Triumphrat

metasac · 09-04-2007

the heart of the message: AVOID Brooklyn Bike Works.

the address of this place is

1153 Mcdonald Ave, Brooklyn, NY
and the phone # is (718) 252-0400

this is an edited consolidation and abridgment of two earlier posts to explain why:

i dropped the bonnie off at a bike shop on a friday two weeks ago.

the dude told me it would be done by the following tuesday.

tuesday came. he said he didn't get a chance to order the jet kit i needed - it should be here the next day.

wednesday - he missed the ups delivery truck. call back tomorrow.

thursday - i gave him an ENTIRE day just put in the proper jets... called at the end of the day, assuming that if i'd called earlier, i'd be subjected to some other excuse that would fling me into a rage. he said, "it's almost done".

you know what happens when you arrive somewhere p.o.'d and DEMAND your bike be finished? the bums that wronged you in the first place slap it together carelessly just to get rid of you. so...

friday (yesterday) - i gave him the ENTIRE friday to finish. i called at five, he said it was done and i took the 1 hour subway ride (i'm in brooklyn) to pick up my beloved bike.

get this:
i walk in the shop - the bike is still on the dyno - not waiting ready for me on the showroom floor.

there are no before and after comparison graphs printed out - he didn't bother to print them out. is that something i'm supposed to make a point to ask for?? i thought that everyone wanted to see visual proof that their $300 made a difference.

and just then i'm informed for the first time that it's a cash only business... $335 in cash, please... but my card has just been sent to me - so while i can charge things, i can't withdraw cash yet because i haven't received a pin in the mail.

so... back to the subway empty handed for the 1-hour ride back home. he promised that when i come back after the holiday (tuesday) both charts will be printed out.

in the end, when i did finally get to pick the bike up, i saw that it had gained about 7HP, bringing it up to 62.7 according to the "after" graph, which douchebag finally printed out. this is with 110 main jets, which are not really even the appropriate size for a bike that's had its airbox removed...

while performance is better on the highway overall, i have to wonder about the fluctuation between rich and lean on the a/f ratio charts:

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c1...c/dynotune.jpg

when asked if that was normal, Mike (the douchebag i referred to above) just made a few incoherent comments and just wrote me off.

the bike still backfires occasionally on startup just like it used to and now has some weird flat spot in the lower rpms of gears one and two (only when it's cold) . the flat spots disappear after the bike warms up. popping on deceleration is gone, however.

lastly - in all fairness - the guy, although indeed a douchebag, DID say that if i don't think it's running right to bring it back and he'll make it right.

in the end, although it's not running to my satisfaction, i am not taking it back to him. i'm just gonna chalk this $335 up as a "loss" and be done with it. he made it really unpleasant to return, rolling his eyes at things such as me asking him why he didn't put the dyno sensors in both exhausts when he made the graphs.

i hope this missive dissuades everyone on this forum from ever bringing their triumphs through the doors of Brooklyn Bike Works for those chuckleheads to work on. i hope my triumph is the last one they ever see.

thanks for your support, guys.

~m

Brandon_Rice · 09-04-2007

Sorry to hear about you trouble. I feel your pain. I can highly recommend a good shop in Williamsburg.
MotoGrrl
117 Metropolitan Ave,
Brooklyn, NY 11211
Phone: 718-384-0811
The owner Val is real cool and her mechanic as well. I had my rejet and exhaust done there and had a pleasant experience.He made the bike run great!
Thanks for the heads up about the bad experience.

AAAANDYK · 09-04-2007

Good shops are few and far between. Most of them suck. After 25 years of riding...I buy most of my parts through the internet or through an auto parts store. I do 100% of all my own work. Nothing on this bike requires an engineering degree to repair. The investment in tools. a shop manual and a motorcycle jack will cost less then dyno trip. A search on both bonneville forums would have yeilded the information you needed to set up the bike. Im sorry you had to learn the hard way.

metasac · 09-04-2007

i'm aware of motogrrl - BUT - they didn't have a dyno. i know they're good people, though.

also, there's eric at Works Engineering - just down the street. solid dude.

~m

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brandon_Rice

Sorry to hear about you trouble. I feel your pain. I can highly recommend a good shop in Williamsburg.
MotoGrrl
117 Metropolitan Ave,
Brooklyn, NY 11211
Phone: 718-384-0811
The owner Val is real cool and her mechanic as well. I had my rejet and exhaust done there and had a pleasant experience.He made the bike run great!
Thanks for the heads up about the bad experience.

metasac · 09-04-2007

first of all... i'm pretty much a noob, having only had my bike since january. it had two owners prior to me. they both made modifications to the bike - including but not limited to - exhaust system, air intake, ignition, jets, needles, shims, who knows what to the mixture, and who knows what to who knows what else... that being said, i wanted the kind of tune that i'm lead to believe (by many in this very forum) can only be achieved with a dynomometer.

secondly... i don't have a dynomometer, dig?

i knew it would be a costly procedure - but it was also gonna be a one-time thing. i think i can tweak it from here to where i'll be happy. while not worth what i paid, i don't think it was a total wash. but thanks for your sympathy all the same.

~m

Quote:

Originally Posted by AAAANDYK

Good shops are few and far between. Most of them suck. After 25 years of riding...I buy most of my parts through the internet or through an auto parts store. I do 100% of all my own work. Nothing on this bike requires an engineering degree to repair. The investment in tools. a shop manual and a motorcycle jack will cost less then dyno trip. A search on both bonneville forums would have yeilded the information you needed to set up the bike. Im sorry you had to learn the hard way.

Gohm · 09-05-2007

Make them make it right! why pay more to someone else who may or may not take care of you? He can roll his eyes all he wants while he's busting his knuckles on his dime. Then get yourself set up to DIY as much as possible. A dyno though nice isn't mandatory to get your sled properly tuned. Best o' luck.

bonnieblackinfl · 09-05-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by metasac

exhaust system, air intake, ignition, jets, needles, shims, who knows what to the mixture, and who knows what to who knows what else~m

If you have shims, take them off of the needles and see how it runs. That large dip in the midrange is most likely from needle shimming.

Greg

metasac · 09-05-2007

i'll try it out.

OKcarburetor · 09-05-2007

makes me appreciate Foothills BMW/Triumph even more now. Those guys are the best.