Mystery Motorcycle Malady Took 4 Mechanics To Figure It Out | Page 3 | GTAMotorcycle.com

Mystery Motorcycle Malady Took 4 Mechanics To Figure It Out

Honda NX250 cc
I give up. Does this bike have points? I can only think of points or valves that require feeler gauges (ok plug gap too....)
 
I give up. Does this bike have points? I can only think of points or valves that require feeler gauges (ok plug gap too....)
Going from running well to complete no-start instantly would be strange for anything requiring feeler gauges. Since he replaced a CID which is rubber potted, I am going with electronic ignition and no points. He changed the plug with mechanic 1. That leaves us with valve clearance as the likely culprit.
 
Going from running well to complete no-start instantly would be strange for anything requiring feeler gauges. Since he replaced a CID which is rubber potted, I am going with electronic ignition and no points. He changed the plug with mechanic 1. That leaves us with valve clearance as the likely culprit.

Agreed
 
Always. Without fail. Peggy's maintenance threads are up there with the clogged carrots, R1Timmay crash, and Boston Pizza threads for legendary status. I'm sure someone has saved and can post the link to the OG Maintenance 101 thread from the archives to bring you up to speed.


How to grease the axel sticks: Thread 'Bike Mechanics 101 With Pegassus (For Noobs)' Bike Mechanics 101 With Pegassus (For Noobs)

Pure gold.
 
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Your third world mechanic forgot to sacrifice a chicken , no motorcycle will ever start without a proper ritual .


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Mechanics in that country are miles ahead of mechanics in Canada, who don't want to get their hands dirty and are too lazy to fix the problem. I had a transmission/gear box problem with my Yamaha XT, went to a fancy shop that is always glorified here on GTAMotorcycle and they told me "We don't deal with that, it's a hard job". Took it to Rosey Toes and he told me "Throw that junk in the garbage, buy a new one, what's wrong with you?".

Finally took it to this motorcycle shop, which is now closed, near Steeles ave W/Pine Valley Drive and finally they took a look at it, they did the gearbox job and fixed it, but who was it? A mechanic who had just come to Canada from the 3rd World, a Jamaican old dude.

FYI: I never thought that the gearbox of a motorcycle could be so complicated, it has like 1,000 small parts.
 
Mechanics in that country are miles ahead of mechanics in Canada, who don't want to get their hands dirty and are too lazy to fix the problem. I had a transmission/gear box problem with my Yamaha XT, went to a fancy shop that is always glorified here on GTAMotorcycle and they told me "We don't deal with that, it's a hard job". Took it to Rosey Toes and he told me "Throw that junk in the garbage, buy a new one, what's wrong with you?".

Finally took it to this motorcycle shop, which is now closed, near Steeles ave W/Pine Valley Drive and finally they took a look at it, they did the gearbox job and fixed it, but who was it? A mechanic who had just come to Canada from the 3rd World, a Jamaican old dude.

FYI: I never thought that the gearbox of a motorcycle could be so complicated, it has like 1,000 small parts.
There's a reason most shops won't touch transmission work - it's incredibly time consuming.
If you're paying someone $100+ an hour and it takes 10 (or lots more hours) to do the job (plus parts) you can exceed the value of the machine very quickly.
There's a whole generation of Yamahas that are notorious for eating second gear, with no final cure.
Sometimes a motor replacement or drop off into landfill is the only fix.
 
A mechanic who had just come to Canada from the 3rd World, a Jamaican old dude.
Sorry to burst your argument here, but your recent immigrant mechanic moved to Canada when he was about 7 or 8, in the early '60s, and the time he lived in Jamaica he lived at an English school (his father was the principal). He isn't very Jamaican, or "third world".
He opened shop last year on Dundas in Mississauga, called The Motorcycle Mechanic.
Stevie is one of the best motorcycle mechanics around.
 
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Mechanics in that country are miles ahead of mechanics in Canada, who don't want to get their hands dirty and are too lazy to fix the problem. I had a transmission/gear box problem with my Yamaha XT, went to a fancy shop that is always glorified here on GTAMotorcycle and they told me "We don't deal with that, it's a hard job". Took it to Rosey Toes and he told me "Throw that junk in the garbage, buy a new one, what's wrong with you?".

