I wanted to get opinions from you guys. I need to rebuild my forks they are leaking(have been for a year since I bought the bike). It is effecting the front brake a good bit. I wanted to do the work myself but have never done forks. I hear it's easy, but still it would be a learning curve and slow and probably take me like a whole weekend I'd bet. A guy up the street has a nice little shop and he said he is not familiar with buells, but he said if I buy the parts, and bring him the forks, he can do all the work and it will cost me about $150 in labor, $10 shop fees, cost of fluid, tax, and then the cost of the parts I bring him. I'm ok with removing them as I want to paint the triple trees anyway and do a general rebuild/clean up/check up of the whole front end and it would work out good. My question is is this a fair price? He is a great guy, I buy parts from him when I can and he seems knowledgeable and really is a nice guy. I just don't have time to learn/do this myself currently as I'm working on fixing up the house, working on my truck, working on the buell, working on the wife's car, and lately been working way more than 40 hours a week. The price seemed good to me as it will likely save me a whole day of work.
Fork service pricing
- Thread starter snrusnak
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$80 total? That can't be right. He's charging $75/hr for labor and said 2 hours. Plus oil, the shop fee like $10, tax, and the parts I'd have to buy. My father in law(big into bikes) said he thought it was a pretty fair price but I wanted a second opinion...
I love doin stuff myself, but for the forks, i just removed them and dropped em' off at the local shop.
Couple days later i picked them up with new seals, bushings and oil. Cost me $276. But was totally worth it to me. Best part: fork action was amazing after . Couldn't beleive how much better it handled.
Couple days later i picked them up with new seals, bushings and oil. Cost me $276. But was totally worth it to me. Best part: fork action was amazing after . Couldn't beleive how much better it handled.
^That seems more like what I've been finding, $200-$300. Prices are all over the map. Many have told me it's a very fair price, especially since I know it will be done right and he will stand behind his work. I think I'm going to have him do it after thanksgiving, it will probably end up costing me about $200 after parts.
thrstrmech
Well-known member
do yourself a favor and bite the bullet going the other way...do it yourself, learn how to no matter how long it takes, have your service manual handy to reference, take pics if you have to, save your $$$...we're all busy in one way or another with projects in and around the house and work, in the end you'll come away with self satisfaction, knowledge and a thicker wallet
^ I agree with that but I really just can't do it right now. I've been trying to do it for a year and haven't got to it as the bike is never a priority over the house and daily driven cars, among other things. It is effecting my braking and I know I'm pushing my luck so I just need it done. I would like to learn how to do it, and will some day. I know I can do it, I'm very mechanically inclined and can do just about anything on a car, but like I said just need it done so I can ride my bike safely. I really haven't ridden hardly at all all year because the front pad is soaked with fork oil.
That's gotta be each fork right? So it's a little cheaper not by a whole lot though. I'd like to give the guy the work just wanted to make sure it was fair (never had this work done and didn't have any clue what it cost). Not worried about spending an extra $25 on him vs. a dealer though.
Yes and no. If you don't have the special tools required, you have to rig up another way to do it. My father in law said he's done his without the tools, but took forever using ratchet straps and other things to get it done...
Thanks for the input everyone...
