Hello everyone! been a long time since i posted. I wanted to chime in here and say I am the "builder" of this bike. Your judgements should be reserved till you here both sides of this story. This gentleman contacted me to repair/build his bike, as it was all IN BOXES, completely disassembled, including engine, with many, many missing pieces, after having sat in a flooded garage for 5 or so years. He wanted a price to re assemble everything, i quoted him $1500 labor, just to assemble his bike completely, no parts, no custom work. during the assembly process, he stopped by many times, complimented me many times on my thorough and careful work and i sent pics daily, he asked that it get done in 3 weeks, i told him it would be difficult, but i would work my butt off to get it done. During this process, i discovered he was missing many, many parts, 5-6 engine covers, airbox, kickstarter, brakelines, carb parts, many, many bits missing, i called him and told him, he said to acquire and install, i told him price, he just didn't realize it all adds up. he then said he wanted to have custom work done, which i advised against, due to budgetary concerns, i told him directly, but he said it was no prob, and to go ahead and craft custom rearsets & linkages, signal mounts, gauge mounts, tail light mounts, etc etc. During the 3rd 70hr work week i endured, he stopped by and i showed him his service sheet, he said it was all ok, i then asked if he would have payment ready by cycle completion/delivery date, he said no, it would take a few months to come up with the cash...............
I had thrown myself into this project, because i was very stressed, my Mother had just been diagnosed with lung cancer, and was declining rapidly in heath and then perished while i was working on this cycle, i actually needed the payment from this service to pay for her funeral services..
So now that this Gentleman had RUSHED me to complete his bike, but, did not have the money to pay for it, i paused working on it, and worked on one of the other many cycles i had to service, gotta pay the bills, a month or so later, he called and said he had the cash and wanted to pick up on sunday (4 day warning), so i quickly got started on it, was final tuning it, when he came by early, on sat, and demanded his bike, but did not have full payment....... normally i never let a project go without full payment, but i was emotionally drained and did not want to argue with this guy, besides HE PROMISED many times he would have payment for me in a month, He swore up and down, gave his word, so, on his insistence, i let him take it early, not being fully tuned, and without full payment.
His total bill was $2500, he only paid 1700. i have all the paper work, i lost money.
A day or 2 later, he called me, said he was having trouble starting it, i said i can finish retuning his carbs, but didn't have a ride, so if he could pick me up, I would take care it no prob, free of charge, he said he would mess with it, and call me back. I never denied him service, i back up my work and would of happily taken care of any prob, as i do with all my customers.
I tried to call him, text him, email him for the next few months to follow up with carb retuning and final payment, but no response for a year.....he lied to me.
One of my friends, who lives in the city, saw his bike, and reported to me, i emailed this gentleman and said it was bogus what he did, ripped me off, took advantage of me, etc etc, and low and behold, he replied back, first time in almost a year, and proceeded to tell me how the overall quality of my work was bad, made a bunch of excuses for not paying etc etc, but then, over several emails, he admitted he was wrong, and owed me, and made arrangements to drop off $400 to a friend of mine in the city, he was to embarrassed/ashamed to face me.
So even though he lied to me, deceived me and disrespected me, I Thank him for paying his debt, at least in partial.
I have been repairing, restoring, customizing motorcycles for more than 20 years, about 15yrs on my own, and out of the 1000's and 1000's of cycles i have serviced, only about 5-7 people have been dissatisfied with my services, including this gentleman.
I am known for being precise, honest and friendly, i have a reputation thats speaks for itself among those who know me.
I have built cycles for professionals, high dollar builds, but i enjoy repairing old bikes, the ones peeps ride to work everyday.
Thank you for listening,
Rob
Dinosaur Four Motorcycle Services
