Motorbike service business
Discussion
Asking for a friend..no seriously..
If you can't remove your forks then would you use someone who would come to your house and remove the forks and then service them either in his mobile workshop or take them away and return and fit them fully serviced?
Other basic service jobs can be taken out as well such as brakes, rear shock, oil and plugs etc if needed.
My mate is a former mechanic who has helped me out many times with my bike and my friends/families bikes. He has done my forks and removed my fireblade engine when a spark plug blew out and stripped the thread in the head. He is very skilled and just has a knack for all things mechanical.
He started thinking about it when I needed some one to service my forks. I had a major problem finding someone to do it in a reasonable time frame. One place quoted 6-8 weeks, others were 2-3 weeks but only if I removed them myself. I just though that I'd be able to ride it to a garage, leave it there for a few hours and they'd be done. But my local bike garages and a suspension specialist were overrun.
This was in August, so today I rang the same suspension specialist and was quoted a week or so... which was much better, but if I wanted to just drop the bike off and let them remove them and re-fit, it was a case of call us back in two weeks and well try and fit you in..
My mate has a small IT business that runs itself. He has no passion for it and want's to work on bikes and possibly cars again, but not doing it for someone else. I said I'd try and do a bit of research for him to see if it there would be enough demand for it. He has all the major tools so would just need a van, which makes it pretty low risk as far as business start ups go.
Any advice I could pass on or ideas?
If you can't remove your forks then would you use someone who would come to your house and remove the forks and then service them either in his mobile workshop or take them away and return and fit them fully serviced?
Other basic service jobs can be taken out as well such as brakes, rear shock, oil and plugs etc if needed.
My mate is a former mechanic who has helped me out many times with my bike and my friends/families bikes. He has done my forks and removed my fireblade engine when a spark plug blew out and stripped the thread in the head. He is very skilled and just has a knack for all things mechanical.
He started thinking about it when I needed some one to service my forks. I had a major problem finding someone to do it in a reasonable time frame. One place quoted 6-8 weeks, others were 2-3 weeks but only if I removed them myself. I just though that I'd be able to ride it to a garage, leave it there for a few hours and they'd be done. But my local bike garages and a suspension specialist were overrun.
This was in August, so today I rang the same suspension specialist and was quoted a week or so... which was much better, but if I wanted to just drop the bike off and let them remove them and re-fit, it was a case of call us back in two weeks and well try and fit you in..
My mate has a small IT business that runs itself. He has no passion for it and want's to work on bikes and possibly cars again, but not doing it for someone else. I said I'd try and do a bit of research for him to see if it there would be enough demand for it. He has all the major tools so would just need a van, which makes it pretty low risk as far as business start ups go.
Any advice I could pass on or ideas?
There is a guy on YouTube called superbike surgery. His main jobs seem to be fault finding and fixing hard to diagnose issues. He is based around bristol if your mate is not from that area he may well be happy to let your mate know what sort of income he can expect from doing the more basic work (servicing, pads, seals).
There's definitely potential there I'd say - a lot of bike owners can do the simple stuff, but don't want to do the bigger/more complicated service items.
The difficulty will be that most folk will want him to work weekends, or be reluctant to leave him a key to let himself into their garage and work away on it. Perhaps if he had a small workshop and offered collection/delivery?
The difficulty will be that most folk will want him to work weekends, or be reluctant to leave him a key to let himself into their garage and work away on it. Perhaps if he had a small workshop and offered collection/delivery?
king tightwads that live there?
jjones said:
There is a guy on YouTube called superbike surgery. His main jobs seem to be fault finding and fixing hard to diagnose issues. He is based around bristol if your mate is not from that area he may well be happy to let your mate know what sort of income he can expect from doing the more basic work (servicing, pads, seals).
He's based in the Midlands. I'll look this superbike guy up. Cheers Krikkit said:
There's definitely potential there I'd say - a lot of bike owners can do the simple stuff, but don't want to do the bigger/more complicated service items.
The difficulty will be that most folk will want him to work weekends, or be reluctant to leave him a key to let himself into their garage and work away on it. Perhaps if he had a small workshop and offered collection/delivery?
Thst sums me up..The difficulty will be that most folk will want him to work weekends, or be reluctant to leave him a key to let himself into their garage and work away on it. Perhaps if he had a small workshop and offered collection/delivery?
His idea would be to start locally and remove the forks leaving bike on a stand, and then take them away to service the forks and then return and fit them. If there is a demand then he would buy a long based van and use that as a mobile workshop so he can work onsite.
Krikkit said:
There's definitely potential there I'd say - a lot of bike owners can do the simple stuff, but don't want to do the bigger/more complicated service items.
The difficulty will be that most folk will want him to work weekends, or be reluctant to leave him a key to let himself into their garage and work away on it. Perhaps if he had a small workshop and offered collection/delivery?
The difficulty will be that most folk will want him to work weekends, or be reluctant to leave him a key to let himself into their garage and work away on it. Perhaps if he had a small workshop and offered collection/delivery?
jjones said:
There is a guy on YouTube called superbike surgery. His main jobs seem to be fault finding and fixing hard to diagnose issues. He is based around bristol if your mate is not from that area he may well be happy to let your mate know what sort of income he can expect from doing the more basic work (servicing, pads, seals).
