[NoShift]

Hi I live in east side of seattle near Bellevue/Redmond.

I have been doing my own maintenance on a 2007 burgman 650 exec, but I would like to pay to have it done. Is there a good mechanics around the area?

There used to be a suzuki dealer called eastside motorsports in bellevue but they seem to turn into a ducati-only dealer.

 

[Dave_J]

Peter it seems like a few local dealers are going HIGH dollar bike only. I live about 25 miles south of you in Auburn and when I can not do something I take it to Hinshaw's Motorcycle down here. I had used RMC in Renton till they closed down everything but the Harley shop. You could try Ride Motorsports in Woodinville, Kent Kawasaki down here in Kent. And I think there may be a shop in Issaquah. Problem of living in Microsoft money area is everything is $XXX,XXX.xx . In a days time, how many $150,000 cars do you see? Hundreds. Its nothing to see 20 $20K - $30K bikes zipping around on a nice day. All the local shops want the service $$$ from that croud, not us $8K scooter riders.

What type of work you need help with? I ride from Auburn to Juanita Tue - Sat and could always drop by and help. Or if a major issue pops up on a Sunday or Monday I could jump on my Burgman and come up. I'm just a PM or Email away.

 

[knucklehead]

The only money to be made in the high dollar east side 'boutique' shoppes is on the sales side. Those Sunday riders hardly put any mileage on their machines - that next oil change may take 4-5 years to reach and the tires won't need replaced for twice that.

I'd look for an independent shop to have the maintenance work done. Most of those guys will go out of their way to generate a return customer and prices are usually more reasonable than a major brand dealer.

I've had direct experience with a major brand dealer. I took a 95 Harley Ultra Glide to Skagit Harley years ago with the complaint that the radio would cut out for days on end - then suddenly start working. After many hours of work done by their resident 'expert' on Harley electronics that ended in a frustrated 'expert' they charged me $350 for the non-fix. I disputed the claim but since they had my bike I had little recourse other than to complain to Harley (deaf ears) and the BBB. I took it to an independent called The Hog Farm near Lake Goodwin. Within 20 minutes I was forking over $45 for the time to find and replace two relays. The radio worked fine after that repair. I went back for regular maintenance tires and mods after that.

I've yet to set foot back in Skagit Harley. This was back in 99.

 

[Daboo]

I helped a friend from church who also has a 400, change his clutch, CVT belt and rollers one day. His bike had 33,000 miles on it and had been serviced always by the dealer. What I found was a horror story. The CVT inlet filter was so jammed full of crud, I doubt any air went through it at all. The inside of the CVT case was choked with 33,000 miles of crud, and the dealership had told him his CVT was fine when he brought it in a few weeks earlier complaining of it not feeling right...and when I looked at it, the "pads" were gone and the clutch shoes had been grinding away at the clutch bell with metal to metal contact for probably a couple thousand miles.

He paid them good money to get good quality maintenance done and peace of mind of knowing it was done right...and it wasn't.

There's very little maintenance any of these Burgmans need, and until something major happens, it can usually be done in your own garage.

Chris