Topic: Fair Price for someone to work on your bike

[bowhunter]

If you people had to pay someone to repair your ride, what would you consider to be a reasonable hourly charge for the work?
Granted, that would depend on the part of the country(US) you lived in, I'm sure. Maybe I should post this as a poll question,
but I'll post this here first. I live in Milwaukee, and the going rate seems to be over $75/hour if you can even get someone to look at an 'ancient' bike.

Bowhunter

[750goes]

Send it to me I'll do it for $75 US per hour.......

thats like $100 Australian dollars... mechanics around Sydney do work for roughly $50 plus per hour, add in parts - so you are getting ripped off...

I would think to find an older style shop/repairer and negotiate a reasonable rate and let them know you will become a regular (not too much though) customer, who may also supply the odd case of beer...and word of mouth advertising is good for them as well....

what sort of work are you contemplating anyway ??

[WJL75]

What kind of work do you need done, and what is the timeframe?  

A friend may do it for the beer.  I know The Shop charges $80 and hour, but they do great work.  I guess it would depend on how well you know the person your are hiring and what they do for a living...meaning if they are a mechanic, they may expect a little more.  If they are just into bikes, $25-$40 an hour is not too bad, but I'd try for a flat rate.  It's a lot easier to say I'll pay you $150 to do this or that, before they add up all of the hours it will take them.  If it ends up being a lot of work, beer always helps.

I've done some work on my bike, but learned it better by diving into it.  I am in Milwaukee and live on the Eastside on Knapp St, and don't have a ton of space to work on my bike, but I've had the front end off it.  If it's engine work, that's one thing, but carbs can be done by almost anyone with a little help from this site.  I guess you need to look at what you want done and how much you can afford and go from there.  

BTW is that your Orange 550 I see on Cass street?  I ride by it every day on my way to work.  

[bowhunter]

Like I said, it's more like a poll question. I've done most of my own work so far except for mounting new tires,
Just trying to get a feel for what's considered reasonable in different parts of the country.Even thought of doing some side jobs when the mood strikes me. I don't want to rip anyone off, just make my time worthwhile.
My current ride is on my avatar. '77 750K. Not too far from you though, 25th and Silver Spring. Drop me a PM if you'll
be in the neighborhood.

Bowhunter

[ic455]

I'd also vote for flat rate.  I still do automotive work sometimes and I always charge flat rate.  I usually come out at about 20 bucks an hour or more.  I figure if I make more than I do at my regular job for one hour's work, I'm ahead.  Of course, I like to nip at the heels of the shops in my town, who charge 60 bucks an hour, so I usually estimate about what they would charge to do a job, then charge half of that or less.  I still make money, help somebody out, and stick it to the shops.

[CharlieT]

Going rates around here seem to be in the $55-75/hr range.  $75 at the dealers, $55 at the small independent shops. If I work on somebody else's stuff, depends a lot on the situation. If they bring something over and stay around and we work on it together....well I work and show/teach them and they help out, don't charge much of anything. In fact most of the time they give me more voluntarily than I would or did ask for. However if somebody just drops something off I fix it and they just come back and pick it up, I'll charge them a bit more.

Have found you have to be careful working on "friends" stuff. Actually more aquaintances, not real true friends. I've rebuilt dirt bike engines for some, say do a top end on a CR125, and they think becaue you are a "friend", you should do it for free ( they buy the parts). They get offended or PO'd if you even ask, say, $25 to do the top end.

[griff6-5-zero]

I bought a 80 CB650 in Feb. for $400. To make a long story short, it needed a head gasket and base gasket. I called around because I never worked on an engine. I figured that I would get bent over. Sure enough, $1200+ these people wanted. So I bought a shop manual $25, gasket set $85, new rings $120,3caseofbeer $45 and help from a couple thousand good people(sohc4) priceless! It all depends on how deep your pockets go...

[bryanj]

For close friends the work is free except for copious quatities of good old english Tea,

Paying jobs i dont take on at less than £15 per hour INCLUDING traveling time AND I give whoever a list of required parts after the stripdown for them to get, just in case they dont believe how expensive I say they are! Also, after many years, i REFUSE to compromise on parts and if they dont want to fit what i say it needs they can find somebody else to re-assemble. Might sound harsh but i got fed up of being "stiffed" on parts and doing "cheap" jobs only to have them come back cos of bad parts and be expected to re-fix it for free!

