i can't ever remember getting out of the dealership for $57! $85/hr. for labor+ "shop supplies" +tax...if that included the tube, you were not overcharged.

 

Tubes are about $20, and mounting is usually $25 to $25 so it's not that off.. After taxes

 

Friggen double post.. Sorry..

 

I'd like to put this whole thread to rest. Let me say that I should have asked how much labor and tube would cost. I have learned a lesson. I did read on here that some local dealers will change the tube for free. Here's a quote from another thread.

 

average Harley tube is $20-$30
How old is the rim strip on the wheel?

I don't know many people working for free any more.

My question is, does your tire have a hole in it???

 

Kind of hijacking the thread here but.......

I had a local indy shop replace the rear tire and tube on my Springer on July 17 this year. Sept 1 this year I rode to work (total miles on new tire 400-500) and when I came out it was flat as a pancake. I pumped it up and it went flat in less than a minute. I trailered it to the shop and dropped it off and when the mech was helping get it down (same mech who did the tire) he commented that it was probably "a piece of rust rubbed a pinhole in the tube". Next day I get a call that, yeah, that was it.

My concerns are:

If my rim had rust in it in July (he had to seen rust or he wouldn't have said it) why didn't he say something then?
If there IS rust in the rim, did he properly clean it this time?
Would I be better off saving my pennies and planning for a new rim? (original wire spoke rim from 1997, with NO signs of rust on the outside)

I will be picking up my Springer in a few hours and plan to politely ask these questions and if I don't get some VERY good answers, I will be finding a new shop and mech for the few things I don't want to tackle myself AND spreading the bad news to everyone I can find.

I work as an auto mech and I understand the old rule- Make a person happy and they tell 20-30 people, make them angry and they tell 200-300 people......

 

Not too many dealers allow you to carry in your own parts, so you likely bought the tube there.

Sounds like a fair price to me. I doubt that they balanced it for just a tube change.

 

Yes he should of put a wire wheel on a drill and clean off the loose rust.

However replace a tube but not the rubber band that protects the tube?

Also he blames your rim so he deflects a possible connection that he could of partially pinched your tube?

 

Bear68,
Spoke rims do trap moisture inside and they do rust fast when they do. I've seen cases where the rim had actually split down the rustline.

What I saw on mine last time I changed my own rubber: There is a rubber ring that goes around the rim before you put the tube and tire on. It's like a big rubberband to keep the spoke ends from rubbing on the tube.
My rim had a rust line, right along the edge of the rubber ring. Straight line of rust that I could envision turning into a rim split, had I not cleaned it up.
This bike was only a few years old.

You need to clean the rust when swapping a tire on a spoke rim.

But I gotta admit, something sounds hokey with the story he gave you.

If you only made it 400-500 miles, he did something wrong.

 

Update for my story.... The mech replaced the tube and the rim band and thoroughly cleaned the wheel. He said it had a pinhole from a piece of rust, but he is confident it will not reoccur since he has cleaned it well.

I have no way to verify the truth one way or the other, so I will accept that for now.... HOWEVER, I think they may have been feeling slightly guilty about the situation, since they did a FULL wash and wax and detail, even scrubbing my WWW tires so clean they hurt my eyes in the bright sunlight....

I decided to relax and wait and see.... If I have no further issues, I will continue to deal with them. Otherwise, I will be finding a new shop for the few issues I don't choose to deal with myself.....