Motorbike Repair Shops?

seamus

I'm thinking we could get a few posts in this, and eventually merge it with the FAQ.

My bike needs work on those parts that I haven't got the tools or experience to fix, and it's a biggish job, so I'd prefer not to be bullsh*tted or ripped off on it, so your suggestions as to good places are much appreciated.

Basically, in the interests of not getting boards into trouble, it's probably best if we just post the prices etc, like I'll do below, and any useful comments, and let each person make their own judgements.

So to get the ball rolling...

Place: Motomax, Rathfarnham Village, D 24.
Date: 09/01/2004
Work: New back tyre(GZ 125).
Cost: €130 (incl 30 mins labour)
Time taken: < 1 day
Comments: Tyres are notoriously overpriced on bikes, so I wasn't overly shocked. Kudos to them for the short notice. I got a puncture on my way to work and brought it into them at 10 o'clock (it happened just around the corner), and I picked it up at 6pm after work. They commented on other work that needed to be done. Always scores them lower in my estimation, as it sounds like they're trying to get money out of you.

Place: The New Gem, Ranelagh, Dublin (?)
Date: March 2003
Work: New Front Tyre (GZ 125)
Cost: €105 (incl 30 mins labour)
Time taken: < 1 day (But booked in)
Comments: After I made a bit of a fuss about the ridiculous cost of the tyre, he claimed to have given the tyre to me at cost, and only charged for the labour...

Place: The New Gem, Ranelagh
Date: November 2002
Work: New Rear tyre, front brake pads, front brake fluid replace.
Cost: €145 (incl 2 hours labour)
Time taken: 1 day (Booked in)
Comments: I had asked them to take a look at the rear brake, which they attempted to flush out and twiddle around with, hence the 2 hours labour. He advised me to buy and fit a new rear brake cable, which ended up costing €75 from Suzuki, but did fix the problem. It doesn't make sense to me how the price of a tyre jumped so much in 5/6 months.....

jackal

The New Gem, Ranelagh.

I used to use these guys, but found that there was always something else needed doing to my bike when they finished one thing. Saying that, the quality of their repairs was always good, and they seem to get alot of trade in garda bikes - a good sign.

The guy used to always say that he was giving me this or that for cost price. If he was doing this for everyone, he would not be making much money now, so take it with a pinch of salt.

a_ominous

Have read positive comments about North Dublin Motorcycles (NDM) in Drumcondra on Motorcycle Ireland. But no personal experience.

Will be picking up my bike later after a service and replacement clutch, so I'll keep you posted.

Fabritzo

The guys out in Santry motorcycles are darn good. They're on the same road as Kart City and the Alsaa club I think. They're on the left hand side if you're driving up to Santry from the airport and they usually have a couple of large sports bikes outside.

Santry Motorcycles
Unit 5 Collinstown Cross Ind.Estate. Old Airport Road, Santry, Dublin 3.
01 8623355 / 087 2696808.

jackal

LME Motorcycles
Windy Arbour, Dundrum.

These guys are really good. They were able to get parts for my imported bike no problem. Also Tyres, I had a puncture and got the bike to them at 12. They had two new tyres on the bike ready and waiting for 6 that same day.

Also if you are thinking of an import, they import only low mileage bikes from the U.K. You tell em what you want, and they will get it for you.

Nice fellas working there too, not know-it-all's like elsewhere.

malico

Pissah! There is one and only one motorbike repair shop in Dublin I recommend.

Celtic Motorcycles in 55/56 Upper Dorset Street, Dublin 1.

Phone Dennis Or Dave on 00-353-1 8780773

They can do ANYTHING

Quoted as: "Ireland's best bike shop, run by bikers! Custom & cruiser parts, helmets, clothing. Parts 3 days from UK! Servicing, repairs, rebuilds."

http://www.celticmotorbike.com

In all my years on bikes, this is the ONLY place i drop my bike into.

PS. Sorry to hear she's dying on ya Seamus!

seamus

Originally posted by malico
PS. Sorry to hear she's dying on ya Seamus!

