Motercycle work in Maryland?

[ZumaArmy]

Anyone know of a "certified" motercycle Mecanic in MD who can do a stage 2 work for not for dealer prices?

[XPS1210]

Good luck... Marylandmark tried for months to find someone to mod his zuma....

[speedy_scooter]

Not gonna happen. Especially the part about for not dealer prices.

[Zuma_MD]

My neighbor had his Zuma modified by the dealer when he bought it. He has stage one (at least) with Kevlar belt, exhaust, 70cc, clutch srpings, etc. . I think it cost him aroun $600 total for the mods. His Zuma is blazing fast. You could at least call them and inquire as to prices.

[ex-racer#2]

Anyone know of a "certified" motercycle Mecanic in MD who can do a stage 2 work for not for dealer prices?

Do you go to work for 50% off? When you ask for a discount it comes out of someones pocket. You expect to be well compensated when you go to work so why is it wrong for others to expect the same?

I have seen too many people trying to save a buck forget that if the shop makes no money then they are no longer around when you need them. Most shops give the best deals to the loyal customers. Those bargain hunters are too much hassle to deal with. They cost too much time and effort to serve and for usually no money. As soon as someone else is a couple bucks cheaper you never see them again.

As far as working on someone's machine from home? I have done it. Been a decade and I am still owed from a job. No matter how good a deal you offer the guys looking for a "deal" are never happy. It is always too expensive. To me if you are too CHEAP to pay someone else then learn to do it yourself.

[ZumaArmy]

I can appreciate your point of view especially if you got ripped off in the past. However, call me crazy but I think the $100 an hour labor quote plus a $50 each way (10 miles round trip) transport fee the local dealer gave me is a little friggin ridiculous. I would rather give a good hard working mechanic $25 or even $50 an hour cash knowing he is getting more then a lousy $9hr wile some fat cat dealership owner pockets the rest.

[XPS1210]

ZumaArmy... I agree... That local dealer IMO is a little high on his rate... A normal rate is $75.00 an hour... but you know, local markets etc...

Expect to pay for probably 4-5 hours of labor to do a pipe, carb, variator & cylinder...

It probably will only take them 2-2.5 hours... but they will probably charge book rates at a motorcycle dealer...

Really with the following tools... and a moderate amount of knowledge you can do it yourself...

socket set with up to a 17mm socket
large & medium phillips screw driver
Large pipe wrench/crescent wrench, something to get the large 36?mm maybe nut off the clutch.
pliers, etc...

That's about it... you can make shift to get the variator held to remove the 17mm nut off the variator and clutch... in fact another set of hands and leather gloves probably would work fine...

Anyway, it's doable by a moderately novice...

[ex-racer#2]

Never done a scoot before so I can't say how long it will take. But my suggestion of removing the rear end with the motor ect seems the easiest way to do it. Prep the piston ahead of time and have one of the clips in already. Aside from any cleaning of excess oil or gasket surfaces you can do a top end in about 5 minutes. It is getting the rest of it together that takes the time.

I still stand by my comment of learning to do it yourself. That way you at least know what it takes and will value the work being done by a good mechanic. Hard to put a value on work if you don't know what it takes. Plus if you feel incapable to do it yourself how can they be too expensive? I think heart surgeons are over paid but I am not about to try it myself any time soon. Sometimes the best can do it in less time and the overall cost is still lower based on a higher hourly rate.