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RE: tires and dealer BS



> From: owner-st@xxxxxxxxxx
>
> In fact I asked the sales person at chaparral when I
> got my MEz3's, he laughed and said that there is no
> way they would sell a defective tyre, and that all
> dealerships tell their customers that. But then
> again, what else is the guy going to say :-)

Being from Texas you may not know that Chaparral is, in fact, a
freakishly large motorcycle dealership that sells motorcycles,
ATVs and watercraft. Whenever I go there it looks like they have
at least one of each motorcycle in their respective line-ups on
the floor. I don't go there too often because:

1) San Bernardino is a bit out of the way for me
2) The selection in the store looks large at first, but when you
go looking for something you notice that it is more like 100
pieces of only three or four different things - the selection is
usually *better* at smaller dealerships.
3) The floor 'help' is somewhat clue-impaired. A burger-flipper
at McDonalds knows more about what they sell than anyone I have
ever managed to talk to at Chaparral.

I hear that their mail-order business is pretty good, though.

Personally, I buy common wear items (like tires and chains) at an
independent shop or salvage yard [1]. While they may be a few
bucks more than Chaparral, they also will mount *both* tires on
the bike for $30.00 or install a chain for $10.00. My dealer
charges 'shop rates' for such things even if you buy them there.
While I don't mind an extra $20.00 or so, paying $67.00/hr for a
claimed 1hr+ R&R of the tires *after* paying an extra $60.00 or
so for the set seems just a bit silly.

I won't even get into the $500.00+ they quoted me for the 12K
service - let's just say that $500.00 will get you a valve shim
tool, a service manual, and a bunch of nice tools...

[1] Cycle Barn in City of Industry is my current favorite



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