Here's one for the hall of fame...
LSN Custom Powdercoating in Castleford, 01977 604461
I recently had my wheels, swingarm and a few other bits done here. I had mine done in what they call "black chrome". It looks great it changes between black and a chrome with the light and in the sun it looks better than polished wheels and there is the added advantage of not having to go over with autosol every week!!!!
The guy there is called Nidge and he does alot of powdercoating for bikes that are in streetfighters magazine and has done a fair few project bikes himself.
A big thumbs up from me.

Andelle Motorcycle Leathers - Horwich (Near Rivington Barn)

They sell and repair leathers, boots and gloves. Dabble in alarms too!

Quite cheap and excellent customer service!

Got to agree, as im a Ipswich boy,probably are the best in Ipswich without a doubt.

Couldn't agree more! It may be glitzy and glam, but souless to the N!th degree! Prices on bikes aint too bad, but you can walk around the warehouse floor for hours before anyone asks if you are OK, and when hunting them down there's never anyone available!

BUT... if you want a Triumph... head for Lings in Lowestoft. Their new Triumph only showroom on the same plot of land as the Honda dealers is small but perfectly formed. James (I think it is) is very helpful. I turned up at the Honda place for a test ride of a '02 SV650S, didn't like it, looked at the Triumph Speedmaster and within 10 minutes I was on the road in test ride mode! GREAT bike too!

Now looking for a M800 to test ride, any Suzuki recommends near Yarmouth/Norwich would be appreciated. Then a decision and new bike to be ordered.

Jordan bikes on gelderd road, when suki went looking at bikes last week she was starting too despair of ever getting anything that would suit her.
The fella we spoke to was very helpful and explained all the things she needed to do, we left in a much more positive frame of mind.

HA HAAAA!!!
After all these nice people saying nice things, I am going to show my mean side
One to think twice about is Bridge Motorcycles in Exeter.
When I brought the Daytona I first saw it in silver there. I was not looking to change bike but after talking to the guy, I decided to go for it and filled in the finance papers.
When I went back the day after to see if it had been accepted 'Great news Chris, no problems'.
Excellent, but on looking round the shop the question WHERE IS MY BIKE? appeared.
Was told they had sold it that morning 'But we have them in red and yellow'
Ended up going to Bransons in Yeovil (more good guys) to get it in the colour I wanted.
Not sure if this is common but I thought they could at least have told the other buyer that I was coming back and to wait to see if I accepted it!!
They were also reluctant to suggest anything that was not in their shop when we were having trouble finding a bike to fit Mrs 955's diminutive frame.
On the plus side the bike I got from Bransons was newer, had lower mileage, better security fitted and was £500 cheaper .

Big up to Ady and the lads at Drivewise in Seaford who saved my bacon a couple of times last week, whilst plugging a tyre for me he spotted that the bearings were shot. He replaced em for me and didn't charge the earth
They were dead busy but he still managed to sort me out (ooer ) so I was back on the road that afternoon

They mainly work on cars, but as he's a biker he does them too
http://www.drivewise-gb.co.uk

Just off there today, flip mechanism on my lid has gone t*ts up, weren't going to do anythng about it till I asked if I should wait until there are more than a few folk in the shop before I rant and rave.
You just bring it in Sir we will sort it out.
Shock eh!

Picked up Lid to leave house with, tried to lift Visor, thought that rubber is sticking, wee bit silicone grease. Guess what problem solved. Phoned Devine's but still won't recommend them to anyone.

I was in Victor's today and ordered a choke cable and a side panel fastner. I always go there for my parts and they're very reasonably priced compared to the same stuff on the web. I've never bought a bike from them but the old parts guy definitely knows his stuff. They've never let me down for stuff either and they always get it in when they say.

I've heard a few people complain about Victor's but so far, I've never experienced any problems.

I purchase a Triumph Daytona from Webbs Yamaha Centre in Peterborough, absolutely great bunch, very helpful and always willing to give good advice. I took the bike to their other dealership, Webbs of Lincoln for it's service and you couldn't really ask for anymore. Great service.

