How about a post listing recommended Guzzi mechanics around the country. With an ever decreasing dealer network, more and more people are probably looking for someone to do repairs and servicing.
I’ll start with the obvious ones
NBS
NBS Motor Cycle Servicing, Ingestre Garage, Trent Drive, Ingestre near Stafford, Staffordshire ST18 0RE
Telephone: 01889 271818 or 07958 584889 - Email: nbs@motorcycleservicing.co.uk
Hmm, you are right in a way with the dealer Network changing constantly, and the need for recomendations on good mechanics, but I am wary about liability issues.
If you go to a Tearoom recommended here and it is bad, what have you lost, a tenner at most, but if you go to a mechanic and he does a bad job???
Opinions vary greatly as I have experienced myself, a shop highly recomended to us by a good friend did a great job on my BMW - but a disastrous headstock bearing change on Peter’s Cali 1100i, from indicators wired crossways (only noticed months later - one doesn’t usually see the front and rear ones simultaneously when riding), to the 4 fork brace screws being loose, only noticed after one went missing!
Another normally highly recommended one-time Guzzi Main Dealer completely messed up the adjustment of the Cali, leaving the idle dangerouly high!
So I’m reluctant to include Mechanics at the moment.
Hi Uki. Not wanting to be argumentative, but Baldrick, Twiggers, reboot etc advertise in Gambalunga and there is a link to a list of dealers (good and Bad) on the club site. I think the intention here is to list the artisans that are true enthusiasts we have had good experiences with.
The idea of the thread was to list those little small independant people that know one end of a spanner from the other and are familiar with Guzzi’s. I see names cropping up on here and on facebook, but can never remember them when someone else asks. I’m sure there was a recent thread on here that mentioned someone down Plymouth way that they use; a small workshop in Suffolk was mentioned on facebook recently.
Agree 100%
I’ve recently seen, and helped with, a dangerous and unroadworthy Guzzi from a place that has a great reputation. Bent forks, bent yokes, damaged fork adjusters (think hammer & chisel, brake disc bolts loose, shock absorbers upside down. Efforts had been made to disguise the fork leg damage.
And yet regularly mentioned to be a great outfit!
In the past I was accused of incompetence by a customer. He went to Trading Standards. At arbitration he was asked to state unequivocally that he hadn’t tried to adjust the brake lines…“well, er the thing is…” Case thrown out. By this time he had told everyone he knew that I was a crook.
Tricky ground to be walking on.
All the best
Steve
I agree, and that’s not a nice scenario to find oneself in Steve
But there’s only comeback to the club if it is promoting or recommending mechanics, not just a list for info that anyone can contribute to. It needs to be clear that it’s just a list of mechanics who folks have used.
If the individual poster also felt that they have good service then that’s a bonus, again it’s not a recommendation by the Club.
The club is in danger of appearing like a bunch of over cautious old so and so’s moving at a snails pace when there really isn’t a problem if it’s made crystal clear that the club bears no responsibility.
I agree with all of the above, but remember that a bad experience cannot be reported as it could be considered as libellous. It would be better to refuse to leave a recommendation than give a bad one. This is not a PC point of view but is unfortunately the way our litigious society is moving, following America’s lead.
I like to do my own fettling on my bikes, but when I need a proper job I take it to Neil Freeman at Riverbank in East London. He works on all types of bikes but is a big Guzzi fan and owns several assorted Guzzis.
Nigel at N.B.S. is superb
I can also recommend Agostinis in Mandello , Menni changed a leaking seal for me last year in record time
and Tony Botto at TB motorcycle Didcot who services my motorcycle, my nephews motorcycle, and will shortly be overhauling a V35TT for my Brother
he also makes nice coffee
Ideally, if there are good guys out there, we would want them to be advertising themselves on here and the magazine, as both Baldrick and NBS already do, and Twiggers too. Need to be a bit careful about free publicity when others are contributing to the club.
If there really are other good people out there, would be a good idea to let Julian Frank know so he can approach them for ads.
The recommendation thing applies to anything from a cuppa to a new bike.
The forum is a place for members to “meet”, discuss and exchange information and opinion, and if the club feels that there is a danger of it being liable for the opinions expressed by members, it simply needs to post an appropriate disclaimer which needs to be “accepted” by anyone who wants to read the content.
Uki’s example of a cup of tea might include an off egg sandwich that put the poor customer in hospital with salmonella. Club liability? I doubt it.
Reading this, and the letters in regarding inebriated/hungover riders on club rides, suggest to me that we are becoming a bit too scared for our own good.
I gave up on the whole idea due to the negative comments. Various names come up on facebook etc and I thought it would be good to put them all in one place, but the elves of safety seem to have killed off the idea.
Maybe I’m a bit over cautious, having been sued for someone else’s stupidity (totally Guzzi or Club unrelated), it ruined our holiday and caused a lot of aggravation and time wasted for over a year.
Unfortunately our world has headed that way, people sue because they think they can make some easy money, companies even advertise and encourage people to…
Than there’s the fact that peoples opinion on some ‘mechanics’ vary…
But I’m all in for giving advice and info on an idividual basis as well as having been advised that a list would not cause any liability issues for the Club. I just haven’t had the time to figure out the best way forward. Other things came up that ranked higher on my to do list (Club and non club stuff).
