The Honda Owners Club

On my way back from Newquay in Cornwall after picking up my newly aquired CB750Kz I ran into some horrific weather....and I mean bad I got drenched and so did my bike which resulted in my 4 pot machine running on 2 pots hmmmm

Well I manage to get the bike to the place where my wife and I were to be staying for a few days in Bampton Somerset and spent the following day going to Barnstaple to believe it or not a Kawasaki Dealer who were extremly helpfull and after talking to one of their mechanics who confirmed my first thoughts bought a new set of plugs went back to Bampton changed the plugs sprayed the plug caps Ht leads ect. with WD-40 drained the carb resovoirs ect....... hmmm still only 2 pots, then searche the bike high and low for the CDI unit (it doesn't have any it has points) hmmm but as I don't yet have a workshop manual I was stuck as what to do next.

So yesterday I rode the bike to Bridgewater and there I found a Honda Dealer .... sorry to say they were less helpfull than the Kawasaki Dealer in Barstaple ...... no help from the mechanics they were all too busy to help me I was told, my bike was too old they had no information on my bike whatsoever in fact the oldest bike they had any information on was a 1991 nighthawk.

Almost reluctantly the chap then suggested I tried Pat Watts Motorcycles who he said deals more in Classic Bikes and drew me aplan of how to get there.

On arriving at Pat Watts he said at first he could not fit me in as he had so much work that there was several days waiting list to get a bike in to be looked at. However on explaing my situation that I was on my way back to West Wales he agreed to have a quick look but said if it was anything that could not be fixed quickly he would not do it unless I left the bike there nad picked it up a couple of days later to which I agreed.

An Hour later I went back and her smiled and said "I have found the fault it is a burnt out Spark Plug Igniter" " The rain may have finished it off but it was more than likley on the blink before that and several of the contacts on the bike were a bit corroded" He didn't have a spare one but phoned a breakers in Taunton who as it turned out did. So he sent me off to pick it up and when I got back fitted it and that was it problem solved....the service he gave was exellent and in the end he did his best to get me back on the road we had a great chat and I ended up putting the bike back together with him.
The Shop is a small shop run by him and his son he has been working on bikes since he was 15 and he told me he is now 70 and he really new his stuff and so did his son.
I said I would write a report in this forum and recomend his shop to which he told me "Thats great thanks it would be nice to have someone write a good report as a couple of weeks ago I had a woman in who it turned out was one of these people sent to check out shops who wrote a report on the internet that his shop was old, dirty and run by two gray haired old chaps who didn't have a clue what they were talking about"
I said "well its just my kind of shop, and the service you have offered me should be rewarded"

He only charged me 35 quid which is 1 hours rate although he spent at least 2 hours on the bike if not more.

Brilliant, if only more garages were still like that

Just checking that I have got this right;

1. You visited a Kawasaki dealer who confirmed your wrong diagnosis and sold you a set of four plug - with a smile.

2. You visited a Honda dealer who having no experience of, or any manuals or specifications for your old bike, did not waste your or their own time by fishing about in the dark but gave you directions to:

3. A couple of biking enthusiasts who did have some experience of your bike and spent 2+ hours sorting out the problem and then spent their time telling you their life story, all for £35.00.

I am not surprised that they had a old, dirty shop and thought of as not having a clue. £35.00 for 2+ hours means they are not long for this commercial world. Mind you they could well bumble along until their shop is sold as a wine bar.

I am not quite sure where your ' the service you have offered me should be rewarded' comes in.

I often remark that it is a pity that the little butchers shop that sold home made sausages has gone - you know, the one I used to pass on my way to Tesco.

Barry,
just to check that I got this right :

1) You praise little butcher shops and then pass them by on your way to Tesco´s.

2)You believe that old grey haired men who repair the bike of a man who is on his way home which is a couple of hundred miles away and then only charge him 35 quid waste their time and will inevitably end up going bust to make room for a modern wine bar.

3)You think that an old dirty shop that smells of petrol and oil is a relict of pastimes and should better be replaced by a modern clean coffee shop containing men in smart uniforms presenting
shopping center (so to say a "Tesco" for bikers) because though they don´t have a clue about bikes at least learned all the right answers to sound wise and witty.