My personal option is:

Normandy Motorcycles Ltd in Guildford are brilliant. They treat you as human and never charge alot for labour. Service normally works out around 80ukp. Brilliant, friendly and never rip you off.

Portman, Guildford make you feel like an idiot when you ask a question and feel like they are patronizing you. I went in there once with my wife to talk about her bike and the guy was looking at me and asking me question about my wifes bike and she was standing next to me!

Wyldes motorcycles on Roundhey Road, good bunch of bloke who'll yap yer lug off about bikes all damn day long, good advice and reasonable prices.

Praise:
At the moment the only guy i trust with my bike around here after letting a few muppets, including myself, do work on it.


Suzuki Only Spares (S-O-S) in culham near abingdon, oxfordshire.

A suzuki only (as if you hadn't guessed from the name) breakers who also does repairs and servicing. Good bloke who knows his stuff about suzukis anyway, cheap, honest and a more competent mechanic than i (not hard, but he's good really)

Shame post.

I honestly haven't wanted to do this, and it isn't something that I'd do lightly but 2 Wheel Services of Bath have now taken me to the very limit of my patience and far beyond.

They have had my Triumph Thunderbird since 3rd August. It's now September 21st. All they have had to do in this time is get a parts estimate together. The proprietor has blatantly lied right to my face on several occasions and has been in constant breach of contract (albeit verbal contracts, but they are still legally binding, if difficult to prove).

I strongly advise not to use this bike shop; use Bishops of Bath instead (whom I have used before and have had good service from). I've even had the insurance engineer phoning me up complaining that he is unable to get an estimate out of them and that he has tried to chase them on numerous occasions but has found it next to impossible to get hold of the proprietor.

I've now lost all of the end of this Summer's riding because of this situation and am sufering financially because I have had to catch the train to work every day (about £100 extra to find every month).

Bikers Warehouse, Bolton/Walkden

Make sure u ask for Jimmy, hes the apprentice and is a wonder with bikes.

Hes likes it when you give him a tip afterwards too!!!!

S&M Motorcycles Sheerness,, top blokes,always been friendly an helpful,(have never had services or repairs,always do them meself,) tested varied electical components,coils/cdi/etc and have NEVER charged,have friends who rate these guys highly.
Appleby &sons in Minster,, avoid this miserable git at all costs,,,trusted him with a cable which needed new nipple,left him with cable and connecting arm it went in (for old trike) he lost original arm and replaced it with shoddy made one (never used it,,made another an still arguing about it now)

Our very own AncientD Biking Services.

......for getting my bike back on the road so quickly.

Snapped clutch cable - so going nowhere. Within two hours of my phone call Ancient had gone into Reading, bought the replacement cable, and come to my house and fitted it to the bike. Very reasonable price too.

A big up to the guys at Wemoto. I ordered a mirror and levers from them on Friday and went to pick em up Saturday. Unfortunately their delivery didn't turn up so I left it that he would let me know if it arrived Monday. He emailed me Monday to let me know they had come in, I couldn't make it over, so he posted em to me (free carriage) and they arrived 7.30am Tues morning
Wemoto

Kent Salvage,, top bloke! gave him a big list of bits i needed,he stripped them off,had been quoted for quite a lot of them but had spotted more i wanted/needed while there,got majority of the extra bits thrown in for free

Is that the bloke at Detling ??

No,the guy at Detling is Simon (Kent Bike Breakers) another good guy.
Kent Salvage is on the island at Halfway,bloke called Shaun 01795-668484
Might be useful for you Mot (and anyone else in Kent area)

Ahh yes I remember now I sold me old GSX to Simon cheers for the recomendation though always nice to get on word of mouth... ta

Rocket Centre - Blackburn.

Top bunch of guys. Got all the time in the world for you.

