Am I Being Too Generous With What I do?

I've got this niggle going through my head tonight.
I've no doubt that some of you have seen the Katana I did earlier, and the one i am currently doing, but i'm sitting here and thinking to myself 'am i being too generous with what i do and what i try to give the people who buy my scooters'?
Take for instance this current Katana, somebody wants it and is prepared to wait for the 3 weeks it should take to finish.
Now, it's a runner, the engine is grubby and looks like a piece of shite, so i've stripped it and will re-paint it. Whilst i'm in there i will replace the bearings and seals, even if they don't really need them.
Then i'll replace the piston, rings and associated gaskets, just because I don't know the history of how long it's been running with it.
I've just inspected the crank and think there is too much sideways play for my liking, so am probably going to take it in to have the big end replaced.
I've already had to replace the gearbox input shaft because it sheared the thread, and it was actually cheaper to fit the gear-up than fit standard.
This, naturally, sends it down the road of the manifold conversion and 17.5mm carb upgrade, and the obligatory sports pipe, which on this will be the Stage 6 pro rep.
Plus the new belt and 4.5gr rollers
Then it's the full re-spray, including wheels, mot and road tax.
I've stopped myself short on doing the 70cc cylinder upgrade.

All this, knowing that the kid is probably going to throw it down the road at full throttle every where he goes even though he has been told to run it in properly. And then more than likely come back moaning that is doesn't go any more.

I know my reputation round here is good, on cars as well as bikes, and I will do everything i can to protect it, but am i giving people too much of a good thing?

 

I would say, be consistent to your customers. That way you know where you stand with them. Maybe have a word, tell him if something needs doing. charge him a bit more if need be. they can only say no. You sound like a perfectionist who treats every bike like your own and that's good. Just do what they pay for though. no more no less.

 

to be honsest i think your doing a job with all these bikes the same as me if i was doing what your doing , because i wouldnt want to sella bike/scoot if i wasnt very happy with it so replacing the parts your are replacing until your happy with it , i know what you mean about being generous with all this work especially if some teenagers going to rag it within an inch of its life well thats there problem if you explain it to them and they claim to fully understand then it should be ok, ive rebuild a peugeot 2-stroke engine before for a pug ludix took me about 2 weeks to rebuild it and make sure everything was all good and the lad whos bike it was bust it within a day was pritty annoyed tbh but at same time was like oh well fuck it ,, basically all am saying is your basically being fair with your customers which is the best way to be to make a name for your self

 

yeah, i suppose i am being a bit daft really, knowing that whoever has it is gonna rag it, but i hate seeing something going out the garage looking nice, running sweet, knowing i've put all that time and effort into it.
Like you all say, as long as they are told, they got no come back.
F**k it, up to them, only so much i can say or do, hope they got deep pockets when they come back.
Time to stop being so sentimental over my own work and get on with it, after all, it's what i do best.

Just a side note;
The kid who's having this scooter wanted it black and purple, I wanted to see it in black and gold, but the purple he wanted wouldv'e made it look cheap and nasty, bit like the really cheap chinese jobbies out there, so i changed it to a more dynamic metallic purple, strangely enough it's a suzuki purple so I found out at the paint shop this afternoon.
You see................this is the thought i put into my work...............why do i do this???? Why don't i just do what the customer wants????
Again, F**k it, if he don't like it he can paint the thing himself

Rant over, off to wash down and prime the engine parts now.

 

like i said before your making to your specs because its you whos building it and tbh i would have had it gold n black with a coate of laquer on it

 

So i just got stuck in the garage having laquered the engine cases, when the kid and his dad appear, who's having this scooter. Go through everything i've done so far with them, and all this kid can say is "will it wheelie" "will it wheelie" "will it be faster than my mates speedfight"
He's gonna rag it to death before running it in properly.

 

You really expected a 16 year old to appreciate your hard work? You are dealing with the Playstation generation that expect instant gratification, mate, not a chance that he'll appreciate your workmanship.

There's a 16 year old lad at work that seized his 06-plate NRG while has Dad was on holiday by forgetting to put 2T oil into it. He panicked and bought a Vivacity 100cc that he's not licenced to ride that also had the exhaust drop off as he tried to ride it home.

A local garage quoted £300-400 to repair the damaged engine and the lad said 'The engine is full of little metal rods' - the small end bearing had gone west. I told him that the price was excessive and to replace everything except the crank inside the engine would cost about £170 and that I could rebuild it in an afternoon.

Did he want that done? No, not a prayer. I even rang a scooter breakers and found an 07 plate NRG engine for £110 and that was as cheap as he would probably get the job done and if he could get his Dad to bring the bike into work, I could swap the engine over in a couple of hours. His reaction was to ask "Will it be de-restricted?", at which point I walked away, as he was being an idiot. He didn't get that he would void his insurance and his licence by de-restricting the bike.

