+1 that is 100% true! and buy taking it in their with the plastic off, you only saved them time [:@]Another +1 to Tahoe, do the work yourself! save the money, and buy better quailty parts, just my .02

 

2.5 hours seems a bit much to me. I know it wouldn't take me 1 hour to swap out a shock.

5.2 hours does seem a bit long but your not very specific on what was done and include in that 5.2 hours. There's a big difference between inspecting valves and adjusting valves. Does this include a throttle body sync???? (most places don't include that with valves). Plugs???

0.6 hours sounds about right.

FWIW, you can do it all of this yourself and save yourself a ton of cash:

valve clearances (for 600RR but it'll be really close to your bike, at least procedurally)
throttle body sync
cooling system flush



This doesn't make a whole lot of sense. The way these shim valves work, there is no minor adjustment. They're either in spec or not and need adjustment if they're out of spec. The same amount of labor is involved if they're 0.001mm out of spec or 0.010 mm out of spec.

My god!!!! where do you live????? Shops here in San Francisco, CA haven't been at that rate in over 5 years. The cheapest I've seen here is $85/hour.

 

This doesn't make a whole lot of sense. The way these shim valves work, there is no minor adjustment. They're either in spec or not and need adjustment if they're out of spec. The same amount of labor is involved if they're 0.001mm out of spec or 0.010 mm out of spec.

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Exactly...modern engines stay within the engineered specs...even ones 10-15 years old...

No adjustment is usually needed...in my experience anyway.
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Yeah...lots wrong in S.F...including bike work prices...

 

Labor rate in Green Bay Wi is $85. Like most shops if you bring in your own parts for anything it goes higher, usually to $100 or so.

 

mechanics often work on a bonus scheme and as stated they charge by book time for what honda say it should take. if it says 5.2 and they do it in 2 hours then the mechanic most likely gets a bonus.

lots of my car mechanic friends earn bonuses like this. they work 40 hours and earn 60 hours bonus... thats a lot of money.

 

I used to work at a dealership and have seen a mechanic do a 2.5hr book clutch job in 25mins from on lift to off lift, so I know HOW the book system works, I just don't have the book.

If I had someone to show me HOW to do valves I would've done that myself. Otherwise I think I could have fumbled through the rest....how hard can it be, right?

 

You must be going to Team...?...check out Naef Cycle....Ken will take good care of you.

 

aside from all the bs hours you got charged...here to get valve clearance checked...it's a flat fee for $300 plus...and doesn't include TB synching nor getting valves to spec. ripping everything off to get to the valves doesn't take very long if you've been working with the bike, but it's the actual shimming that sucks. the shim under bucket is a total pita. at local shops here, just for valves and adjustments alone would run over $400 already.

given that...price for everything that was done for bird's bike, if it comes out to less than $500 isn't bad...for a dealer...

but had he done it himself...that's like 2 trackdays in his pocket.

 

im in the same boat as you man i got to have my valves ajusted soon and im going to have to bring it to the shop to have it done becuase i have never ajusted valves. the 3 things i let the shop do are valves, chain, tires. every thing else i do my self.

 

chain is easy, let the shop mount the tires, nothing more...
valves...it's actually not so bad...just a lot of work to do but not so bad (checking clearance)...now if you need to adjust then it gets a bit more arduous. i haven't had to shim the bike yet, but as far as checking clearance, it's fairly straight forward.