Project bikes.
Project bikes are a breakers and I found them through the internet after spending the best part of a day searching for a gsxr thou k3/4 rear subframe they had one. I asked what condition it was in and was told spot on and it had been checked as 100% straight.
Anyway the subframe was going to another shop for modification to fit my older gixer.
It turned out that it was bent, and it had to be modified even more than it should have been to fit my frame and had to have a new support bar welded in.
For the price I payed I wasn't impressed, bloody good job it was getting cut anyway and wasn't for the same bike. Scammers.

Extreme machines in whetstone (just south of leicester) very helpfull staff, happy to give advice over the phone. good selection of clothing and accessories. there mechanics a good chap too. regulars tend to get a bit of a discount (a bonus with my pos bike)

86a high street,
whetstone
leicester
le8 6lq
01162861612

I've got Ginger Parts

www.gingerparts.com

Ordered a chain & Sprocket set the other sunday with 48Hour delivery (Parcelforce). Obviously it won't be procesed till Monday but it turned up on Wednesday morning.
Can't say the P&P is the cheapest around but when they can't find the right length chain (110links) and re-size a 124 links chain to fit, for no extra charge... it's gotta be a good service.


WWW.GINGERPARTS.COM

Two...

KZBitz for secondhand Kwak parts - however the bad news is chatting to Dave he mentioned they are going to close down in April as there is no money in breaking bikes anymore - so if you need any spares get a good deal now!

Fins of Redhill. I've bought one of my bikes from Andy there and I get lots of parts and advice from Fin and Phil and Lloyd has just done a lightening quick job on my starter motor. Thanks Guys!

I've got a few KH125 bits in my Kitchen... might make a few bob once KZBits have closed down.

I used them when I had the Kawak- good peeps to talk to

I think they may be in trouble; mate runs a business on the same estate and he thinks they've gone elsewhere or gone under.

Has anyone had any dealings with Mayhem Motorcycles in Aldershot?

They seem to have some very good deals, particularly one I saw for a Yamaha SR 125 at about £700.

ellitan, don't know about those guys, but as you are in Reading, keep away of Caversham Bridge Motorcycles.....

Everyone tells me not to go there....even my instructor.

Cheers JP. Will do.

Been hanging out with the crews at MTC and Hein Gericke on the Oxford Road. They're closer, nicer, friendlier and more helpful than most of the other bike shops I've been to.

The Pegasus (Kwak) dealership halfway between MTC and HG were very odd. They managed to answer my questions in the most vague, disinterested manner possible and only just managed to wave in the vague direction of the products I was interested in.

Woody: "Yeah, I was interested in gloves"
Bloke: "They're over there" <waves toward the helmets>
Woody: "Have you any 125cc bikes?"
Bloke: "Yeah, there's some bikes out there" <waves out the window at the bikes>
Woody: "Cool, which ones are the 125s, then?"
Bloke: "Oh, there out there somewhere" <waves again>

This he managed without actually looking up from reading his magazine... B*stard

Drove past there on my way back from hospital the other week and they apper to have closed down.

What a suprise/shame.

I asked in pegasus for a quote for a 7,500 mile service for a ZZR.

Got told it would be £500 and they would need the bike for 2 days (seems bloody steep to me and 2 days?!?!)

I asked if that included greasing the bearings and he started waffling about "yeah mate its valves front to back valves it is"

Err there is only one set of valves and there in the engine, certainly not at the front or the back. Basically he sounded vaguely right but seemed to be waffling a bit and trying to make it sound very complicated.

I wasnt impressed anyway.

Wondered if anyone might know if the chap who owned riverside motorcycles in walton on thames, surrey is still going. Used to be up by the anglers pub along the tow path.

I went there to ask about an MOT and he has gone, it's now a wood joiners so definately not a bike place anymore, it was locked up so couldnt ask anyone if he had moved.

cheers

Pete

I've been down there a couple of times, seem ok - I've not heard anything bad, I'll ask my mate - he used to live up the road from them, I'm sure he will have heard if there was anything bad to hear...

