Ride-On Motorcycles, Glasgow

[Fuzzygoth]

I am assuming that people from Glasgow on here being Fazer owners have
had their bikes services here at some point. I am curious what sort of quality
of work you have received in their on your bikes. I am assuming that I have
just been very unlucky in my dealings with them. I have two bikes (Both Yam's)
and have had them in a few times for various odd's and sods an each time
there has been stuff that has annoyed me when they have come back to the
point I am considering looking for another Yam dealer to take my bikes too.
I wouldn't mind but at £71 quid an hour I am a little tired of getting my bike
back to find certain irregularities. To be fair to them not everything that's
happened is their fault nearly getting taken out by a taxi while road testing
one of my bikes is beyond anyone's control and I was glad the lad was okay
and thankful that he managed to get my bike out of the way but I've not had
this sort of thing at the 3 other garages I used over the last 3 years.

Opinions welcome, I am trying to keep an open mind but I really nearly blew
a gasket this morning.

Fuzzygoth

[VNA - BMW Wank]

71 quid an hour!  That's a sick joke.  Why go there?

I bought my 2004 Fazer thou from them.  I picked it up, rode it home and then relaised the headlights were not set correctly.  I was riding about blinding everybody for a fortnight till the 600 mile service, and of course you can't switch em off - aaaagh!  Plus the petrol tank hadn't been bolted down.  Great PDI eh?

Then I took it for it's 12mnth service just to keep the warranty.   They wanted 180 quid, I haggled and agreed a price of 150.  I reminded them of the price when I dropped the bike off for it's service.  I made it clear I wanted to pay as little as poss to get a stamp in the book and keep my warranty.

When I picked it up they asked for 180.  Apparently it needed a new air filter (at 1 year old and 6000 miles!).  I put 150 quid on the counter and told em to do as they pleased concerning the air filter.  Eventually after much discussion the mechanic was told to put my old filter back in.  I heard spanners etc being thrown about in the workshop and much shouting (it was closing time).  I got my bike back and a few days later noticed the mechanic had scratched the frame re-fitting my air filter.   Aaaaagh.  I also had to complete the serving.  That was 2005, but I've not been back.

71 quid an hour!!  And have they started servicing the EXUP valve yet, they didn't do mine.

[Fuzzygoth]

The Fazer was in for the ExUp value to get looked at and a new Battery. They guys seem
nice enough and the problems one by one are minor things (well some of them are) but
after three visits for two bikes coming to in total around £700 odd quid and there being
multiple issues I am starting to get really fucking cheesed off. I am trying to give the
benefit of the doubt its hard with some of the stuff that's happened.

Bulldog 1st Time (around £300)
* Put a ding in my replacement tank when replacing the one that was smashed in by
the handlebars when I had my spill and made worse by getting blown over in the
hurricane. This was done when they put it on the side stand and the handlebars
impacted on the tank. Tbf I didn't mention it too them but I did think the huge dent in
line the handlebars switchgear might have been a clue.
* Went in with a full tank and came back on fumes, that's about 15 litres.
* Failed to replace my headlamp properly which resulted in it being loose for around
5,000 miles, I later replaced it in about 5 minutes.
 
Bulldog 2nd Time (£348)
* Not their fault, but there was an accident when road testing my Bulldog with a taxi,
fortunately the mechanic was able to bump it onto the kerb and both mechanic and
bike were safe (got a hell of a fright though).
 
FZS Fazer 1000 (£124)
* Went to leave this morning with the bike idling high and when I went to turn the
choke off found my choke lever missing. Needless to say with everything that's come
before I was ready for blowing a gasket but I kept calm and they replaced it there and
then.
* Got home to find lots of marks on the right hand side of my front fairing when its
impacted on something and has scraped the paint off in several places. I am assuming
it happened when it went in because I don't remember causing that much paintwork
damage and I am sure its the sort of thing I'd remember.


So am I being unreasonable at being pissed off based on the £71 quid an hour price tag?

[Fuzzygoth]

I would add that as far as I can tell the work they have done on my bikes has been
good, its just the problem after problem that's bugging me.

Fuzzy

[AdieR]

£71 / hour - I'm assuming its a main dealer?

I don't mind paying a bit more, provided the service work can justify the rates.

I tend to use an independent shop based 2 streets from me - his prices are fair and he and his lads do a good job.
If I put my bike into a workshop, I expect it to come back in the same state without damage (or at least I'd want them to take responsibility if it wasn't), otherwise it'd be the last time I go there.

[Fuzzygoth]

Yeah, it is the main dealer up here. I used to go to Pagetts in Batley and they were
the most expensive I've been to up until currently at £69 per hour and while expensive
their work was utterly outstanding and I had complete confidence in them.

