let me know what's going on with it. Well turned out he said I need a new crank, rod, bearings and seals, and piston kit. He told me I could get the parts that I need off of eBay for approx. 250 dollars. But says he has 6 hours in it already from just looking at it. (Not sure if that would be the truth or not) But he wants 350 dollars in labor for looking at it and telling me what's wrong and also installing the parts I need to have fixed. So total it will run me around 600 dollars. Is that a fair price? I told him I might have to wait a little bit to fix it but I could go ahead and pay him for "looking at it" and then just pick it up and get it fixed when I had stacked enough money. He said he was going to charge me 180 dollars for looking at it. So basically, he has me in his ballpark now and has everything in his hands. I can't really afford to just pay 180 for it to be looked at and then take it somewhere else to get it installed because I have a feeling it would cost me more. But the question I wanna know is, am I getting ripped off royally or no?

Thanks guys for your help!

[MONSTER450]

sounds like a good deal to me... $30 an hour is pretty cheap in my opinion... i charge $40 an hour for my side jobs to people i don't really know...

[KKXR400R]

You failed to mention if your bike is 2 or 4 stroke? If its a 2 stroke I would have him requote it to do the low end and just do the top end your self. If its a 4, I would have him do the whole job and stack away some more money to have the head work done (valves, springs ect,ect). hope this helps

-Kevin-

[MONSTER450]

Originally Posted by KKXR400R

You failed to mention if your bike is 2 or 4 stroke? If its a 2 stroke I would have him requote it to do the low end and just do the top end your self. If its a 4, I would have him do the whole job and stack away some more money to have the head work done (valves, springs ect,ect). hope this helps

-Kevin-

absolutely, i "assumed" it was a four. I think that price is way over for a 2-stroke. Looking at previous posts i believe you have a 125 2-stroke.... If tahts so the price is way high. I almost took my banshee to trinity racing for them to do a complete top end and that was $475 for 2 cylinders..... everything, parts and labor...

[bookoochad422]

Oh yes, it is a 2002 CR 125 2-Stroke..sorry I forgot to mention that. Yeah I thought it was extremely high too. But now the guy has my bike apart, telling me I need a new crank, rod, and piston. And he said all parts would be about 250 on eBay. So in my mind I was thinking around 400 total for parts and labor. But then I said well how much in labor and he said 3 1/2. So I was like 350 dollars?! Hahaha! And he said yes, so I told him I didn't know if I had enough money to spend on labor right now then so I might just come pick it up and pay him for looking at it and telling me what's wrong with it. He told that it would 180 dollars in labor for him looking at it and telling me what's wrong with it. So basically, he has me in a jam. If I pay him an extra 170 dollars on top of the 180 for looking at it, the bike could be fixed. If I pick it up and pay him 180 and then take it elsewhere to have the parts installed, then I have a feeling it might be more than 170 dollars. What do you all think? This guy is totally screwing me and I thought he was actually going to be doing me a favor.

What would you all do? Go pick up the bike and give him 180 and take it somewhere else? Or would you just pay the 600 total to get it fixed and learn your lesson from it and don't ever take anything to him again? This is why some mechanics have a bad stereotype of screwing people!

[DRGSin393]

Did you guys come to some sort of agreement before he tore into it? If not, then I guess you just need to bite the bullet and have him do it. Just let him know that 180.00 to look at it is way too much, IMO.

[The Baron]

A diagnostic fee should be a flat rate, say 2 hours. I can tear a two smoke down to nuthin but frame and pieces in 2-3 hours. I'd figure $100 diag is fair.

[Florida 393]

I think this guy is taking advantage of you. When paying someone for looking at an engine and they are not a true shop mechanic should have been upfront in price. I guess this is a lesson in trust and what the internet presents us with. I would wager many of the parts he said you needed are fine.

When you get out of this jam buy a shop manual and learn to do the work yourself. This will tell you the tolerances for engine parts like the crank/rod, piston rings and cylinder bore. Best of luck with this guy.

Bill

[bookoochad422]

Thanks guys for the input.

Yeah I am ready to be out of this jam so I might as well just go ahead and bite the bullet. I called the local shop to see if they would do it any cheaper and they said it was actually a very cheap price for a "major overhaul" as they called it.

But basically, going into the whole situation, I was avoiding going to a local dealership because for one they were about a month and a half behind on the bikes they had to work on, plus I figured they would be a little more expensive. So that is why I resorted to asking this guy if he knew a cheap but good mechanic around and he just replied with bring it to me. When I dropped it off he said it could be anywhere from 300 to 800 dollars. But I really didn't think that it would be closer to the max amount you know?

Well when he told me how much the labor was going to be on it, I kind of cringed and told him I didn't know if I would be able to afford that right now, so I would just come pick it up, and pay him for what he diagnosing it. Well he basically quoted me a steep price for diagnostics so I would be losing money to take it anywhere else. So I definitely think I am getting screwed out of this deal and I will definitely have to learn how to work on the bike from here on out.

[crdude]

They charging that kind of $$ for a rebuild on an engine? I think its time I open a shop!

[mxmama393]

Well 300-800 range is broad. Next time break it down. Before you let anyone ANYWHERE perform work ask how they came up with the quote.

Or you can say, "what if you don't do ALL the work for me". Give several scenarios that could occur. Than you will always be on the same page.


Not to ramble... but me being a woman alone 1/2 of the year, there are many situations where people TRY to take advantage of me. I have learned what to ask so I don't waste my money and their time

I have hired contractors of many sorts try to give me ball parks like that....When I corner them into telling me the hourly rates, then its all in my hands before they do the work. Then I get other bids, (you should have called around first.) I discuss all the quotes to see who is being fair. Some times its obvious, and sometimes they are close.

So its a matter of persistence on your part. Good luck with your bike. Just remember how insecure you feel right now, and learn from it.

Its a shame you have to feel like you do

I hope your bike gets running soon!!!

[YZalltheway]

just do the work yourself... get a service manual and youll save 180 I'm 15 and I rebuilt the whole top and bottom end of my previous bike, a kx100. Just keep all the parts in order that you took them off, workin on a two smoke is easy.

[bookoochad422]

Thanks for the suggestions MXMama, I definitely should have called around like you said. But I have talked to this guy on the internet for about 8 months actually on a weekly basis for the most part. So I definitely didn't think something like this would go down.

But I definitely hate the feeling of insecurity in this situation. I just pray that when I get the bike back, he did outstanding work and it doesn't end up failing me again in the near future. I asked him if he would guarantee his work though and he said with race bikes the warranty is difficult to say but in 15 years of working on them, he had only 2 motors have problems and one being his. He said the reason for that was because the manufacture of the part gave him the wrong clearance and other motor was a dropped valve. But also noted that if something did happen, he wouldn't leave me hangin'. So I guess that makes me feel a little better about it. But I will definitely learn from this situation!

When I went into the situation, I had several suggestions on what might be wrong with the bike but didn't have the time to really break it down myself. So I just went into it telling him the diagnostics that I had heard but didn't know for sure what it might cost. So I think that was my mistake, he knew I didn't know how much it would be so he would put his own price on it.

But oh well, enough rambling, might as well just suck it up and learn from it!

Thanks again!