SBW Hertford

[Stujw70]

I sold my bike privately yesterday evening to a fellow Tosser. I had advertised the bike from the start to say i would fit a new battery as the old one was buggered and get the Clutch and brake circuits fluids changed as i had no record of them being done, plus of course a new 12months MOT.

I purchased and fitted the battery this morning from SBW, no problems.

I managed to get the MOT and fluids work brought forward by 24hrs to 14:00 today, so i could get the bike to the new owner sooner. I waited at the dealers whilst they did the MOT. Now bugger me sideways, when they came out and said the bike had failed on the brakes test and needed new front discs. If you have seen my bike linked below you will see that it has only done 10300 miles and not very hard miles at that. Had a quick chat and reluctantly agreed to have them done, but at a cost of £389.00 . And decided to knock the fluids change on the head.

http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=172774

Luckily for me as it turns out that they did not have them in stock, so off i went with a view to having them done tomorrow. Once i left though, i thought bugger this and headed into my normal bike MOT centre 'Predator motorsport in Welwyn Garden City. They managed to fit me in for a MOT within half an hour. Low and behold the Mot man comes out and says that it passed with flying colours as he would have expected from a bike in that condition.

Apart from now having to sell the bike without the fluids changed as i had promised, i'm not really sure whether to be annoyed or not.

Were SBW trying it on? I think they probably were for the sake of getting themselves work out of the MOT, but of course you cannot prove it in any way.

Luckily for me the new owner is a very understanding chap and is still happy, in fact he described himself as bouncing around like a puppy in anticipation. I shall refund him the money it would have cost me for the fluids work, and it will be the best £25 for a second Mot yet.

Stu

 

[chad]

THEY ARE A BUNCH OF SAUCY BARSTEWARDS IF YOU ASK MEand deffo trying it on,,everything about that bike is mint disks included.



stu im still bouncing around and cant wait to get over there im just wolfin my dinner down now

and will be on my way

 

[Nick Marshall]

what

did they say was wrong with the discs? sounds interesting....

 

[BBB61]

I had my GS MOT'd there in November and it came up with an advisary on the brakes but they said it was due to a quirk on the brake tester they use which always threw up something.

 

[steveh]

recently...

I've had the feeling they are taking the pi$$. I bought tyres and a service 18 months ago and when I did the same 10 months later the tyres had gone up 100% in price and the service 10-15%. I complained and just got a blank look back.....won't be going back, you just know when you've been shafted

 

[Stujw70]

did they say was wrong with the discs? sounds interesting....

Braking effeciency was mentioned and they put it down to the discs must be worn. The discs have no wear not even a lip due to the low miles and the pads are on about 50%.

I asked if it would it be any different after having the fluids changed and they stated that it would not make any difference and that it had to have the discs changed to pass.

I'm guessing that MOT centres have much the same kit and exactly the same procedures to follow.

Interesting Bob about the machine sometimes throwing out glitches. Could have been an expensive glitch at £389.

Anyhow i shall be seeing them tomorrow to settle the MOT cost, and i shall have a chat with the service manager. I think you can do bugger all else about it, but unfortunately apart from the parts guys, who are excellent they have kind of confirmed to me why i never go to BMW dealerships for maintenance to be carried out and shall get very little work from me now onwards.

 

[chad]

did they say was wrong with the discs? sounds interesting....

wow ive just got back from picking up this very nice bike

i can assure everyone here that SBW have tried to pull a fast one on stu because the brakes are perfect


stu they could learn a lot about how to treat people from you. this has been the most pleasant bike buying experience to date for me

it feels good to be back with the blue propeller

many thanks

chad

 

[cherokee]

wow ive just got back from picking up this very nice bike

i can assure everyone here that SBW have tried to pull a fast one on stu because the brakes are perfect


stu they could learn a lot about how to treat people from you. this has been the most pleasant bike buying experience to date for me

it feels good to be back with the blue propeller

many thanks

chad

Il keep a lookout for you chad in the summer,now theres two mint fast black beasts in the county.Enjoy the bike ........