[Bodi]

When I was young and had "free time" i would work on bikes for the experience, a ride on it, and a few beers or other stimulant. I learned a lot about 60's and 70's  British and Italian electrics - more than I ever wanted to. And I rode a wild variety of stock and modified bikes, picking up a lifetime disdain for the handling and comfort of rigid stretched choppers. I slid into Hondas because they seemed to me to have fewer quirks, didn't cost a fortune for bikes or parts, and Honda has the best - period - parts availability for non-current products.
Nowadays I don't have the free time and I deserve something for the benefit of my experience and investment in tools. I don't take on big jobs because of limited space and 2 small kids - I can deal (poorly) with them breaking or losing parts of my bikes but not yours. Jobs I can do in a day or two I ask how much the dealer/shop wants and ask for half, and you need to get the parts: I don't have the time or gasoline to chase them down and don't need an argument about how much a gasket costs. "Surprise" parts I will fetch myself, I don't want the disassembled machine sitting around (re space and kids) while you do it.

[ken736cc]

Standard labor rate at dealers here is $100. 00  per hour. Welcome to New York. Most big dealers will not work on a bike over 10 years old. Some of the smaller independent shops charge less, but they are becoming picky about which bikes they will work on.
 I always have a constant flow of side jobs on older bikes. No one will work on them for a reasonable labor rate.

[dusterdude]

my "out of his garage" mechanic charges 35.00 an hour.

[MRieck]

For close friends the work is free except for copious quatities of good old english Tea,

Paying jobs i dont take on at less than £15 per hour INCLUDING traveling time AND I give whoever a list of required parts after the stripdown for them to get, just in case they dont believe how expensive I say they are! Also, after many years, i REFUSE to compromise on parts and if they dont want to fit what i say it needs they can find somebody else to re-assemble. Might sound harsh but i got fed up of being "stiffed" on parts and doing "cheap" jobs only to have them come back cos of bad parts and be expected to re-fix it for free!

Right on Bryan about the parts. You can't shine crap. If somebody won't pay for new carb boots etc they can take a hike. Unfortunately there are a lot of people, many with older bikes, that are for lack of a better word, cheap. Fine....fix it yourself is my response. I will not compromise.....period. I'll charge 40.00 an hour...I've got to pay for electricity to run the air compressor and lights, cleaning fluids, waste oil etc. A lot of people don't think of this kind of stuff let alone appreciate it.

[crazypj]

You need to get a price per job not a price per hour.
Its going to take longer than most people think, particularly if they have not worked on 'old' bikes before.
 Look for a mom and pop shop, small independent,  the big dealers wont have anything more going for them unless there is someone like me there who remembers them when new (or nearly new )
 I believe Honda would like their dealers to service any Honda motorcycle made.
 The costs are really high in Orlando area as there are very few shops willing to even look at older bikes (unless its a Harley, anything over 5 yrs old, you pay double or triple because soo few people know what to do and its easier to sell new bikes)
PJ

[lrutt]

I charge $40 per hour when I do it. Several years ago I had more work than I could handle just by word of mouth, and it was just side work. I don't do it much anymore except for neighbors etc. Just did the carbs on a Virago last week. 80 bucks and the guy was thrilled to pay it as the dealer wouldn't even work on it.

I think $40 is very fair, about half normal shop rates I guess. and I charge by the hour, not by the job cause you never know what you will run into on the older bikes. I always let the customer know though if it's going over my estimate to them.

[crazypj]

I charge $40 per hour when I do it. Several years ago I had more work than I could handle just by word of mouth, and it was just side work. I don't do it much anymore except for neighbors etc. Just did the carbs on a Virago last week. 80 bucks and the guy was thrilled to pay it as the dealer wouldn't even work on it.

I think $40 is very fair, about half normal shop rates I guess. and I charge by the hour, not by the job cause you never know what you will run into on the older bikes. I always let the customer know though if it's going over my estimate to them.

That sounds pretty fair to me, Virago 750?
The 535 sucks to get carbs off, quicker to take manifolds with them, 2 hrs would be real cheap , Yamaha say to drop engine mounts
PJ

[lrutt]

I charge $40 per hour when I do it. Several years ago I had more work than I could handle just by word of mouth, and it was just side work. I don't do it much anymore except for neighbors etc. Just did the carbs on a Virago last week. 80 bucks and the guy was thrilled to pay it as the dealer wouldn't even work on it.

I think $40 is very fair, about half normal shop rates I guess. and I charge by the hour, not by the job cause you never know what you will run into on the older bikes. I always let the customer know though if it's going over my estimate to them.

That sounds pretty fair to me, Virago 750?
The 535 sucks to get carbs off, quicker to take manifolds with them, 2 hrs would be real cheap , Yamaha say to drop engine mounts
PJ

750, 1000, 1100, doesn't matter, they all come off the same, loosen carbs, take intake manifolds off, then pull carb set. That's the only way. I'm real good at it. Plus you have a sequence of which side manifold has to come off and go on first. Once you have the hang of it though it's quick.