I now pretty much exclusively only use mobile mechanics for both cars and bikes if the job is possible to do. I've used Superbike Surgery in the past as I live just down the road from him. There is a double advantage in that most mobile mechanics are cheaper as there are less overheads - they just need to run a van rather than costs of rent, electricity, staff etc that a garage would incur. The going rate around here is £40 p/h.
100x more convenient than taking it into a shop
That would do for me. So much more convenient. And hopefully cheaper. I like to look after my machinery and I have several different vehicles. It would be great if I could get someone to turn up regularly and service them on my drive or in my garage. As I am the world's worst mechanic.
Bordtea said:
I now pretty much exclusively only use mobile mechanics for both cars and bikes if the job is possible to do. I've used Superbike Surgery in the past as I live just down the road from him.
There is a double advantage in that most mobile mechanics are cheaper as there are less overheads - they just need to run a van rather than costs of rent, electricity, staff etc that a garage would incur. The going rate around here is £40 p/h.
100x more convenient than taking it into a shop
That's good info about the hourly rates. I'm sold on the convenience side but if he can undercut the garages and still make a living then that's great.There is a double advantage in that most mobile mechanics are cheaper as there are less overheads - they just need to run a van rather than costs of rent, electricity, staff etc that a garage would incur. The going rate around here is £40 p/h.
100x more convenient than taking it into a shop
Triaguar said:
That would do for me. So much more convenient. And hopefully cheaper. I like to look after my machinery and I have several different vehicles. It would be great if I could get someone to turn up regularly and service them on my drive or in my garage. As I am the world's worst mechanic.
It sounds like a great idea as long as the guy doing it is competent. I still don't know why there's not many that just do bikes. I know it could be massively busy in the summer months but many bikers leave the maintenance side for the winter months so it's not like it would be completely dead..I bought a secondhand Ohlins shock for my Tiger from a forum and took the bike to a specialist about 40 miles away. I left the bike for the day, they serviced the Ohlins, fitted it and an Andreani fork kit, then set it up with me when I returned. I was given a loan bike for the duration (SV650, hated it) and the service was spot on. The distance was a pain (particularly as it was snowing; I was in agony at the end of each journey), it wasn't cheap, and I'd consider using someone local for rebuilds and oil changes if they had a good reputation. Which region is your friend in?
JulianHJ said:
I bought a secondhand Ohlins shock for my Tiger from a forum and took the bike to a specialist about 40 miles away. I left the bike for the day, they serviced the Ohlins, fitted it and an Andreani fork kit, then set it up with me when I returned. I was given a loan bike for the duration (SV650, hated it) and the service was spot on. The distance was a pain (particularly as it was snowing; I was in agony at the end of each journey), it wasn't cheap, and I'd consider using someone local for rebuilds and oil changes if they had a good reputation. Which region is your friend in?
He is based in the west midlands, Stourbridge, Kidderminster way As someone who has been a motorcycle mechanic for 20+ years, and has run my own MOT workshop for 13 years,
good luck to him, or anyone using his services. There is many reasons id never do mobile work.
Its impossible to do this kind of work properly without a fully equipped workshop. You need power, air compressors, lifts, lighting,presses ect.
There will be so many instances where he doesn't have the correct parts/tools on board, and each time you have spent time driving to the job. A lot of the time bikes need to be stripped before finding what the problem is. Will he strip them and leave it on peoples drive ?
Your fork job as an example, 50% of the time the forks need to be in a strong vice attached to a heavy work bench, to separate the stanchion from the leg, as over time, the rubber seal (in oil) has expanded.
+ without a formal qualification and proper liability insurance, he may be opening a bit of a can of worms.
good luck to him, or anyone using his services. There is many reasons id never do mobile work.
Its impossible to do this kind of work properly without a fully equipped workshop. You need power, air compressors, lifts, lighting,presses ect.
There will be so many instances where he doesn't have the correct parts/tools on board, and each time you have spent time driving to the job. A lot of the time bikes need to be stripped before finding what the problem is. Will he strip them and leave it on peoples drive ?
Your fork job as an example, 50% of the time the forks need to be in a strong vice attached to a heavy work bench, to separate the stanchion from the leg, as over time, the rubber seal (in oil) has expanded.
+ without a formal qualification and proper liability insurance, he may be opening a bit of a can of worms.
Edited by fred bloggs on Friday 29th November 15:36
I’ve used a guy called muddy sump to service my Triumph, he travels around the country and services the bikes at peoples houses.
Because he’s servicing specific bikes booked in advance he’s got all of the required service kits and tools ready.
I live near Aberdeen so got booked in when he was coming up to do a few other bikes in the same area.
He seems to be busy a lot of the time and must be making decent enough money to keep travelling so much even at lower rates than the dealers.
Obviously it’s a different setup doing servicing rather than repairs.
Because he’s servicing specific bikes booked in advance he’s got all of the required service kits and tools ready.
I live near Aberdeen so got booked in when he was coming up to do a few other bikes in the same area.
He seems to be busy a lot of the time and must be making decent enough money to keep travelling so much even at lower rates than the dealers.
Obviously it’s a different setup doing servicing rather than repairs.
Edited by Speed addicted on Friday 29th November 19:43
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