Well I just read the mike the mechanic thread and really wanted to drop my two cents on the situation. I'm probably gonna get in trouble for this but this is how it went down for me.
I've had two intake manifolds break on me since I have had my motor bike. Maybe a month if not less. Here is what I did.
I took my busted pieces down to a machine shop and talked to a guy about casting one or machining a replacement for me. He just looked at me kind of funny and said "You're lookin at a bare minimum $100." Then he asked me how much a factory replacement piece cost and I told him I paid 4 bucks for the piece of crap. He told me I'd be better off ordering 10 of them over having them machine one that would never break.
However when I was on my way out to the truck all dejected like he came out and pointed me in the direction of another machine shop just a couple blocks away. He said the guy over yonder messes with some small engine stuff and might be able to help.
So I drive over to this other place and I'm headin in the door and pow there's an old motorized bike with the same engine on it. I haven't seen too many of them in town. You could tell it had some miles on it. I was hopeful that my problem was close to being accomplished. When I went in they actually had 2 Schwinn cruiser motor bikes for sale. $700 dollars each. I couldn't believe it. Anyways I showed the guy my problem and he wasn't much help either. He told me he couldn't even turn a machine on for less then 50 bucks. He seemed kind of insulted that I was building my own bike instead of buying his $700 alternative. I was actually willing to pay up to 50 bucks for a good solid intake manifold. No love and no dice
This is the fun part. I stumbled onto Manic Mechanic's ad link on the forum page the same day I was going to order about 5 cheap pot metal cast intakes and there it was.
12 ****ing dollars to boot. I couldn't believe it. 1.90 for shipping. Give me a freakin break. I don't care how long it takes to get here. I'm not even going to put the thing on my bike when it gets here. I'm gonna ride down to that machine shop and show that fella what I got for 12 bucks.
It's a tough market considering the factory replacement parts for these kits are dirt cheap. I really know from experience that you absolutely can not get this kind of quality for anywhere near the price. I'm not affiliated with Jim/Manic Mechanic/Mike nor am I happy end user of his product yet, but what he's doing for us is amazing. When he says raw cost, he freakin means raw cost.
It's sad that I've only read the threads about people writing to ***** about not getting their orders from Jim in a timely manner and on the flip side I think it is absolutely freakin hilarious about his refund policy. And to note, he doesn't have a monopoly on jack. You can take any part off these motors into a machine shop and they'll charge you who knows how much for their service. That sounds like a monopoly to me. I can't even calculate how much I really saved ordering from Jim. From my best guestimate around 90% considering the nearest thing to a quote was at the very minimum a hundred bucks. 90% discount is practically free.
That's all I got to say about that
I've had two intake manifolds break on me since I have had my motor bike. Maybe a month if not less. Here is what I did.
I took my busted pieces down to a machine shop and talked to a guy about casting one or machining a replacement for me. He just looked at me kind of funny and said "You're lookin at a bare minimum $100." Then he asked me how much a factory replacement piece cost and I told him I paid 4 bucks for the piece of crap. He told me I'd be better off ordering 10 of them over having them machine one that would never break.
However when I was on my way out to the truck all dejected like he came out and pointed me in the direction of another machine shop just a couple blocks away. He said the guy over yonder messes with some small engine stuff and might be able to help.
So I drive over to this other place and I'm headin in the door and pow there's an old motorized bike with the same engine on it. I haven't seen too many of them in town. You could tell it had some miles on it. I was hopeful that my problem was close to being accomplished. When I went in they actually had 2 Schwinn cruiser motor bikes for sale. $700 dollars each. I couldn't believe it. Anyways I showed the guy my problem and he wasn't much help either. He told me he couldn't even turn a machine on for less then 50 bucks. He seemed kind of insulted that I was building my own bike instead of buying his $700 alternative. I was actually willing to pay up to 50 bucks for a good solid intake manifold. No love and no dice
This is the fun part. I stumbled onto Manic Mechanic's ad link on the forum page the same day I was going to order about 5 cheap pot metal cast intakes and there it was.
12 ****ing dollars to boot. I couldn't believe it. 1.90 for shipping. Give me a freakin break. I don't care how long it takes to get here. I'm not even going to put the thing on my bike when it gets here. I'm gonna ride down to that machine shop and show that fella what I got for 12 bucks.
It's a tough market considering the factory replacement parts for these kits are dirt cheap. I really know from experience that you absolutely can not get this kind of quality for anywhere near the price. I'm not affiliated with Jim/Manic Mechanic/Mike nor am I happy end user of his product yet, but what he's doing for us is amazing. When he says raw cost, he freakin means raw cost.
It's sad that I've only read the threads about people writing to ***** about not getting their orders from Jim in a timely manner and on the flip side I think it is absolutely freakin hilarious about his refund policy. And to note, he doesn't have a monopoly on jack. You can take any part off these motors into a machine shop and they'll charge you who knows how much for their service. That sounds like a monopoly to me. I can't even calculate how much I really saved ordering from Jim. From my best guestimate around 90% considering the nearest thing to a quote was at the very minimum a hundred bucks. 90% discount is practically free.
That's all I got to say about that
