Time limits for motorcycle repairs workshop

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Time limits for motorcycle repairs workshop
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Time limits for motorcycle repairs workshop

Timing for motorcycle repairs
Over time it gets annoying

When it comes to repairs to wear and tear, motorcyclists usually pay the dealer what the manufacturer specifies. Time is money. And mostly too little, complain the dealers. Because it often takes a lot longer in real terms in the workshop than on paper. A real dilemma. But not everywhere.

Brigitte Haschek

01/21/2016


Time limits for motorcycle repairs workshop


MOTORCYCLE

What the manufacturers estimate as working hours for wear repairs – the text goes into whether that works.

There are things that make you wonder. This is how MOTORRAD workshop manager Gerry Wagner feels when he sets out to dismantle the Honda Crosstourer, the long-term tester. As is well known, it is part of the editorial principle of thoroughness that after the 50,000 kilometer endurance run, the machine is dismantled into its individual parts in order to track down signs of wear. Wagner, God knows no greenhorn at the workbench, needs around half a day to remove the engine – there is no talk of disassembling it yet.

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Just for fun, Gerry asks Honda what kind of engine replacement – i.e. removal and installation – is estimated in terms of working time on the Crosstourer. And it’s not bad when Honda calculated only four and a half hours. A discrepancy that is reason enough to fundamentally question the subject of working time specifications.

Swing arm bearing replacement in 55 minutes?

A list of wear repairs is quickly drawn up and sent to the manufacturer. For practical reasons, we ask for the respective positions for models, most of which are already in the MOTORRAD endurance test fleet. “All in all quite sporty,” judges Wagner, when the results of the survey are available (see picture above). Nothing should get in the way. “In order to be able to meet these times, the machine has to be in tip-top clean condition in the workshop and the workplace has to be optimally prepared.”

Swing arm bearing replacement on the BMW R 1200 R in 55 minutes? In view of the need to remove the cardan drive and rear wheel, our workshop boss thinks this is quite unrealistic. And if you can change the chain set on the KTM Super Duke R in half an hour, you have to have flying hands, says Wagner. The specified times can be achieved if the repair is carried out for the fifth or tenth time.


Time limits for motorcycle repairs workshop


MOTORCYCLE

Quote from a BMW dealer.

This is also confirmed by the dealers surveyed on the subject of working hours. “Replacing the fork seal ring on the KTM 1190 Adventure is a problem for the workshop,” says a brand dealer from Baden-Wurttemberg. 40 minutes, including a test drive, are set by KTM; twice that time is realistic. If the alternator rotor of a KTM Duke 125 has to be changed, the 80 minutes required are usually four times more than specified by the manufacturer. In principle, the workshop is left with the extra effort, which nobody can afford. In the most glaring cases, readjustments are made: the retailer takes one part on his own, another one tries to get from the customer. In addition, one or the other cost screw can be turned with a clever mixed calculation. The KTM dealer also complains that the working hours are extremely tight when they are called back. “There is never enough time and you add tens of times over.” 

A Triumph dealer from Franconia can also tell you a thing or two about this: “The time limits for recalls are very tight because a large number of machines are usually affected,” he says. As an example, he cites the replacement of the cylinder head on the Tiger Explorer – even with repeated execution, this takes twelve hours and not eight hours, as specified. In terms of wear repairs, on the other hand, at Triumph there are only isolated discrepancies between the specifications and the actual time required.

Suzuki relies on trust-based working hours

Market leader BMW, on the other hand, always follows the line of tight working hours. “The specifications can only be created with a lot of experience and routine,” says a brand retailer from Bavaria. “A mechanic who has never replaced a clutch on the R 1200 R needs three times as long the first time.” Brake caliper repairs are also tricky. “From the fifth time on, things will go faster.” BMW probably set the narrow time window with the customer in mind. Only two of his nine people managed to test and adjust valves on the S 1000 RR in the allotted time. “But they have already done it umpteen times,” says the boss. How does he solve the dilemma without constantly paying extra? “We have factored in the realistic additional effort even for routine work.”

Of course, the design also plays a role in how much work it takes. Checking and adjusting valves on the Suzuki GSX-R is also not child’s play for the inexperienced mechanic. But with the Japanese brand there is, so to speak, trust-based working time – there are no specifications. “Fixed working hours are only available for inspections and warranty cases,” confirms a brand dealer from the Ruhr area. “And they’ll get there.” He praised the cooperation with the Suzuki sales force. “They are very well positioned, really help if there is a problem and sometimes come to the company for it,” he says.

A colleague of the brand from southern Germany who is also a Kawasaki dealer sees it the same way: “At Suzuki and Kawasaki, the specifications are right.” At Yamaha, things seem to be going well even without pressure on working hours. “The customer service people all come from the field, which helps,” says a Swabian Yamaha dealer.

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