From: georgew@hspice.portal.com (George Wu)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles,ba.motorcycles
Subject: East Bay Salvage (Was: Re: Honda 650 head problems)
Date: 6 Nov 92 18:10:03 GMT
Organization: Meta - Software

In article <1d6ssuINNf2o@agate.berkeley.edu> dcook@garnet.berkeley.edu (Dan Cook) writes:
>In article <1d4od4INN4bq@agate.berkeley.edu> novak3@violet.berkeley.edu (who reads this anyway?) writes:

>>So my questions:  Is there an easy way to check this without pulling
>>the head again?
>>Can I do better than $350 for a valve job at a shop?  (This is approx
>>what California Cycles quoted me if I bring the head in)
>>Can I find a usable used head for less?

>>[if any Bay area denizens know of specific junkyards/shops to talk to,
>>I'd really appreciate some email]


>Hey, don't trust what they tell you at California cycles! Jeff, who runs
>the place, can be a really nice guy, but he's has pulled some fast ones
>in the past and is fully capable of doing that again... 

>I don't think that you are going to be able to NOT pull the head again... I
>may be wrong, but I'm sure that it is the easiest way to find out if you
>have a problem... Also give my buddy Anton a call (841-6504), he used to
>work for Cal Cycles and also at Performance and Design... Now does free
>lance stuff... he might know where to get a better price on a valve job...

>As far as junk yards go, check with recycle out in richmond... The guy
>who runs the place is OK and he just might have another head there for
>not much money (or know where he can get one)...

     Well, I've recently been to both Cal Cycles and Recycle looking
for piece of my now recovered SRX.  I had a particularly bad experience
with Recycle, and a particularly good experience with Jeff at Cal
Cycles.

     Maybe I just caught him on a bad day, but the guy I talked with was
mighty pissed before I even got there.  At one point, he was swearing
about his boss "getting his fucking act together."  After he told me they
didn't have the stuff I needed, I had to persist and ask him to put out
a broadcast on their hotline (some CB like setup).

     Afterwards, I dropped in on California Cycles.  I showed Jeff what
I needed, and he tried to sell me a new aftermarket part.  I asked about
used, mostly because an OEM lock has a better chance of being re-keyed.
He's pretty sure he's got one, and he'll let me know when I return with
the tank lock remains.  He also found me a new brake pedal, and actually
sold me the whole assembly for $15.  Jeff is the only guy who will talk
used parts at the place, and he's busier than Hell.  Expect to wait for
him to get around to you, and to be interrupted with more than once.

     Otherwise, he's a nice guy.  Every other place to whom I talked (and
I called up over a dozen salvage places), said no as soon as they heard
the words "SRX 250."  Jeff was the *only* guy willing to check if Yamaha
uses the same parts on other bikes.

     What this business really needs is an inventory by part number,
rather than bike model.

							George

-- 
----
George J Wu,  georgew@hspice.portal.com
Meta-Software,  1300 White Oaks Road,  Campbell, CA 95008,  (408) 369-5400
Never be the first to believe.  Never be the last to deceive.  ---  Chess