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Motorcycle mechanic near Angleton, TX to work on an older bike?

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dilvish

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Hi,

I was wondering if anyone knows of any good bike mechanic in or near Angleton, TX that is willing to work on an 1983 Nighthawk 750. I would like to get my bike professionally inspected and tuned up, but no one seems to be working on anything older than a few years. I did get the Haynes manual that is supposed to cover my Nighthawk, but it leaves a lot to be desired. Any help would be appreciated!!

Roberto
 
Look for an independant mechanic. They will probably be better than the dealership anyway.

Also one way to spot a good mechanic is to look for a dog or two (preferably lazy mutts), or maybe some cats. This works for all types of shops, not just bikes. If the owner has adopted some old mongrel, it speaks alot about the type of person he or she is.

YMMV!
-=Tim=-
 
That is definitely what I'm looking for, an independant mechanic. I want someone who *likes* working on the older classic bikes. I might end up having to ride into Houston to find such a mechanic, but I'm hoping someone might know of a good local mechanic. My bike is pretty good condition, and I have done the basic maintenance myself as soon as I bought the bike, but I would feel better knowing that someone who knows what they're doing worked on the bike.

Roberto
 
Roberto, I'm about 2 hours south of you, but do old bikes a lot. If you get desperate, give me a call at 361-935-3746 or e-m me at jackgiesecke@cableone.net. Major shops don't like messing with older bikes and that keeps guys like me working. :mrgreen: I seem to have a rep now for doing older wings, GL1200s and such. Shops won't touch 'em. They're total PITAs to do, but not nearly the pain some of the newer cruiser stuff is. At least the motor, heavy as it is, drops DOWN with a transmission jack. I nearly pulled my back out on a Vulcan 1500 once.

I really don't quite understand why shops don't mess with 'em unless it's the age of their mechanics or something. :lol2: But, there's one in Victoria that won't touch anything over 10 years old, go figure. I know that I've gotten requests to do bikes that are totally trashed, would take more money to fix IF you can find the parts than the bike could ever be worth. Better off buying a new one. I just tell 'em, hey, save your money and part the thing out and look for something newer. Bikes like that can take a lot of work just to get to fire and if it's got bad wiring problems, well, forget it, I won't mess with it. It takes too long most times to sort out electrical bugs unless you just strip it all out and install a new harness and the guys around here ain't looking to spend that much, usually. But, if all the bike needs is a good tune up or carb cleaning, heck, why not accept the work? Maybe it's a parts thing with 'em, but I'm thinking they just do a blanket "no bikes over 10 years" to avoid the junk repair that they know is a losing deal. Most older bikes are full of dirt daubers, cob webs, and have been sitting so long all the seals are dry rotted, just not going to convince your average non-mechanical guy of what it could cost to fix it right and if you don't fix it right, you get a bad name with guys that don't know any better, so I think that's why they lay off the old stuff. Too, finding parts for a 20 year old bike can be time consuming if not impossible. I've done old bikes, found parts on e-bay or findmypart.com or where ever I can for 'em, but it takes so long just to get the parts in and doing the searchs is time consuming. You're not going to find a major shop that's going to mess with that. If he can't get the part new from the warehouse, it ain't gonna happen.

Then there are the guys that bring in a 1976 Suzuki GT750 all rusty, dry rotted tires, been sitting in a barn for 20 years, has 1500 miles on the clock, think you can make it run like new for a few hours work. Some people are just morons. If you get the thing to run, it don't run like a new one, they are all up in arms about it. Just don't pay to mess with guys like that. Rather than have a blacket "I don't work on anything over 10 years", though, I just take 'em case by case. I don't do a lot of work, not high volume, and have the time to do it that way.
 
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Thank you, Jack. I think I'd like the ride down there and I'll have to take you up on that offer someday! I'd like to find a local mechanic with your attitude about working on bikes, but someday I'd like to take the trip down to Victoria. I think my bike is in pretty good shape, the previous owner kept it up very well, considering its' age. One problem I have noted is that the petcock leaks through the switch when I go to reserve. I have an extra petcock that came with a fuel tank I bought on Ebay (which I plan to get a fancy paint job on). Is petcock repair even feasible, or is my only option to use the one that came with the newer tank?

Roberto
 
dilvish said:
Thank you, Jack. I think I'd like the ride down there and I'll have to take you up on that offer someday! I'd like to find a local mechanic with your attitude about working on bikes, but someday I'd like to take the trip down to Victoria. I think my bike is in pretty good shape, the previous owner kept it up very well, considering its' age. One problem I have noted is that the petcock leaks through the switch when I go to reserve. I have an extra petcock that came with a fuel tank I bought on Ebay (which I plan to get a fancy paint job on). Is petcock repair even feasible, or is my only option to use the one that came with the newer tank?

Roberto
Click to expand...

The petcocks should bolt up and change out no problem. There's a rubber seal in 'em, or o ring, that tends to stiffen and crack with age. You can usually buy the parts for 'em, but on a bike that old, parts for it might be a problem. You might give www.bikebandit.com or www.powersportspro.com a check and see if the ebayed petcock doesn't work out.
 
i live in freeport. theres an independent repair shop right there in angleton.

its called sport riders, located at 1809 gifford road 979-849-1334

i havent used him yet, but i have heard good things about him.
 
Thanks for the help. I did actually go to Sport Riders first, since they were right down the road from where I live, but they wouldn't even look at the bike, since it was so old (it's not old, it's classic!). They did offer to give me advice and help if I had a specific problem with the bike, but they wouldn't do an overall inspection and tune-up. They were certainly very professional, and if I had a bike they would work on, I wouldn't hesitate it to take it to them, though!

Roberto
 
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