She's in good form now. I showed her a paint scraper and a can of insta-rust and she quickly fell into line

bugs

The new gem is a bit on the dodgy side. Bought my first bike there and thought i'd get it serviced just the once, even tho i was taking pretty good care of it mechanically myself.
Cant remember how much they charged me for a general service, but it wasnt cheap. They claimed i had a burst oil line to the 2 stroke can, which they replaced. Left the place, and had a leak of oil coming from the can. Brought it back and they claimed "ahh yeah buddd, but its new oil, it needs to settle"....obviously confusing a 2 stroke with a 4 stroke.

Two weeks pass, wake up one morning to find a pool of oil under my bike, ring up the mechanic. Without question he tells me the oil can is cracked and that "this happens all the time with those bikes", claims he'll sort me out a new can for 80 quid. Didn't believe a word he said, opened it up, checked the oil line which was incorrectly refitted, and they managed to tear a seal while they were at it. Oh yeah, they also misaligned my rear wheel which wrecked my chain and sprockets.....i'd avoid.

spockety

The Dublin Bike Shop Formula:

Pick any random bike shop in Dublin.
Pick a sample of 20 of their customers, and rate their
satisfaction.

Half will tell you the shop is the best, run by really sound guys who know what they're on about, do a great job, and give you great deals.

The other half will start cursing, foam may begin to seep from their lips, and in some cases steam will snort from their ears. It'll be hard to actually hear a word they say, because their tales of woe are so painful to them that they beging to get confused and start babbling.

This goes for EVERY bike shop.

The best thing you can ever do for yourself as a biker is to learn how to do a full service yourself. Learn how to change a chain a sprockets, how to change your plugs, how to do an oil change, an air filter change, how to change your brake pads, how to bleed your brake system, how to change your clutch and throttle cables, how to clean your carbs.

There are now a number of places that do evening courses in motorcycle maintenance.. Skerries community college is one, and there is one on in a VEC in Drimnagh or Crumlin IIRC.

ASSUME that all bike shops are complete w*nkers who will do a sh*t job and leave your bike more dangerous than when you went in, and I guarantee at least you'll never be surprisingly dissapointed.

seamus

Originally posted by spockety
The best thing you can ever do for yourself as a biker is to learn how to do a full service yourself. Learn how to change a chain a sprockets, how to change your plugs, how to do an oil change, an air filter change, how to change your brake pads, how to bleed your brake system, how to change your clutch and throttle cables, how to clean your carbs.

Totally agree. My bike needs some degree of servicing/parts replacement every 3 to 4 weeks, so knowing the simple things has been a massive money (and hassle) saver for me.

If I had some sort of pully system to lift the bike, there would be even more I could do, but unfortunately not.

Verdammt

I got my Marauder 125 serviced in the Celtic Motorbike Company a couple of years ago and it never sounded so sweet when it left. The guy's in there are sound. I've had a couple of bikes since and the worst place I've ever had the misfortune of dealing with is JP Motorcycles on Amiens St. Bought a TDR from them and the engine locked up after 2 days and I found a spanner holding the oil tank in place. This bike was only 10 months old.

krinDar

Originally posted by Billy-Joe
I've had a couple of bikes since and the worst place I've ever had the misfortune of dealing with is JP Motorcycles on Amiens St.

*rolls eyes*
If you are gonna bitch, the least you could do is give the
correct information. JP is Pearse Street, GP is on Amien
Street. I assume you are talking about GP however as the
I never found them very nice to deal with.

On the subject of Shops for repairs, I have used a guy
working out of a garage down a lane in Donnycarney
called Joe Wall (35387 2892178). He was suggested to
me by The Bike Tyre Co. to replace fork seals. I find that
he doesn't talk any crap; he will tell you how much you
should be getting from parts and will let you know when
they need replacing before they are replaced. He charges reasonable prices (I got a quote for sprockets and chain,
he was 15 euro less), and I have often dropped my bike
in with a days notice. I imagine this will change in the
summer arrives are the wusses get out of their cars.

Aidanm

The only place for tyres is motorbiketyres.com.

I ordered a pair of bridgestone 010's, had them delivered to my front door and
saved €150 on the cheapest price in Dublin.

Aidanm

I had some work done in the new gem once.

4 months later my bike went on fire while driving down jervis street.
I left the bike into anoter garage and they discoverd that they reconnected my switching gear under the frame instead of through it.

After a few months of the wiring and frame scraping every time I turned left, the insulation wore through and sparked off the frame.