Looks like I might need to go to the board's for some recommendations in the area to
take my bike to.

[VNA - BMW Wank]

Either start looking after it yourself, and most of the jobs are piss easy.

Or start asking around for a good back street bike shop to do the work for you.  I'm assuming you are in Glasgow?

I do most of the stuff myself.  I get the MOT and a few other things done at the Ayr Motorcycle Centre.  There's not much round my way - Largs.

I dunno about the bulldog, but the Gen1 Fazer thou is easy to look after.   Dumping the AIS system helps.

71 quid an hour is daylight robbery. 

[Fuzzygoth]

I have done oil/air filters/changes, spark plugs coolant, brake pads etc but
currently I am workign between aberdeen and Glasgow so don't always have
the time. That said in 2 weeks I will have significantly more time to do stuff
I also got a hold of the service manuals for both bikes.

The Bulldog is just as fiddly in bits but I wouldn't want to tangle with the
shaft diff drive.

yeah its a bit steep.

[Raymy]

I bought my first fazer and it had failed an MOT from ride on. 2 failures. One for the fork seal (fair enough) the other for the, get this, steering being excessively notchy.

Just read that back..

"Steering excessively notchy"


Not content with the job i had to do on the veracity of the term "notchy" in relation to its application on a legal document, i did wonder if the tester had a ruler or gauge for the "notch" level. I had to further wonder where on the scale of "Notch" was the demarcation of fail/unfail. Suffice to say, my efforts were only rewarded with teh realistion that "I'll be fucked i'm taking it there for an MOT"

So what was this "notch" i hear you ask.

Um......Well, "bearings seem smooth" i thought. "No play when pulling the forks" I reasoned.

But theres something when i go to full left lock. Theres a noise or something. Metal on metal.

Well it turns out the radiator guard was sticking out a bit and the fork was tapping it when you hooked it all the way to the left.

Funnily enough, i never fixed it and it passed several other MOT's afterwards.

So the moral of the story is, if you are going to let the apprentices loose on the MOT's, at least check over what they are flagging. They would have failed it for fuck all had the fork seal been sound. I'll never take a bike to get fixed there. Heard plenty of horror stories from other folk. Their training department is fantastic. Sales i wouldn't know. Parts is ok, but expensive. Although, to be fair, they aren;t alone because it seems that bike dealers are just diddies in general. Stevie Brierton is good tho. If i am needing anything done that i can't do myself, i take it there. Parkhead, just off dalmarnock road. Cannae mind the address, google it

[noggythenog]

I got my bike through allan duffus kirkcaldy, had lots o problems with my carbs,


To cut a long story short, the 10 year old bike cost them allot of money but im a happy bunny,


Excellent service, they picked the bike up on both occasions,


Oil change carried out both times,


Mechanic even called me up to explain things,imvited me down to take a look which was great,


In the end they gave me a complete set of carbs from one of their own bikes, didnt cost me a penny,


As a result ill defo go back to them when i want a brand new bike in the future.


Courtesy goes a long way, i dint mind paying extra for a good customer service.

[VNA - BMW Wank]

I did used to get great service from Ride On in the mid 90's.  I bought a mint used CBR600 from them.  They even sorted out a warranty claim on it, even though they were no longer a Honda dealer.

Though when I went in 99 to try and buy a new Fazer 600 they weren't interested.  I told em North Harbour was offering me a bike for 4600 cash, plus any extras fitted free of labour charges.  Alasdair told me he wasn't interested in cash, he now made his money from finance and could sell all the Fazer 600's he could get hold off.  He said he'd knock 100 quid off and do one for 5100.  If he'd have said 4800 I would have probably gone with them as I'd done a fair bit of business with them before and been happy.  So off to North Harbour I went. 

If I fancied a new bike again, I'd maybe try Ride On for a deal, but I don't think I could ever do buisiness with North Harbour again.  They really are utterly useless.  I mean dreadful, and total wankers.

Alasdair's also got a reputation for ranting if anybody mentions good deals down South, he's lost a few punters cos of his silly rants.

Really car dealers, bike dealers, I generally hate em.  The vast majority of em are at it.

[rjd1]

gid lads at duffes
mark sales guy brand new and a real biker
baz an other mechanic are shit hot and no their stuff
canny mind other boy`s name 

[MEM62]

I love my Fazer but find Yamaha dealers generally diappointing.  Having had one damage the carbs on my bike - which cost me a fortune to put right - I switched dealers.  The workshop my machine now goes to is a 'Premier' dealer and the work is OK but nothing more.  I expect more from a main dealer.  I always find Honda dealers to be far better - but that could, of course, only be the case locally.  (West London / Surrey)  Other areas might be different. 