 

[chad]

Il keep a lookout for you chad in the summer,now theres two mint fast black beasts in the county.Enjoy the bike ........

sure thing dude

 

[Stujw70]

wow ive just got back from picking up this very nice bike

i can assure everyone here that SBW have tried to pull a fast one on stu because the brakes are perfect


stu they could learn a lot about how to treat people from you. this has been the most pleasant bike buying experience to date for me

it feels good to be back with the blue propeller

many thanks

chad

Glad you like it

As for how to sell, well just treat people as you would hope to be treated yourself is what i go on.

Stu

Ps I now have a very bare looking driveway, so me thinks the looking out for a standard 1150 around the 3k mark starts today with the rest of the pennies going in my house deposit fund

 

[Red Rock]

I'm no MoT expert, but isn't the test for braking efficiency? - Either the brakes work to the required force or they don't..plus probably something about general condition - but as long as the disks spin through the calipers safely, I can't see why it would fail on that?? - Sounds like a p*ss take or inadequately trained technician at SBW to me. - Ask to stand at the observation point and ask for a demo of the failure!

Here's what the direct.go.uk site says for motorcycle MoT:
Brakes - condition, operation and performance (efficiency test),and brake controls

 

[Stujw70]

Well i have just got back from SBW

Had a quick chat with the service manager, explained where (10 miles away) and when (2 hours later) i had it tested at another centre and he agreed it was a bit strange and slightly embarrasing that it should fail on their kit and not at the other centre.

All he could say was the machine is tested every 6 months. Also that even though the discs had no sign of any wear and the pads were at 50% it could still fail under the rules of efficiancy mentioned above.

So who knows, perhaps some of my cleaning spray got on the discs and gave it some slippage under braking, or just them after some extra income.

I shall not dwell on it any longer apart this little bit of speel on here, i'm happy as the new owner is over the moon with the bike and was fully aware of all the goings on. So not worth getting myself worked up about it.

Thanks for your thoughts and comments though

 

[chad]

i get the feeling every time somebody sees this bike im going to get the credit to you comment

thanks again stu its a corker

 

[tommymoto]

I have had a couple of 'issues' with the previous service manager at SBW.

Cracking looking bike you've got there Chad. Good luck in yor search Stu.

 

[(RIP) Bobble]

If the discs aren't worn let alone below the wear limit ,and not warped or damaged, then how would changing them for a new pair help with the brake efficiency test

 

[fozziegsa]

It makes me laugh
What, so the brakes fail the test so they say hmm lets change the most expensive part on it, give me a break. For them to say, it needs new discs then they must have looked at them surely. So when they looked at them they found what exactly?
Did they check the brakes for wear, a lip, below the minimum thickness, cracks, i dont think so. Were the pads glazed, no.
You could have changed the dics, pads and fluid and it wouldn't have made a difference.
I can understand it on drum brakes where they are out of adjustment and you get low efficiency.
a way of trying to generate revenue.

Ahhhhhhh i have found the solution.

Tell the tester to squeeze the brake lever a little bit harder.
Job done.

Fozziegsa.

 

[david a hall]

Just read ringmaster 999 front brake warrnty post in dec o8, there Bmw seem reluctant to replace discs under warrenty, and use phrases like measured within bmw tolerrences, and so on,so its possible to measure them and get a diffinitive answer to the worn aspect, unless yours were warped and they obviously wernt, then i think that they were ,if your genrous, misguided with ther sugestion to replace and in grave danger of upselling to the point of robbery otherwise, im sure with the imaculate appearance of the bike the most likely cause as u sugested is a small amount of spray on the disc.

 

[sherpatensing]

Stu, A phonecall to VOSA may be in order. They would do a spot check to make sure the MOT's were up to scratch

 

[GSTourer]

BMW Oxford replaced my discs and pads all round under warranty on an 07 1200GSA with 18000 miles on the clock.

The discs felt as though they were warped but were apparently within BMW tolerances. However, when the service engineer test rode the bike (as i suggested) he agreed there was a problem and they did the work, no argument.

Good dealers at Oxford

Ian