+ 1 - I am mechanically challenged, however would love to learn how to do various bits and pieces. If there was a fully paid tech on hand to assist me and I was paying for the use of the facilities, I would be pretty fucking chuffed!! Great idea Grumpy!!

And what would the fully trained tech do for a dollor after he has trained you and everyone else????

A dealership should consist of people who share the same passion as you do - Motorcycles. To some its nothing more than a job to pay the bills.

They should:

1) Care about your machine when servicing or repairing in the workshop. Attention to detail, expect a job card with everything checked off with the tech's signature and you sign off that your happy with the work. A good tech will go over everything with you and discuss what was done, its also your opoortunity to make sure its right before you ride out the door.
2) They should listen to what YOU want when ordering spares or accessories, they should offer alternatives but do NOT PUSH for the sake of making 10 dollars more on a product not exactly what you want.
3) A sales guy that will understand your situation be it financial or model preference and not push for a quick sale off the floor that you end up saying "its not really want i wanted" (yes - this happens)
4) They should throw something in on a BIG TICKET item purchases - can be gloves bandanna or beanie, bottle of oil, spark plugs, anything really. This is a thanks for your custom.
5) BBQ, every couple of weeks throw a lunch time BBQ, snags and bread, free to all. (Used to do this and was very successful).
6) They should NOT have the attitude that there shit dont stink, because it does, just like the rest of us therefore understand the customers personality they are dealing with and adjust there own to get on the same wave lenght, you are the customer and need to be treated right no matter how wrong or arrogant you maybe. (there really are some arrogant pricks in dealerships for no good reason as well)

These are just some thing I have personally found work well, happy customer, happy bank manager! The list can go on and on, think about what YOU want from a dealership and then go find one who offers it, they are out there in fact, theres some real good ones.

+1 Rodders, the setup there is unbelievable, friendly peeps too...Even the Hoggies have thier club house and child play area...

They did my stuff at the drop and gave advice about the Tassie tour...I will certainly go back there.

Bt

 

I fix my own bike ...even make tools up for it too [ 1 7/8 socket for the pulley nut ] .....but having a place to go and service your own bike or help others out is a great idea .

Harleys are expensive to rich or poor .... but every body should be able to enjoy them .....

Years ago some of my customers wanted to wrench there bikes and pay for time in the workshop, why not? its there bike so go hard. A small fee for using the bike stand and equipment and everything had to be put back to the state it was taken from however, the governing bodies came through and did an audit, not insured for this, duty of care, open for liability, does not fit under trade practices, we will take your right to trade from you and all that stuff so it stopped. Was not happy because then they went through me with a fine tooth comb, loose bolt on the compressor belt gaurd chained up area to stop access into the workshop area, audit power boards, extension cords, medical kits, access to tiolets etc etc etc, fix in 1 week or we stop you trading, and then even as far as telling me to put a garden in at the front of the shop for presentation!! I am like WTF? they said they would put recommendation into council to not let me trade if I didnt. So, I doubt that any workshop nowadays would allow someone to use there workshop to spanner on there own bike because of some of these reasons.

a bloke had a workshop in Melbourne years back, where you could go in and use his gear to work on your own cars etc, one of his customers fucked up a brake pad change, had an accident,sued him,saying that he should have supervised the job,court agreed, the bloke paid a huge amount of damages etc, then workplace safety mob went through the joint, picked shit out of it and fined him a huge amount of money for pissy issues. thats why it dont happen anymore.

I'd like to do some things myself, simple things, like adding some accessories which I do. But when it come to servicing I'd like a tech to do that.

But what I would like most of all is to be able to talk to the tech about my 'Pride & Joy', ask questions about what he did? How did everything look, Anything I have to watch/look for, any suggestions he has about looking after my bike.

But unfortunately all I am able to do at the dealer is talk to a person at the the front desk who will try to relay to the tech my concerns, then come back to me. I then ask questions, they say they don't know, they will check with the tech, come back again. It pisses me off having a "go-between" that has to relay messages.

 The last service I had I asked what was done, the person at the front desk looked at the owners manual and said everything the manual recommended. I wanted to know how the old oil was, did it have a lot of shit in it, was it resonably in good condition??? What adjustments had to made etc etc.

I like to know how the bike is going mechanicly, if something was a problem, why did that problem occur, how can I do something to stop that probem happening again so to speak.

I like to do more than just put fuel in the bike and ride it, I want to "Know" my bike as well. I want to know what the strange noises are, the bangs, the rattles, and find out if that is normal and not an issue. I want to be told that is all part of owning a Harley, and the only way I feel I can get this information is talking to a tech who services my bike, and hopefully he is a dedicated Harley lover and is not just doing this job because thats all it is, A Job...............

I want to find a tech who loves to work with Harleys, talk about Harleys, and passes on some tips about looking after Harleys, that is all. He is the person who I will trust to do the work for me.

 

Cheers