Thread: What are you working on?

Har! So Shaun....A 2 inch pipe?

Originally Posted by engine46

Yeah like Jimi Hendix or The Who would do on stage & trash their instruments!!!

Did Hendrix trash guitars? Never saw that!

Originally Posted by sharptonn

Har! So Shaun....A 2 inch pipe?

Ooooh that would be a hell of a pipe clamp. 3/4" bro.

Originally Posted by RezDog

Ooooh that would be a hell of a pipe clamp. 3/4" bro.

And going shoeshine boy....

Step it up, Freddie! Beat that bad boy across some iron!

As I recall it was a fairly high energy, sweat generating activity. I had to do lots of popping because I have such a lousy sense of rythme

A picture comes to mind!

Really anxious to see results. I have several fabric strops which could benefit!

It breaks it in quite nicely. Makes it smooth and buttery to strop on. I keep eyeing up my vintage line for a pipe treatment, and it's coming.

Originally Posted by engine46

When I worked there Tom, I got everything at cost plus 10%. That was then, this is now.............

When I worked for the dealers we got cost plus 10 as well seems to be the standard. The dealer in Phoenix I worked at they sold used bikes to us at cost! I always appreciated that. I bought a 93 wide glide from them 110 hp 118 ft lbs. It was a monster! 93 inch evo, could blow the tire off in 3rd gear. Now at my home when and if I do bike work I'm $50/ hr which is win win for the customer and myself. Local dealers at $85+/ hr! And paying mechanics $14. That's why I'm a factory rat now, I'd still be living with my parents if not.

Originally Posted by engine46

Yep! You are so right, Triumph's, Norton's, BSA's all those English scooters weren't cheap to work on. I have a c-clamp in my tool box with a 1/8" thick piece of rubber on it for some of those brake calipers & I also had one of those K&D tools which I couldn't find but it was very similar to this one:

Capri Tools Brake Pad Spreader and Piston Compressor Tool | eBay

The Harley's like the one I have that was totaled have a 4 piston caliper & the brake pads could be replaced w/o pulling the caliper off by using a stiff putty knife between the disc & old pads & prying the pistons in & the pads would fall out when pulling the pins out. That was the way they showed us at Harley. You just had to make sure you pushed the pistons all the way in but it wasn't hard. Then on the ones with dual disc brakes, the pistons would sometimes stick some, so I would blow all that old dust out of there, spray brake cleaner on them, blow that off & spray some lube on the pistons & push them in. I would then pump the front brakes until the pistons came out again & would repeat until all 4 pistons were working again. People loved it, then my dealership started charging them for it.

You nailed it! Customers with a soft brake lever love that treatment! I never charged a soul for that and repeat customers stemmed from it. There are so many little tricks that make a bike right that if you don't do it everyday you just don't know. Adjusting a clutch correctly is huge too. People are blown away by it. Another favorite is lubing hinges on saddle bags, they get all giddy over that.
As said back to razors