Rave: Bavarian Motorcycles West in Denver....

Martinjmpr

Wiffleball Batter
I know people come onto internet forums to ********** about poor or overpriced service so I wanted to take a few minutes here to RAVE about a local BMW service facility here in the Denver area.
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My '02 R1150R "Bumblebee" (yellow with blue stripes) had been running rough for a couple of months. And I'll confess: I hadn't been taking care of her as well as she deserves (she's an AWESOME bike, one of the best I've ever owned. She's a heavy pig, but holy crap is she fast! And comfortable, too.)
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Anyway, after experiencing a couple of "incidents" where I lost power and got a plume of blue smoke, I made an appointment at Bavarian Motorcycles West (BMW - cute...) because he came highly recommended. I also knew that most of the local dealers were scheduling at least a week out and I needed to get my bike fixed right away.
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I bought the bike in 2013 with about 51,000 miles on it. I wasn't sure about the service history prior to my owning it but I assumed that the valves hadn't been adjusted in a while (because who spends $$ to get valves adjusted on a bike they are about to sell? Nobody, that's who.) Despite that I rode it a LOT, putting about 15,000 miles on it in the 3+ years I'd owned it, including 2 "Saddlesore 1000" rides to earn my "Iron Butt Association" membership (Saddlesore 1000 is where you ride a verified 1000 miles or more in less than 24 hours.) But I hadn't put ANY money into it, nor had I done much maintenance (I've changed the oil twice in 15,000 miles. Yes, I know I'm a bad, bad owner. :( )
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While I was there, he looked over the bike and noted that it needed new tires. I had put Michelin Pilot Road IV GT's on over 12,000 miles previously so I figured he was probably right. He offered to sell me a set but said that if I wanted to stick with the Pilot Roads, I'd have to get them from another shop, but he said if I could bring them by he would put them on. He said he would look at the airbox, drain the (overfilled) oil (Yes, I already said it, I'm a bad owner. ;) ) and check the valve clearances.
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Next day he called and told me the rear brake pads were worn about 80% and asked if I wanted them replaced. I said "sure, go ahead." In for a penny, in for a pound, right? I knew this was going to be a big bill but I figured I'd deserved it since I've ridden for 3+ years doing little or no maintenance to this gorgeous bike.
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So this morning I went to pick it up. As I'd suspected (and as he'd warned me), the problem was that I was over filling the oil. Bad, bad owner! He said he was able to drain most of the oil out of the airbox and that it was running better. He also had put on the new tires, brake pads, adjusted the valves (they were "a little off"), and adjusted the idle (too high). Since I knew he didn't take credit cards, I had taken the precaution of transferring $1000 into my checking account as I waited for him to total up the bill and it came to ..... $330. :Wow1:
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I'm pretty sure that one of the two local BMW shops in town would have charged me at least that much just for the valve adjustment - with the new tire install, brake pads, idle adjustment and airbox cleaning I have no doubt my bill would have been close to or over $1k.
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Anyway, if you're on the Front Range and need your BMW serviced, I can't think of anybody who I would recommend higher than Pete at Bavarian Motorcycles West. He's not the most talkative guy in the world - in fact, he's pretty much a no nonsense, taciturn kind of guy. But he knows his stuff.
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For those interested, he's in South Denver near Evans and Broadway (2312 S. Delaware is the exact address.)
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Side note: Lots of folks with Airhead boxers take them there for service too. He had a couple of older airheads up on the stands and I was struck by just how gorgeous those old Airheads are! Beautiful bikes, I wish BMW would go back to that simple, classic style.
 

DaveNay

Adventurer
I personally always prefer reputable private mechanics or private shops over dealers of any kind (2 wheels or 4 wheels).

The challenge of course if fulfilling that "reputable" requirement. This typically requires word of mouth references, which you have provided here in spades!
 

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