Nervous about leaving my bike at the shop

[Hero Danny]

I found a guy to do my valves, it's a kawasaki dealer in MA, charging me $250.

I feel really nervous about everything though. I mean, I really don't want to get screwed.

I'm not dropping it off until Thursday. I read a review where the guy said it took them almost a month to do some work on their bike. But he liked them and said they were friendly and did the job right. Also it got a bunch of other good reviews.


Is there some things I should be careful for? My dad said what we can do is put some cocking on the valve cover and if it is still there when we get the bike back then we know they didn't do it. I'm also worried about them taking too long

I don't know, how do you guys feel about leaving your bike at a shop? I want to make sure my Amy is being well taken care of.

[capt_bugaloo]

You have three choices: do it yourself, trust this shop, or find another shop with a good reputation.

Google the name of this shop and see if you can find any reviews or comments. Ask around with other local riders and get some opinions. Do you have any reason to suspect this shop of doing shoddy work?

[ninjamunky85]

Just for reference, I just paid $132+tax for a valve adjustment at my local Kawi dealer and they only had my bike for half of a day.

[nickjpass]

Take some sort of light colored marker, and draw a little line on the rubber gasket in between the valve cover and engine top end.

Or do the work yourself. It's not very difficult, and is made very easy with a service manual, notes, photos, and a forum like this!

[ForceofWill]

Originally Posted by Hero Danny

I found a guy to do my valves, it's a kawasaki dealer in MA, charging me $250.

I feel really nervous about everything though. I mean, I really don't want to get screwed.

I'm not dropping it off until Thursday. I read a review where the guy said it took them almost a month to do some work on their bike. But he liked them and said they were friendly and did the job right. Also it got a bunch of other good reviews.


Is there some things I should be careful for? My dad said what we can do is put some cocking on the valve cover and if it is still there when we get the bike back then we know they didn't do it. I'm also worried about them taking too long

I don't know, how do you guys feel about leaving your bike at a shop? I want to make sure my Amy is being well taken care of.

[Ninjinsky]

Always ask them to keep the old adjustments for you to see.

[Flying]

I'm too paranoid and cheap to leave my bike at any shop.

[Ninjinsky]

Originally Posted by Flying

I'm too paranoid and cheap to leave my bike at any shop.

Its not paranoia, it's a rational fear. And certainly where I live (UK) mechanic time is grossly overcharged at mafia levels $130 per hour. If the mechy takes the $1000 a day I'll eat my hat 90% of it just buys the owners Mercedes (you need to see where he lives, not the stage prop ford he drives to the premises)

So I never use workshops, I use the manuals. I don't know exactly how much I have saved over 45 years but it's tens of thousands.

[Aggrotech]

Dont mean to hijack the thread but my question ties in with OP's issue. Is there a sort of "all in one" tool kit, when it comes to working on teh ninja? I dont know much about mechanic work or tools for that matter, but ive wanted to do my own maintenance and was curious if there were any tool kits out there that are better than others when it comes to maintenance.

[Finesse]

Did you do some research about them? Opinions online? I think you can get a good idea of how the shop is by going over and chatting with the guys in the service department. I think I paid around $300 for a valve adjustment at my local mom-and-pop shop, they charge $88 an hour and that price also included some new gaskets, don't really remember.

Just start your bike up when you go to pick it up, listen for any noises, take your time, go ahead and ride it around the parking lot and come back, if you have any questions about anything, ask them about it. You can ask them to go over exactly what they did - any decent shop should be very open and helpful and not act like you are wasting their time.

I think you will be fine, though, valve adjustments are pretty straightforward and easy for a shop, especially one that seems to specialize in Kawasaki. You can always ask to watch, but most shops don't allow it. Chances are, if you have an appointment, it won't take too long because they are expecting you and set aside time for you. Good luck, have some (but not too much) faith!

[Hero Danny]

Thanks for the replies everyone,

I've been researching shops for a while now, most shops won't work on my bike (they only do v twins). I found one guy really local and he said he could dish it out in one day, said it would run me around 160-180. I somewhat know him and he seems like a nice guy.. Only problem is i'm not sure if I trust his ability to do the work... he is the type of guy that only works on cruisers and harleys.

I don't mind paying the $250. It's nothing to me in the grand scheme of things. I just want it done right.

I've been desperately trying to figure out how to do my own valves, I've already bought a service manual and read through it 100 times on the valve section, also I printed out all the DIY guides and tried to watch as many video as I could. I am confident that I can get to the valve cover and check the valves. But once it gets to removing the cams I feel my confidence slipping, fast... I don't think I am mechanically inclined enough to perform the shim operation... I'd rather have someone who knows what they're doing do it.

[Finesse]

^That's totally understandable, that's how I felt too. I think you should just take it somewhere that gives you a good feeling and go ahead and hand over the cash and get back some fresh valves!