Seconded. The guys at Fins are good. Andy sorted the electrics on my DRZ in double quick time, and they're all just helpful and friendly. When my RC30 was up for MOT one of the headlights was pointing at the stars. Turned out a beam adjusted had dropped out completely. Fin got some bits out of his parts drawers and said to go home, take the fairing off, put the parts in and bring it back and they'd adjust it up and pass it. No charge for the bits. Recommneded

Fin's
Hockley Business Park
Hooley Lane
Redhill
Surrey
RH1 6ET
01737 768129

A big up to Pete at South Coast Motorcycles.
Fitted me a new rear disk and sourced me a rear caliper from a breakers, fitted em and charged me £125 for the lot (he knocked £25 off cos they sent the wrong disk first time and I had to wait 2 extra days) He's guaranteed the work and told me that should I have any problems at all then I should call him immediately. He also gave me a lift to work on Friday after I dropped the bike off.
The man's a star

Nooooooooooooooo! say it aint so , i reckoned i was only about 2/3 weeks off my annual service, get the bike back on the road after the winter freeze rebuild. Damnit now i have to find somewhere else to get parts, advice/cheeky tips.

dont go to raceway motorcycles in stevenage
i went there for a MOT and they failed it on a broken spoke so got a bloke that built wheels for vincent motorcycles many years ago to replace it then took it back failed again on a loose spoke so the guy replaced 5 more spokes and said it was ok but nope the garage failed it again so off i went back to the guy to do some more (5 more at a cost of £30 for all of it) and then they failed it on the wrong spokes but could they have not said that after had the 1st one done then i sent the wheel to some company for a full rebuild at £100 to then get it back and put on bike then empty they petrol tank for it to just go up in flames so what a waste of money

I might be taking over that unit, selling parts, clothing etc with a sublet to my bro-in-law who wants to do bikes but specialise in car/bike electronics/electrics (he is sickeningly good at it and still only a teenager!)

Deeside Motorcycles in Connah's Quay near Chester. I used to go to them because they were cheap and quick, until they "replaced" my brake pads and may have "forgotten" to do the rear pads. Wondered what that squealing noise was! Won't trust them to do work on my bikes again. Funny how they didn't forget to charge me for it.

Here's a positive one from me!!!!
Have a look Here
It's a company called Universal tyre co, also trading on ebay as RoundandBlack.
They have tyres on there at fantastic prices and delivery is next day.
I ordered a pair of michelin pilot sports @ 11am yesterday and they were here @ 9am this morning.
Deffinately worth a try, I know I'll be going back there, the guy there is sound too.

Hein Gericke along the Oxford Road in Reading (come visit me while you're at it - I'm just up the road opposite) are fantastic!!

I pass them every morning to get to the bus stop during these, the last weeks of my using public transport and they always stop to pass the time of day. They are helpful, attentive, sensitive to my needs, inventive, imaginitive, friendly, good-humoured and... oh, lots of good things. Doesn't matter if I've come in to actually buy something or just to ask a stupid question, I am always met warmly and made to feel welcome.

Well, I've just been over to Pete at South Coast Motorcycles again, as the handling on XJ seem to be shot. He checked the wheel bearings and the head bearing, took it out for a spin, concluded there was now't wrong with it (I'm sure after the wobbly moment the rest was paranoia on my part) and didn't charge me anything for it

Plus, he invited me to the re-opening party next month

ProTyre Enfield on the A10 southbound. My brother got a rear Bridgestone BT14 for his Fazer yesterday and they charged him £95 including ride-in/ride-out fitting. I had a front Avon from them last year for £65 fitted to a loose wheel. Good guys, good service, good prices. Definitely worth a try if you're around this area.

http://www.protyre.co.uk/enfield.html

One more for Worlds End motorcycle - Wemoto - ordered at 13:30 Monday and was on my desk Tuesday morning - well packed, well priced and easy to use site too .


Andy.

Have to ditto that, never used them myself but friends who have, have said the same thing and the staff are knowledgeable when you call direct about obscure/rare bikes

Sorry for delay, answer was he hadn't heard anything bad, so that has to be a good thing.....

Update: they've now gone out of business! Can't say I give a damn really. If how they treated me was typical of the service they provided then I'm not surprised.