$50.00 is out of sight. Even if you didnt buy it from them, that's twice what it ought to be. What's their hourly rate? How long does it take to mount a tire on a rim? If their hourly rate is $200.00 then at 15 minutes you have spent that 50,, I know, there's the machine & it's not figured like other labor, usually, but still 50 bucks to mount a tire? For that kind of $$, if I couldnt find someone to do me better close by, I would be forced to get the tools I need to be able to do it myself, & I dont mean just bars & soapy water. There are some tire tools out there & if a guy is gonna ride & use tires, 50 bucks every time to mount one will pay for tools pretty quickly. I would be spending about 150 a year at that rate, 2 rear & 1 front. OHH, I wouldnt buy from them. If they gonna shaft me like that on mounting the tires, naah, I'll buy tires from an online source & they wouldnt make a dime. I DO buyt stuff from a local shop, He's a cool dude & doesnt screw me. I buy stuff from him knowing I can get it online & save a few bucks, but I want the guy to make a living so he will be there tomorrow, but I dont want him trying to make enough to retire on every sale,,If he did that, I would shop online.

If I but a tire from a shop & they want more tna 15 to 20 to mount it, I would feel like they were "Mounting" me a bit, but would most likely do it, unless I could find a better price, but I wouldnt go spend a lot of $$ to get set up to do my own over it most likely, might depend on how much I liked the folks at the shop. I still think thats kinda steep, even tho you cut what i thought you were paying in half,
Heck, you know hes making $$ on the tire sale, & hes ordering that in, so its not like he has his $$ tied up in inventory & has to make a set profit margin on it to stay afloat. Maybe he IS cutting you slack on the tire price. I have no idea, but hjes sure not going easy on the mounting price, my opinion, might be the going rate where you are. You CAN take the tires & go to another shop to have them mounted, thers no obligation to pay him for that, you know..

youzguyz wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:04:



Yea, down the street you get tires, have them mounted & walk,err, ride away with 11 bucks in yer pocket, if you take the wheels in for them to change the tires. BIGGO savings.

The Suzuki shop will do the whole thing, remove & replace wheels for 8 BUCKS more than if you pull the wheels & haul them in? Man,, somethng weird about the way they figure this.

You spose you could find another time to "build this relationship"? Maybe you could just walk in & give the owner a couple O twenties? Heck, I do understand needing a good shop that you can trust & depend on for getting your parts & handling your service that you can't deal with yet. Maybe the Suzuki shop isnt worth the effort. I went to the one here, twice, & was unhappy both times. I went to every shop in the area & finally found one with an owner who isnt a jakkass. I feel a lot better knowing I can have things done IF I cant do it. But, with the folks on this forum & having a book & some tools, I think I can do any of the work that needs done. I may mess something up, I will spend $$ on tools, But, in the long run, not paying a mechanic will,, I Hope, save me some $$$.

I will be paying the shop to change my tires, because the trouble is just more than I can deal with. It took me 2 days to do it. My shoulders arent in good shape at all & that didnt help, AT ALL!

Good luck to you Mr. Youzguys. I hope you do manage to get a decent relationship with a shop. I understand paying a premium & being wasy to get along with in order to create a relationship. I would be cautious, tho, cuz he may see it as an opportunity to scalp ya, till you just pull up your pants & go home..Maybe he will be cool. You have my best wishes,

WE GOT A LITTLE MC SHOP HERE IN DESMOINES THAT WILL TAKE THEM OFF THE BIKE MOUNT AND BALANCE THEM FOR $30  EA. WOW WHAT A DEAL

You can strap tires on it, ride in, ride out & spend $60.00 _ tax. I call that decent. I would expect R&R time on the rear to be close to .25 hr & the front around .2, Those are only wild guesses, I wonder what the book says, But, labor is pricey. The part of that $60.00 that is removing & replacing gets close to 1/2 of the total, making the ( assuming I am even close on the labor) tires going on the rims about 17 or so each,, I would still most likely just want to haul them the wheels. that gives me a good chance to clean em up & inspect the spokes. I would be interrested in knowing what they charge that way.

Those prices are a bit steep.

The last shop I was with, you buy the tires from me, bring in the wheels, mounting was free, balance $8 per wheel (IF I felt like charging it). We would not remove the wheel except in extremely rare circumstances, i.e., 6 pack of Guiness, your only vehicle, Guiness,  unsafe to operate, single malt scotch (at least 40 years old), Jameson, Bushmills, or getting flashed by a nice set...

Ask Holodeck. He got lots of stuff from me. And hasn't been to the shop since I quit. I'd cut him deals on all kinds of stuff (even comped him a few parts because I was too lazy to update the computer).

The mark up on bike shop tires is rather low. The distributors really crank up the prices. The online stores sell mostly blems and seconds. Or out of date stock. Learn how to read sidewall date coding or you might get taken.
-WD

Dealerships get their tires from regional distribution warehouses. Tucker Rocky, Parts Unlimited, Western Powersport, etc. And those tires are usually fine. There is the occasional "oops" sent out from the warehouse, but not often.

Many of the online retailers do a bulk purchase on seconds and blems. The tires are usually just fine. Seconds and blems tend to have skewed tread or extra molding marks. Most people never notice them. The problem is, tires have a short shelf life. I found a bunch of NOS tires at the last shop I was at. The boss was selling them for $50, not bad for Metzelers. I checked the date coding, they were made in the 1980s. They looked fine, they felt fine...they would last about 100 miles before disintegrating.

I'll pay a little more for a fresh tire.
-WD