NYC commuters?

Snowing pretty hard in Flushing right now, so guess it will start sticking soon.

Yamaha XT250.
I do have a Wrangler that’s also very fun in the snow too

Anyone else ride in to work today? Pretty easy going in Queens and Nassau. Some slush and snow piles that fell off peoples cars, but otherwise nothing of interest to report. No ice that I could see.

Let us know if you take a test ride...was looking to do so myself.

I did. Pretty clean streets and the only thing of bother for me was the spray from cars in front of me....and the melting snow falling down the Manhattan bridge...

Funny I never had that exp at Motogrrl. Though NY Honda pulled that shit on my friend- while at Kings cycle they tried to get me to replace brake pads with the before giving me the sticker. I changed the brakes myself instead and the pads hadn't even worn halfway!

I think I have posted this before. But I am a former inspector and worked for shops for many years. Inspection stickers suck from a shops perspective. You get $6 and have to take time that could be better used elsewhere. BTW an inspector must road test your bike to check the braking. When was the last time anyone ever had their bike ridden during an inspection? They need to raise the inspection fee to make it worth the mechanics time and I bet you would have less issues getting them done.
As a shop you have a few choices:
Just do them as a courtesy and make it easy for anyone to get them (eg. Indian Larry)

Use them a way to get more work, sometimes legitimate, sometimes not. I would always use them it up sell, but I never did anything that wasn't fair. If I saw your sprockets were worn enough to think about replacement I would tell you and price it. But sprockets and chains are not on the list, so you got the sticker.

Make the hours prohibitive so it is hard to get an inspection. Kind of crappy, but also helps if you free someone during that time to do them and know not to schedule things then.

Or the old "We are out of stickers" lie. There is NO WAY a shop would ever allow itself to run out of stickers. If you are a dealer, you cannot sell a bike without them.

If you are curious about the motorcycle inspection list, motorcycles start on page 98 on the PDF https://dmv.ny.gov/forms/cr79.pdf

wow my guy asks for miles and reg and $6 places sticker on my bike
i hand him $20 say keep the change have some lunch and ty
i dont think he ever even looked at the bike
just the way i like it

Probably about the same time that a shop rejected a bike for an excessively loud exhaust.

I'm pretty sure that if the pads seem visually OK, you're not spraying hydraulic fluid on the sidewalk and you didn't turn all the bikes waiting in the service bay into dominoes when you rolled in, that's good enough evidence that your brakes will pass a road test.

I generally agree with your value assessment but it's not a total waste either. The shops are gonna clear $5 per sticker and I've never had a guy spend more than ten minutes on the inspection, paperwork and sticker replacement. That's at least $30/hour not including the occasional tips from nice people like you and me. Not exactly shop rate for wrench work, I know, but it's not totally peanuts either. The good news is it gets people into the shop, builds loyalty and even without yanking people's chains, brings the shop opportunities for higher-value work and sales that they might have otherwise lost.

There are many costs to running a business and this is one of them. If a business owner finds that offensive then he or she should find a different line of work, or open a shop in a state that doesn't require mandatory inspections.

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Checka, checka, check it out……
Currently for sale from the Left Coast in the Flea market:
For sale - 2018 BMW G 310GS, 180 miles, Essentially "NEW" | Adventure Rider

Has anyone here ever had any experience with renting a van locally for picking up a large bike that is out of state?
I am exploring the trailer route as well but I do not want to use my own vehicle with a rental hitch for trailer towing and I cannot use my company vehicle.

Last year, hired a Budget truck and drove a friend's bike from North Carolina. That was one way- I think you can rent a van if you return it to save spot that you pick up. They seemed like the cheapest bet.

Just beware of mileage costs! I looked into renting a van or truck for a track day weekend. Once I added in the miles, the cost was unjustifiable.

Yeah. I dont remember but we either got unlimited or a high-mileage deal. Shop around..sometimes going in person helps too.

Just to give you an idea, I rented a UHaul Pickup and Car Tralier to pick up a Rover in CT. 130 miles round trip and cost me around $200 with taxes and insurance.

Good luck.

I was going to say zipcar, but if you take for a day (180 miles limit, but free gas), but you’ll probably end up paying about $200 as well


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On other boards (non-motorcycle) people offer to help with transportation (RURR) but I don't think that type of comraderie exists in NYC Commuters.

When you say out of state, do you mean NJ/CT or CA/MO/CO? Just curious.... you never know who's traveling to another state and might be able to help.

The bike is located in Delaware, it would be about a 300 mile round trip.
Renting a p/u with a mc trailer sounds right up my alley especially if I can keep the cost below $300. Did you use a Uhaul rental center locally?

I used a U-Haul in Nanuet and drove to New Milford, CT.

The car hauler was only $29.95 and the pick-up was also $29.95. The rest of the cost was mileage and insurance.

I do have a steel hitch hauler for bikes up to 600 lbs and a 5x8 utility trailer you can borrow but I think your biggest expense will be the pick-up. A van would be easier and you wouldn't have to pay extra at toll.

Thanks for your generous offer. The rental van with a ramp option makes the most sense however I would most likely be doing this mission solo and the bike I may be buying is a Yamaha Super Tenere which is around 550 lbs
which would be quite a handful.

Why not take the train and ride back? Or go with someone in car and ride back? Riding back not an option?

We were able to get RichBebe's Cagiva inside my Disco... not fun but doable.

Most of the new vans at Uhaul are the Sprinter type so they are pretty low to the ground.

Here's what I would do, take bus or train to DE. Rent van one-way to NY and drop off at 23rd street. Of course you need to factor in time, cost of bus/train and any drop off charge. Just a thought.