Let me resume this :Are you working in such a shop and are you riding a real modern bike( not older than 2 years) with loads of plastic around it and see yourself as "the expert" for every possible bike problem?

If so, Congratulations !

Hi Barry,

Firstly I found your reply arrogant, cynical and very unfriendly and unfitting for a forum that is here for every Honda bike owner whether it be a scooter a street racer or a "classic".

To answer point 1 which you made: I went to the Kawasaki shop in a car leaving the bike at the place we were staying so the mechanic there could only make a guess at what the problem might be, this was a logical guess and was probably the correct place to start, I had some tools with me but had forgotten to pack my plug wrench so I couldn't even take out the plugs to check them, the fact that I had ridden over 50 miles on 2 cylinders could have led to the fact that the plugs may have been knackered. I wanted to replace them with iridium plugs and the mechanic talked me out of it saying that trying a cheeper set first made more sense as the problem may be something much more serious and that 3 quid a plug rather than 7-8 quid is much less to spend. I could have just bought a plug wrench and then driven the 25 miles back taken out the plugs only to find that I would have to drive another 50 mile round trip to go and buy the plugs therfore buy the set of 4 plugs was the cheaper solution .... and as it happened the old plugs were ok but at least now I have a spare set .... which every biker should have !!!!

As to point 2: many of the large Honda dealers don't give a monkey's about "Classic" bike owners and the least they could have done was get one of the mechanics to have a quick word with me as maybe he would have had some idea of what the problem may have been...instead he just said well I can order you a Haynes Manual which would take 2 days to get...not much help there as I was on my way home to wales with still 150 miles to go....what should I do ride all the way home on 2 pots with the chance of wrecking the engine completely ??? (probably better you may thinks another old bike off the road Eh!!)

Point three: Pat Watts and Son are not just a couple of biking enthusiasts with some experience but run a professional shop catering for all bikes of all ages and all makes, the shop has existed for over 30 years !!
They are both Mot testers, with a very well equiped workshop Pat is also a CBT tester and has and offroad track where he teaches young kids road safety (he says that the younger they learn the more benificial it will be to them in later life) he also teaches thenm to ride "kids bikes" His workshop is full of "Classic" bikes both British and Japanese some of which they own but most of which were they for repair. This was obviously the best place to go to get help to repair a "Classic" bike from my point of view.

The reason I wrote this report her on this forum was to help any "Classic Honda" riders who may be in the area and may be in need of help, and I told Pat that I was going to do this and that is why he only charged me for 1 hour.

So what service did he offer me that should be rewarded? : well he made the time to look at my bike because it was an emergency, when he had other work to do and normally I would have had to book an appointment for sometime next week to get my bike fixed as he had so much work !!! He cleaned all the relevant contacts that possibly led to the fault in the first place, not just sticking the new bit in and saying off you go that should be fine now. As there are just the 2 of them they probably make more money for their own pockets than one of the chaps at the Honda dealer earns and as they have been going for over 30 years it is unlikely that they will disapear to make way for a wine bar as you suggest.

As for your last remark my wife and I still shop at the local butchers and the bakers too and their prices are competetive with tescos and the quality is a sgood if not better....and by the way I work for TESCO's.

If you are one of these who as Sandwitch suggests ride a brand new street racer and have no interest in Old Bikes as you say then why bother wasting time replying to a post that was put here to help similar minded bikers like myself...."Classic Bikers" (although Pat Watts does sell new bikes and accesories too:

I love these "traditional" bike shops and will continue to support them !!!

Witch.

the sandwitch wrote:Barry,
just to check that I got this right :

1) You praise little butcher shops and then pass them by on your way to Tesco´s.

Don't we all? I have not forced the thousands of little local shops to put up the shutters all on my own.

2)You believe that old grey haired men who repair the bike of a man who is on his way home which is a couple of hundred miles away and then only charge him 35 quid waste their time and will inevitably end up going bust to make room for a modern wine bar.

