Repair Services
If your bike does not run, or it runs but you can’t ride it, then your bike is in need of repairs.
The most common repair I perform is a basic carburetor cleaning
Carburetors need to be cleaned after they sit for a period of time. What happens is the ethanol that’s mixed with the gasoline turns into a gelatinous mess inside your carburetor’s float bowl. This plugs up the tiny holes in the carburetor that dispense fuel to the engine. These holes must be cleaned out before the bike will run again.
Other common repairs include removing and replacing malfunctioning electrical components, like your rectifier/regulator (bike doesn’t charge), CDI box (bike doesn’t spark), or your battery (bike won’t start).
There are as many different types of repairs as there are types of motorcycles and components
Dirt Bikes & ATVs
Dirt riders often experience bent handlebars, broken levers, crushed radiators, mangled subframes, grenaded engines, blown fork seals, and overlooked maintenance.
Sportbikes
Sportbike riders often experience broken side covers from tip-overs, smoked clutches, brakes that haven’t been touched since the bike was new, and engines that make strange and mysterious noises for no apparent reason.
Scooters
Scooter riders often experience a whole host of issues associated with bikes of Chinese origin, including poor construction and non-existent maintenance. Many Japanese and European scooters are built like tanks and just keep going and going, until they don’t anymore.
When a repair is required because of poor maintenance, repair costs can quickly outstrip the purchase price of the machine itself.
More about scooter, ATV, and motorcycle repair
Repairs are often necessary after a bike sits for a long time. Parts break on perfectly maintained bikes that are used often as well. When the bike is well maintained and used often, parts tend to break in ways that are easier to deduce and discern. This is simply not true for bikes that have been sitting outside in the weather or for bikes that have been repeatedly taken apart and put back together again by less than scrupulous amateur mechanics.
As you can see, poor maintenance is a source of much frustration among riders. One way to prevent your bike from needing frequent repairs is to keep it well maintained; however, maintenance is not a guarantee that your bike will not break in the future and require repairs.
Easy problems vs. more complex issues
Many riders are under the impression that there’s “something stupid” going on with their bike that they can’t see, that can be cheaply and easily fixed by a competent mechanic.
Sometimes this is the case.
Sometimes it’s not.
The reason your scooter or motorcycle doesn’t run as well as it used to could be something as simple as a worn spark plug. It could also be something like worn piston rings.
A worn spark plug is quick, easy, and inexpensive to address. Spark plugs are a regular maintenance item that should be replaced frequently.
Wear on piston rings and cylinder walls could be an expensive nightmare to repair, depending on the bike. Pistons and rings are a maintenance item on many bikes; however, they tend to last a lot longer than spark plugs.
There are many, many other reasons your bike could be running poorly. Maintenance could be a part of that, but I’m not willing to bet that it’s the whole story without seeing the bike first.
Diagnosing the underlying issue
If your bike is difficult to start or runs poorly, I insist on diagnosing and repairing the underlying issue before performing any maintenance work.
All machines, including and especially motorcycles and scooters, eventually break, even those that are fastidiously maintained by meticulous owners and mechanics.
For more information on the services I offer, click one of these links:
Repair | Maintenance | Modification | Pricing
Call (720) 634-6935 to schedule an appointment.