Finally took it to this motorcycle shop, which is now closed, near Steeles ave W/Pine Valley Drive and finally they took a look at it, they did the gearbox job and fixed it, but who was it? A mechanic who had just come to Canada from the 3rd World, a Jamaican old dude.

FYI: I never thought that the gearbox of a motorcycle could be so complicated, it has like 1,000 small parts.
These are usually pretty simple math equations...

Bike is worth X. Cost to diagnose the problem 2X. Cost to fix the problem 3X.
 
There's a reason most shops won't touch transmission work - it's incredibly time consuming.
If you're paying someone $100+ an hour and it takes 10 (or lots more hours) to do the job (plus parts) you can exceed the value of the machine very quickly.
There's a whole generation of Yamahas that are notorious for eating second gear, with no final cure.
Sometimes a motor replacement or drop off into landfill is the only fix.
Yep, my problem was with the 2nd gear. C'mon man, you have to be a sloth with marshmallow hands to take you 10 hours to fix a gearbox on a motorcycle, my friend, who is a car mechanic, assembles an entire car engine in 3.5 hrs.
 
Sorry to burst your argument here, but your recent immigrant mechanic moved to Canada when he was about 7 or 8, in the early '60s, and the time he lived in Jamaica he lived at an English school (his father was the principal). He isn't very Jamaican, or "third world".
He opened shop last year on Dundas in Mississauga, called The Motorcycle Mechanic.
Stevie is one of the best motorcycle mechanics around.
Well he might be the last of the old school mechanics let in the GTA, because Ted Rosey doesn't count, now he just wants to certify bikes and change tires. I told him this in his face too, so I'm not back-biting him. He refused to work on my gearbox, I told him; "Holy hell Ted, you should just close down this mud hut of yours if you are not going to do real mechanic work". He said to me; "I'm old, you donkey, I'm not a young stud anymore, this is why I just do light stuff now". So I told him: "Buddy if I want to fix a flat tire or get a bike certified I can go to any monkey at any shop to do it for me, at least they have coffee machines and an A/C waiting room, why should I come to you?".

Anyways it's a sad state of affairs here in the GTA when it comes to finding REAL bike mechanics.
 
Yep, my problem was with the 2nd gear. C'mon man, you have to be a sloth with marshmallow hands to take you 10 hours to fix a gearbox on a motorcycle, my friend, who is a car mechanic, assembles an entire car engine in 3.5 hrs.
You have to take the motor out, disassemble it, find out and order what parts you need, clean everything, reassemble, reinstall and make run. If your car mechanic buddy can do all that it 3.5 hours I'll eat my shorts. If your car mechanic buddy can do all that with a motorcycle I'll eat HIS shorts. So you only got charged $375 for all that plus parts and tax ? I call complete and utter b.s.
 
You have to take the motor out, disassemble it, find out and order what parts you need, clean everything, reassemble, reinstall and make run. If your car mechanic buddy can do all that it 3.5 hours I'll eat my shorts. If your car mechanic buddy can do all that with a motorcycle I'll eat HIS shorts. So you only got charged $375 for all that plus parts and tax ? I call complete and utter b.s.
Unless the bike has a cassette transmission, there's no way all that can be done for that price. And if it is done for that price, I see a mechanic shop shutting down soon because they're losing money.
 
You have to consider geography in the OPs pricing , labour costs in quite a few Central American countries is 10-15% of what you may pay in Canada . Parts cost what parts cost , but service rates are very cheap .


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You have to consider geography in the OPs pricing , labour costs in quite a few Central American countries is 10-15% of what you may pay in Canada . Parts cost what parts cost , but service rates are very cheap .


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If you change countries, everything can change. Kenya is predominantly small panes of glass in leaded windows as big sheets of glass are very expensive and labour is cheap. If you want to dig a hole, you hire a bunch of guys with pickaxes and give them a few weeks. There are only a few excavators in Nairobi and the hole cost would be exponentially higher to use equipment. I've had springs wound from straight stock while I waited at a hardware store in S Korea. Things that are almost impossible here (or at the very least prohibitively expensive) are common there (and vice versa). One way is not necessarily better than the other. Both ways have advantages and disadvantages.
 
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