[Fuzzygoth]

Tiberius: Well hopefully as I'll be back down in two weeks I can start doing more
myself but I'll look them up. I'd rather try somewhere on recommendation that
anything else. Most of the good garages I went to down south were found that
way and the quality of service was excellent. My experiences so far with ride on
have left me feeling exceptionally disappointed. So cheers i'll google them and
give them a go next time

[Fuzzygoth]

Also if some said notchy steering they might as well say the fribblegaurd steering
as it tell you about as much :P

[Fuzzygoth]

rjd1: Duffes, like the simpsons beers at least that's a couple of recommendations. Though
tbh if I put my bike in to either and it comes back with no bits missing, everything properly
attached and no dings or bits of paintwork chipped off that would actually be an improvement
on the service I've had from ride on.

I am going to email them about the damage to the paintwork too, One of my mates thinks
I should write a letter of complaint to the whoevers in charge of the dealership and get them
to rectify what they have fucked up, another thinks I should contact trading standards but
that all seems a bit heavy. I think its a chalk it up to experience and move on myself ... though
I am still going to complain as I am annoyed about my fairing, not that I would trust them to
fix it anyway :P

[Aegis Bearing Mel]

I drove through to Duffus in Kirkcaldy rather than give that wee prick any of my money in Ride On.

That's two bike sales he's lost as he wouldn't give me a test ride without agreeing a trade in price first.
Foc that, I want to try the bike to see if I like it, not buy it now.
Never got a courtesy bike from them, stuff took ages to arrive, hoor of a place to get to wearing kit for the ride home.
Robbin' bastards are always expensive for spares and seem to take ages to get parts in.

Not been there for years now, despite a few of the folk that work in there being members on here...

Stevie Brierton is my mechanic of choice, he's always managed to fix the bikes with minimum fuss and cost.
If you've seen some of my bodged attempts at home mechanics you'll realise how good he actually is.
 

(My KTM SuperDuke that kept blowing up was sent from the main KTM dealer for him to sort as he was accredited better than their own)

[smithfz]

What about Dyno tech ecosse in hillington had a service done there the other day, better than Ride on, just my opinion tho.


S

[Aegis Bearing Mel]

What about Dyno tech ecosse in hillington had a service done there the other day, better than Ride on, just my opinion tho.


S

It was them that did my custom map for 'Bee, was impressed by how they worked whilst I was there.
Always seemed to take time to talk to folks that popped in, but never at the expense of the work they were doing.

[nsr500v4]

Alastair is a complete utter t***er, he deserves to lose all his business the way he rants, bell**d that he is

[Dead Eye]

I sort of take it for granted that I do near enough all my own work on my vehicles and I've never purchased from a dealer... and at £71 per hour for labour that ain't happening any time soon! I thought the £50 per hour at the last place I used was bad enough (2 years ago now )

[fazerscotty]

Labour rates! I run an aircraft maintenance business - if I charge over £45 or more an hour it kicks off all sorts of complaints. But then I say to the whinger..........
No layby's to pull into up there when it goes wrong (which I have to add it doesn't!)
So glad I can do all my own bits (apart from MOT's that is....)

[bigbluebear]

Try Dynotech Ecosse in Hillington, Glasgow, they have done shit loads of work on mine and highly recommend them

[sinto]

Have you tried MCS in Renfrew, admitted they are no longer a Yamaha dealer, Triumph and Kawasaki now, but their mechanics, sorry, technicians are Yamaha trained.
I know they, MCS, have recently sold their service end to someone, can't remember his name, bit it's still the same people in the workshop.
I've bought a couple of bikes from them before and never had a problem with the sales, but more importantly the service or loose stuff or marks on the bikes etc, reasonable rates as far as I can remember.
If I had the money though, I'd take my bike to Ducatti Glasgow on Great Western Road.
I know the sales guys, and also know the mechanics very well, they serviced my BMW'S at motarad Kirkintilloch when they worked there. Wouldn't hesitate to give Craig and Michael my bike and know that they would return it in better nick than I gave it, two of the best guys in the business in my opinion

[nickodemon]

+1 for the guys at dynotech. I tend to do nearly all of my own servicing, so have never paid a stealer for work. I have been to mcs for clothing/helmets and they are a nice bunch of staff. A great bike shop in pollokshaws is where i get bits and bobs done... Peter Robertsons. I have gone there for years.... Peter knows his stuff. I usually get fork seals, swing arm bearings and punctures sorted there. I had a puncture (plug) fitted and balanced for £15. Fork seals are done for £60 (just supplying the forks) I think they charge £20-£25 per hour. It will be a sad day when he retires