Or you can buy a trashed, wrecked, sat-for-11-years ninja 250 and take everything apart on that bike before you F up your own.

[Hero Danny]

Originally Posted by Finesse

^That's totally understandable, that's how I felt too. I think you should just take it somewhere that gives you a good feeling and go ahead and hand over the cash and get back some fresh valves!

Or you can buy a trashed, wrecked, sat-for-11-years ninja 250 and take everything apart on that bike before you F up your own.

Well, I'm worried about the shims, shims are only on the 08+ 250s.

So to find a wrecked 08+ I'm looking at least $900 which is more expensive than hiring 3 mechanics to do my valves.

I'm dropping the bike off wednesday or thursday, i'll report my findings. I feel like us motorcyclists should do our part and leave reviews on yelp on every shop we go to, even if positive. I feel like only people leave bad reviews and not good ones. I will write a thorough view of my experience after I get my bike back.

[Finesse]

You are right, a lot of people only write bad reviews, the ones who had good experiences don't feel the need to go online and rave about it usually!

[Hero Danny]

Yeah, well we gotta change that

[akima]

Originally Posted by Ninjinsky

Its not paranoia, it's a rational fear. And certainly where I live (UK) mechanic time is grossly overcharged at mafia levels $130 per hour. If the mechy takes the $1000 a day I'll eat my hat 90% of it just buys the owners Mercedes (you need to see where he lives, not the stage prop ford he drives to the premises)

I'm not really into doing repairs and maintenance myself, but I also don't like the "mafia level" repair costs. I found a healthy inbetween! I do the really basic stuff myself and the other stuff I get done by a mechanic I know personally. He does it in his free time for me using his own equipment. It does mean that I don't have the benefit of shop-insurance and Kawasaki service stamps in the log book, but I think it's worth it for the price. This guy I know charges no more than £30 an hour and really seems to care about doing a good job.

If I move away, I think I'll try and find another mechanic to make this arrangement with. It's hard to find trustworthy people though. I got lucky meeting this guy.

[Bigballsofpaint]

Its really easy once you have that stuff taken apart. If you truely feel confident up to taking the cams off, your golden. But heres 3 easy tips

Before removing the chain, make sure you remove the CCT (cam chain tensioner). Simple to remove, but the DIY links here kind of glance over it and i dont thik put it in the right order. DO THIS BEFORE UNBOLTING THE CAMS. Very easy to do, no big deal.

I use white out to mark the cam chain on each cam, i dab a little line on the cam and the chain, so when you put it back together everything lines up the same, no worries or wondering. They say to put it at TDC, which is still a good thign to do, but this is just an added thing i do to make sure.

Now remove the cam covers, the directions for this are fine. Just watch out for those little locating tabs or whatever when you pull them off. Also, i zip tied or keep some type of tension on the cam chain so it doesnt fall off the lower gear in the motor, this way your marks will also line up correctly and the chain wont move a took or anything.


Honestly its more of pain taking everything apart, once you have them checked with a feeler gage you may not even need to make adjustments. But if you do, its not that much more involved. The big thing is having the pack of shims so your not down for xx time ordering the. I still need to buy myself a shim kit for myself...

[Hero Danny]

Originally Posted by Bigballsofpaint

Its really easy once you have that stuff taken apart. If you truely feel confident up to taking the cams off, your golden. But heres 3 easy tips

Before removing the chain, make sure you remove the CCT (cam chain tensioner). Simple to remove, but the DIY links here kind of glance over it and i dont thik put it in the right order. DO THIS BEFORE UNBOLTING THE CAMS. Very easy to do, no big deal.

I use white out to mark the cam chain on each cam, i dab a little line on the cam and the chain, so when you put it back together everything lines up the same, no worries or wondering. They say to put it at TDC, which is still a good thign to do, but this is just an added thing i do to make sure.

Now remove the cam covers, the directions for this are fine. Just watch out for those little locating tabs or whatever when you pull them off. Also, i zip tied or keep some type of tension on the cam chain so it doesnt fall off the lower gear in the motor, this way your marks will also line up correctly and the chain wont move a took or anything.


Honestly its more of pain taking everything apart, once you have them checked with a feeler gage you may not even need to make adjustments. But if you do, its not that much more involved. The big thing is having the pack of shims so your not down for xx time ordering the. I still need to buy myself a shim kit for myself...

Thanks man, I truly appreciate you taking the time to write that all up, it means a lot.

But I'm still not comfortable, I won't be either until I actually see a video and who knows, I know my valves are tight, bike isn't performing as great as I feel it could, there's some lag in the lower RPMS. Also, my bike doesn't start up very well either, it needs the choke on all the way, even though it's a hot day outside, It will idle after it warms up some more, but it takes a while, also I can't hear any ticking when I put my head next to the engine.