The garage offered him £160 for the old bike as it stood and I told him that the garage would just get the £110 engine, slap it in then ask some other punter for £500 = profit, but it fell on deaf ears. He went off and bought another NRG and I don't know what happened to the old one. I did consider buying it and fixing it myself but after that episode, I gave it a swerve.

You just can't tell some people.

 

I know, but all I wanna do is slap the little.....................and beat it into him to DO AS YOUR TOLD!!!!!!!!!!!

Its probably gonna be quicker, cheaper and less hassle if i just buy these things, get them running and knock them out for around the 350 mark regardless of looks or condition. As you say merlin, they dont care as long as it goes faster than their mates and the front end comes up.

 

well tbh when u sell it to the little scroat tell him n say if you dont run it in and the engine fails dont come back to me ive told you what to do , n what kinda person asks will it wheelie lol

 

When I sell a bike its gone I dont care anymore. I do it up as best as I can cos I enjoy the project but when I sell it its theirs to wreck if they want

How are you making any money when u are puttin so many upgrades on? Is this story actually real

 

If he is doing as many upgrades as he says plus a full restoration he must be selling for a serious amount or not in it to make money

 

I buy bikes and build them as projects the way I want them then when I'm done I enjoy them for a short time and sell to move to the next project. I break even mostly but lose a bit of cash on them sometimes and if I ever profit its not much. But I don't mind it's my hobby and I like doing it

but the way he talks about customers and building loads of bikes for them makes it sound like a business and I dunno how he makes money cos to cover the cost of all those upgrades and still have some money in it for his time it would have to be ridiculously expensive then nobody would buy it lol

 

Actually guys, it doesn't cost that much to re-build an engine or re-spray a bike. When you are doing it to kickstart a business like me, then you run it along side your full time job. That means that you work all day then come home and start again for another few hours.
My full time job is 6:30am to 5:00pm. I'm home by 5:30pm and straight into the garage to carry on with the scooters (or my bike if it's playing it's face) and usually stop around 9pm. Although I have been known to be in there at 3am still working.
This particular scooter only cost £67 to buy. Ok, so i'm replacing the crank bearings and seals, engine gaskets, piston kit, exhaust, belt and rollers, and a re-spray. Plus the gear-up, which was a necessity because the shaft was broke, rather than a luxury but still cheaper than replacing with standard.
However, price up for yourselves the cost of these parts, decent ones, not cheapo shite, but not high end either, and you'll see it's not expensive at all. Take into account that I do all the work myself, so can't really put a labour charge on it.
And yes i do make a profit on them. Every scooter i do i make at least £180 on it. And yes they sell. The last one, the blue and white Katana that has just come back because he crashed it, sold within an hour of being advertised. they don't usually go THAT quick, but are normally gone within a few days.
Oh, and just to make you all a little jealous, the stage 6 pro rep pipe.......................i paid £40 for it. Brand spanking new and never fitted. I couldn't get my hand in my pocket fast enough. Sometimes you just fall onto a bargain.

Here's a little exercise for you:

Re-build this bike;

a '53 Plate Suzuki Katana 50cc Air Cooled Morini Engine; include the cost of tax and mot.

I want you to replace the all the parts listed below, then re-spray it in two colours only, wheels included.
Then post a price that you think it should sell for taking into consideration that you want to make at least £180 profit.

Crank Bearings and seals
Crank case gasket
Piston kit
Top end gasket set
Manifold conversion from standard to rubber intake*
Sports air filter
Gear-up kit
Stage 6 Pro rep exhaust
Belt
rollers
cdi

*You can take for granted that you already have a 17.5mm carb from a scooter that has been broken for scrap at an earlier date.
You can also take for granted that the rest of the bike is in working order (brakes, tyres, lights)

Happy Hunting, i'm looking forward to this one

 

My old man's like you Stevep, anything he sells has to be as good as he can get it, just like my Aerox. He reckons it pays as the bike/car/boat sell themselves and the buyer is allways happy. And yes I agree it's easy to make money if you do things yourself and don't count the labour cost. Besides you'd only be sitting on your arse watching telly or something like that.

 

Dude just put that pro rep onto ebay and double your money then get another 40 quid pipe, that's business.

I do all my own work and painting and the materials for that aren't that dear, but the sheer amount of upgrade your fitting must be killing your profit.

If any of those parts are un necessary I wouldnt replace for the sake of doing it. Wont increase value.

I know doing a good job is important but you are doing so much that if you take into account hours worked you are earning hardly anything per hour and that's okay for a sideline but if you were doing it for a real business you would need to be banging them out fast to stay in the black

If the engine was running and not too noisy I wouldn't mess with it, just bang the pipe on and jet it up. Wouldn't change variator or cdi unless they were broken. Etc