My first dealing with Manuel Motorcycles was replacing tires on my Japanese Cruiser. I thought they did a good job and the price was fair. My second dealing with them was not positive. In July of 2015 I bought a custom chopper through Craigslist. The bike's S&S motor was making a strange “clacking” sound so I took it to Manuel. Mark, the owner, listened to the motor running and told me “this motor is shot”. I was new to V-twin engines so I trusted him. I asked if it could be repaired and he said “no, the motor is completely shot.” He then told me that he could install a new Ultima motor which would be cheaper than a new S&S motor. He said it would cost $6000. ( I’ve since discovered that the $6000 charge for an Ultima motor and installation is very high). He also said that he could try to part out the S&S motor, sell the parts and get me some money back out of the S&S motor. I agreed to this, paid him and he installed the motor. Two weeks later when I went to pick up the bike there were several problems.
1. There was a 2” scratch in one of the chrome head covers on my brand new motor. I showed this to Mark and he said he would “take care of it in the off-season.”
2. The air filter that was on the bike (a $1500 dual intake model) was not installed because the tech broke one of the specialty bolts for it and didn’t bother to replace it or even call me to tell me about it. My expensive chrome intake was returned to me in a cardboard box with no padding between the various chrome pieces of the filter resulting in several scratches in the chrome from the parts banging around in the box.
Several weeks later I called Mark to inquire about the parting out and sale of the S&S motor. Mark told me that he “hadn’t even looked at it yet.” Advised by another repair shop I asked him why he wasn’t doing what he said he would do and that I wanted to come pick up my S&S motor. At this point Mark said, “Oh, well I’ve already ordered parts to fix it and I’m going to put it in my Indian Motorcycle.” Two questions:
1. Mark told me that the “motor [was] completely shot” and couldn’t be repaired, but now he was going to fix it and keep it?
2. If he “hadn’t looked at it”, as he claimed, then how could he have ordered parts to fix it?
I definitely believed Mark was lying to me. I told him that this is NOT what we discussed or agreed to and he finally told me “ok, come and get it”. I picked up the S&S motor from Mark and have since had it worked on. The motor was not even remotely “shot” as Mark had claimed…the motor was definitely repairable. In addition the S&S motor was returned to me by Mark missing the billet aluminum flange ring that attaches to the cam cover. This is about a $200 part and I definitely believe that Mark sold the part as a large part of his business is selling salvaged parts. I definitely feel that Mark and Manuel Motorcycles lied to me and took advantage of me to ring up a big sale and that they gave me very inferior service.