I knew after so long it was pointless going back to them but they'll never see one of my bikes again.

jackal

The Gem is not fairing too well on this forum. This is useful, as I thought I was being ripped off by them, but wasnt sure as I know so little about bikes. Also the main guy in there is a pain in the ass. Many's the time I went to pick up or drop off a bike and the guy sits behind his desk on the phone for 15 mins, while people are queueing out the door. Then when he does talk to you he is a condescending ars*hole. Everything is a disaster and your fault.

Anyone know anything about L.M.E near Dundrum ? Im doing a lot of repairs to a bike there. They seem sound enough, but that means nothing. Anyone had any dealings with them?

Keep the posts/horror stories/advice coming!

Billabong

I have had dealings with both JP motorcycles and Joe Wall who was mentioned above. I got my first bike from Joe and he looked after me well for the time I had it. He seems to just love bikes and hence likes to do a very good job for a surprisingly reasonable price.

JP motorcycles in my bike buying experience ( all two of them) are very good to deal with and seemed to beat the bike prices of most bike shops south of the Liffey that I checked out.

If your a first time buyer I would deffinitely reccommend JP motorcycles. I've found them very thrustworthy in my dealings with them which is invaluable when you haven't got a clue about bikes to begin with.

Haket

>If I had some sort of pully system to lift the bike, there would be even more I could >do, but unfortunately not.[/QUOTE]

Pully system ??, what for ?. If you are talking about taking wheels off, that can be done with car jacks and pieces of wood. I've gone as far as taking forks AND swingarm from a Bandit 1200 using two car jacks and a wooden box :-)

seamus

Haket wrote:

Pully system ??, what for ?. If you are talking about taking wheels off, that can be done with car jacks and pieces of wood. I've gone as far as taking forks AND swingarm from a Bandit 1200 using two car jacks and a wooden box :-)

Like a standard ****ty jack that you get with a car?

Cetainly worth looking at I guess.

Ratchet

spockety wrote:

.

The best thing you can ever do for yourself as a biker is to learn how to do a full service yourself. Learn how to change a chain a sprockets, how to change your plugs, how to do an oil change, an air filter change, how to change your brake pads, how to bleed your brake system, how to change your clutch and throttle cables, how to clean your carbs.

.

agree. you have to start somewhere

most of the guys i know do service repair the bikes in own garage.
I like to do all the work myself including full rebuild but always you need bit of space and tools to do it

Chalk

bike and tyre co in east wall
105 euro - new chain and sprocket new rear brake pad
130 euro - new rear tyre

dead sound aswell, with a waiting room with security camera linked into the workshop so you can see them fixing the thing.

can we do for one for bike recovery aswell?
thats always one thing i wonder about the cost of.

@people that recommend fixong bikes themselves, have you got any recommendations on how to start?
i reckon i have the tools and am fairly technically minded, but with no maunual or guide available, and not knowing any bkers id be wary of trying anything...

IrishTW

If I had some sort of pully system to lift the bike, there would be even more I could >do, but unfortunately not.

At the bike show lately they were selling those trolley things you drive in under the bike so you can take off the back wheel for about €60.

Anyone have any dealings with HB motorcycles Waterford?

I find they are efficient but expensive.

€45 an hr for labour although they (HB) told me it's be close to €60 an hr in Dublin.

A tip if you're getting work done on your bike - clean it well before you bring it to the garage - the last time my bike was a little dirty going in, but coming out it was like sh1t - the leather seat had massive oil stains which shone up in the light.

Also they (HB) dont always bother to put all nuts n bolts back such as under the seat where they only put back 1 of the 2. (the time before that they kept both the nuts so I had to put in 2 shed bolts myself.

Also if I ask them to do little things while the bike is there such as to free out the steering lock / check a loose connection on something they often say "Oh sorry we had no time but do you want to bring it back to us later in the week...." :rolleyes:

Also, and this is the one that most annoys me, the last time I sent my bik ein for a new chain and sprockets, they never adjusted the back brake properly at all. There I was doing maybe 30 mph in traffic, put my foot down and nothing happened, so had to pull the front brake for all I was worth - and they telling me it was test driven??

lol, just reading back I said they were efficient at the start of this post - now I think I've explained why!

