I agree with you too jamminfool. When I hear comments like that I just blow them off. I've built 3 bikes of my own and I just didn't feel like messing around with it. Unlike others I ride EVERY day when I'm home, not just on the weekends when the weather is perfect. So I was busy riding and not checking out the weekend forecast

I've said it many times before and I'll say it again, if you don't kno ur bikes u better know ur mechanic. My best customers are first rate mechanics who for some reason dont hav time to do it themselves so they bring it to me. A hack's best customer is the fellow who repairs his own bike, especially, those who do it with carpenter's tools.

The best way to avoid a problem is to take a quick look at the shop. Does it look like Walmart? Do they have a showroom with all kinds of parts ready for your impulse buying? Did they invest a lot of $$$$$$ in expensive tools and equipment that is far far from necessary? Those are signs of potential problems. Only the corporate wanna be biker would risk doing business with them.

It really is a bad scene to get ripped off and I have my way of dealin with it along with quite a few others around here. We just drove an official, authorized OEM sales organazation to pack it up, leave town and consolodate with thier other carnival looking building.

Find your real mechanic and do what he tells u to do. Ur bike'll last a whole lot longer. You don't need a new bike, you need a reliable machine that you like riding. Maint is the answer and, whether or not you or the official authorized techno thinks you need it, just do it and you'll be on the road not in the shop.

I agree, you dont bust a crankshaft in half with a puller.