Oval Motorcycle Centre

[Newoldbiker 45]

Attended their 'intro to motorcycle maintenance' course yesterday evening.  It was billed as a 3 hour course introducing you to maintaining your bike - cost £40 runs from 7-10pm.  When I finally left, exhausted both mentally and physically,at 11.35pm, I realised that this course is the answer.  I have recently made a few post about the cost of servicing in general but honestly, this really is the answer.  The trainer/Yoda/Vale's new crew chief when he needs one, Matt, is like, the bomb.  What he doesn't know about bikes could be written on an atom.  He was patient and nothing was too stupid for him.  He ran us through everything the MOT checks for but it was deeper.  He is on a mission to educate everyone who rides bikes about how they work and how to look after them.  I discovered that my brake pads were on the edge and as a result I'm there this Saturday to fit new ones with his expert guidance at a vastly reduced rate to that which a large Honda dealership in Chiswick wanted to charge me (about 1/3rd of the cost).  And next time I'll be even quicker.  I will be going back L8R in the month to change my coolant and other stuff but honestly this is an alternative to those of us who ride but don't yet know how to 'spanner'.  I'm a teacher by trade and one of the things we say to the kids is 'you can't do it.....yet'.  Well that describes me and I'm grateful to OMC for teaching me a set of new skills in a non-threatening, friendly, funny manner last evening. If you can make it there you should - check out their website.

[Guest bonekicker]

Paul ---Yes quite right--'You Cant Do It Yet'---we can all learn to do basic servicing and minor repairs--and save a fortune --rather than taking it to the garage--good on Ya for doing this course 

[baben 11,782]

This sounds brilliant - is there something similar in Norfolk?

[fred_jb 10,265]

Attended their 'intro to motorcycle maintenance' course yesterday evening.  It was billed as a 3 hour course introducing you to maintaining your bike - cost £40 runs from 7-10pm.  When I finally left, exhausted both mentally and physically,at 11.35pm, I realised that this course is the answer.  I have recently made a few post about the cost of servicing in general but honestly, this really is the answer.  The trainer/Yoda/Vale's new crew chief when he needs one, Matt, is like, the bomb.  What he doesn't know about bikes could be written on an atom.  He was patient and nothing was too stupid for him.  He ran us through everything the MOT checks for but it was deeper.  He is on a mission to educate everyone who rides bikes about how they work and how to look after them.  I discovered that my brake pads were on the edge and as a result I'm there this Saturday to fit new ones with his expert guidance at a vastly reduced rate to that which a large Honda dealership in Chiswick wanted to charge me (about 1/3rd of the cost).  And next time I'll be even quicker.  I will be going back L8R in the month to change my coolant and other stuff but honestly this is an alternative to those of us who ride but don't yet know how to 'spanner'.  I'm a teacher by trade and one of the things we say to the kids is 'you can't do it.....yet'.  Well that describes me and I'm grateful to OMC for teaching me a set of new skills in a non-threatening, friendly, funny manner last evening. If you can make it there you should - check out their website.

Sounds great.  I'm glad this sort of thing is making a comeback as far too many people seem to think that even basic servicing is beyond them when of course with a bit of help it isn't.

 

I used to go to a place in Nottingham many years ago (early 80s) where you could book time in their garage and have access to all their professional tools - for example I used their ball joint splitters for replacing suspension joints on my Austin 1100.

 

Fred