Maybe I've just found a few minor faults with them - and these are all rather minor things - so I dont want to paint them in a completely bad light - the mechanical work they do is almost always top drawer.

Haket

> Like a standard ****ty jack that you get with a car?


Yep exactly like those, the older types are the best. I bought two for a tenner from a breaker many moon ago and use them regularly.


Chalk:
As for fixing your bike yourself, if you are mech minded you wont really have a prob. There is an excellent bike maintenance course run in Dublin regularly (check out the Motorcycle Ireland group on Yahoo groups for contact details).

Best is to buy a manual (ebay / dealer) and try things. Bikes are generally quite simple to work on and WYSIWYG :-)

MARK

echomadman

Ennis:
Banner Motorcycles:
New front tyre (generic crap one) €130 inc. fitting
Bad attitude from all staff except one guy who thold me he was only there for the days covering for someone else.
I've asked them to order vital parts (throttle sleeve for the bandit) and they still hadn't gotten it 3 weeks later, and put the blame on city spares, I called city spares myself and had one the next day.
I've seen a mates bike 5 minutes after he collected it from having a "full service" and it wouldnt start as they'd half-arsed the job of reconnecting the battery.
All their in-store merchandise is 50~100% more expensive than bike shops in limerick.
Verdict: All around jerks

Ennis:
Jimmy Meere:
After only having the bike a week, it broke down on me, so i had to have it collected and taken for a full service, and a new back tyre while they had it.
When i collected it the back tyre was priced at 170e (not inc fitting) They gave me some cock and bull story about having to get a different tyre yadda yadda, they charged me 40e for 4 new plugs (i'm not sure they actually replaced them as i had to buy new ones again 4 months later and the old ones were in absolute sh!t condition) they also didnt tighten the seals on the manifold where the airbox goes onto the carbs, result: my carbs were full of road grit and dirt.
Verdict: more jerks

Between both these places screwing me over (and in the process losing any further custom) I've done all the work on the bike myself.

Limerick
Hourigans, Johns street
Crashed one day and mangled my handlebars, made it as far as town and pulled up outside Hourigans. New Bars inc fitting: 60 quid, collected the bike 2 hours later
Verdict: Good service.

Harringtons, Fox's Bow Limerick
Not a repair shop, but does sell spares/tyres/aftermarket accessories and gear.
My favourite bike shop, Staff are knowledgeable and friendly, great discounts if you buy regularly, good range of stuff and they'll order anything thats not in stock and have it fast.
Verdict: Quality

Krusty_Clown

Tyres:
Buy them online (somehwere like http://www.fwr.co.uk/).
Take new tyres to the Bike Tyre company and they'll fit them for you.
Or else remove the wheels and take them to any tyre garage to have them fitted (usually around 10/20 euro per wheel).

I've found the Bike Tyre Company to be extremely helpful and reliable, and can usually get your tyres changed in around an hour..


Service:
RedLine in Rathdrum Co. Wicklow is a little off the beaten track, but living in Dublin, I would still always go out there if I needed anything done on the bike. Plus points: Reasonable hourly rates, very courteous and helpful staff, can wait while the works being performed.
Negative points: 35/40 miles from Dublin!

zapata

I'm new to bike's - just did a few lessons. I'm on the look-out for a bike at the mo. My instructor recommended http://www.blakestowntyres.com/ . He said they were 'sound lads'.

Ratchet

zapata wrote:

I'm new to bike's - just did a few lessons. I'm on the look-out for a bike at the mo. My instructor recommended http://www.blakestowntyres.com/ . He said they were 'sound lads'.

they must be new , their site is :eek:

Fabritzo

Zesty?

gline

quick question, What are NDM's opening hours?? they open mondays???

Oh yeh, and avoid Northside motorcycles like the plague, untrustworthy and unhelpful

omb0wyn5ehpij9

gline wrote:

quick question, What are NDM's opening hours?? they open mondays???

Oh yeh, and avoid Northside motorcycles like the plague, untrustworthy and unhelpful

Nope, they dont open mondays!

Garibaldi

Anybody used Andy's Bikes 'n' Bits in Kildare? If so, what are they like? Used to always use Bikeworld, but they're a bit out of the way now that I've moved out of Dublin.