Yes. One such shop within a mile of me is now a computer shop. The previous owner/mechanic now does the odd job out of his garage - cash in hand.
The second one about ten miles from me couldn't afford the new Rates and had messed up his VAT. His Bank that held his mortgage, sold his shop. It is now an Italian style restaurant. Employing a chef, two other full time staff and several part time waiters. Its owner and wife both work in the restaurant and get a fair living.

3)You think that an old dirty shop that smells of petrol and oil is a relict of pastimes and should better be replaced by a modern clean coffee shop containing men in smart uniforms presenting
shopping center (so to say a "Tesco" for bikers) because though they don´t have a clue about bikes at least learned all the right answers to sound wise and witty.

Personally I do not mind the smell of petrol and oil. But a lot of people don't. Take a look at modern bike shops, they are like that because that has proved to be the model that is profitable and offers the best chance of continued viability.
As to the quality of their staff - you get what you pay for. It is not viable for a shop to employ experienced and knowledgeable staff and lots of demonstrators just to have a biker use their services, then go and buy a bike, cheaper, from a bucket shop. It is a bit like using the experience and technical ability of a mechanic for 2+ hours then giving them £35.00 - it is taking the pi**.

Let me resume this :Are you working in such a shop and are you riding a real modern bike( not older than 2 years) with loads of plastic around it

Your resumption or even presumption, is well off the mark. My only relationship with bike shops is my local Honda dealer who I buy my bikes from and who gives my bike its initial service. I do purchase any aftermarket bits and pieces I need through a local non franchise bike shop. I do have a new bike also one 5 years old and another 26 years old. I no longer take the 26 year old out of the country - just in case I need the AA. I accept that getting bits for it or anyone who understands it is a problem. I always carry its Haynes manual in the top box with the collection of cut down 'Allen' keys and twisted spanners just in case. Having said that, it has never ever let me down!

and see yourself as "the expert" for every possible bike problem?

Not at all, but I know people who are

A good frank exchange of views

Barry, you do tend to make assumptions from insufficient information and then ram your conclusions down our throat.... A little restraint in your writings may make your point more acceptable to others.

WM - thanks for the report. If you really feel good about Pat Watts Motorcycles, then a short write up to Golden Wing may well got it out to a wider audience.

Alan

That is your conclusion.

I thought I was merely questioning a woolly, one sided, unsupported report. Giving the original poster the opportunity to firm up and clarify their original post, then discussing the topic on the information given from a different prospective.

I do tend to assume that correspondents are capable of holding up and expressing their end of any discussion.

As far as my language goes, I do not subscribe to the popular 'round the houses' PC mode of expression, preferring a more direct use of our language, without swearing or with what could be considered personally insulting remarks. If on occasions the 'cap' happens to 'fit', so be it.

Barry I would echo some of what Alan has said. You say above that it was a woolly, one sided, unsupported report. It was a nice report about good service received from an obviously caring mechanic. Supported by the fact that someone had received that service and bothered to tell us about it. How do you make such a good report not one sided? What would be the point?

You read it then chose to question the authors integrity rather than recogising that somewhere in this country there is a mechanic who helps people in difficulty and chooses to not rip them off or fob them off. Well done Pat Watts.

Thanks Alan and dibble for the support, when I first posted this report it was intended to be a help for anyone in the North Devon, Somerset Area looking for a good "down to earth" traditional bike shop with a superb mechanic who obviously knows what he is doing. I didn't expect to get slagged off (which is how I felt from Barry's reaction to my post)

One thing I didn't mention is that I told Pat that I would write this report on the site as I was so pleased with the help he had given me to get me back on the road so quickly.....before he presented me with the bill. When I asked for the bill he said he would only charge me for 1 hour as a favour for me giving his shop a write up here....if this is taking the p**s then I am sorry that I have such a bad sense of humour !!

Thanks Alan I think that I will send in a write up for Golden Wing.

Regards Witch

Witchmaster wrote: I didn't expect to get slagged off (which is how I felt from Barry's reaction to my post)

Perhaps that's why we have to think twice as to what we post here!

Nothing wrong with your little write-up at all. I just think he wants to pick holes in anything he can, just to stir things up.