Northern California shop of choice

[ZClock]

Hey everyone,


Does anyone have any experience with Marin Motoworks? From reading up on Mike; it seems like he definitely knows what he's doing (more than me for sure).


Also I've read some pretty awesome things about Ca Speedsports but thats a bit further from me.


Any experience or heads up would be much appreciated.


Was hoping to get my parts from VDUB prior to first service....170 miles on the odo 3.5 hrs on the clock- loving the bike and can't wait to open her up.

[ZClock]

I suppose the easier way to look at it-

Cant go wrong with either shop yea?

[believeinsxvs]

Both shops good, but if closer, go see Mike

[MBevans]

Speed-Sports in livermore has my vote for understanding SXV/RXV's they have rebuilt many and have tuned many as well. Great mechanic!!!
They have been good to me!
M

[ZClock]

Experience with sxv's is a good point. I don't think I'd mind a little extra distance for experience.

My usual "figure it out as I go along" with mechanics is a little too worrisome with such a temperamental engine. Keeping $$ in mind, I'm letting pro's hook it up until I'm in a place to be able to learn the stuff myself. Works been busy; hopefully soon.. Riding in the mean time though!

When I hear SXV tech, Amauri and Allen are the two names that jump to mind for me; but a little too far.

[darkside]

Bought my bike at Speedsports they did a reseal under warranty and it failed again. Took it to Mike at Marin. Been going strong since.

[amauri]

I met Mike from Marin Moto a few years ago at the V4 training school and have talked to him on the phone a couple times.
From our conversations I got the impression he's worked on a lot of Aprilias going back 10+ years.
I believe he knows what he's doing, plus he owns his own shop and does all the work himself, so he's got full control of how the work gets done.

[mtothef]

I met Mike from Marin Moto a few years ago at the V4 training school and have talked to him on the phone a couple times.
From our conversations I got the impression he's worked on a lot of Aprilias going back 10+ years.
I believe he knows what he's doing, plus he owns his own shop and does all the work himself, so he's got full control of how the work gets done.

my rxv550 is with mike right now for a reseal, new pistons and cylinders, and exhaust valves, along with a mapping update and a starter motor regear. only thing negative so far has nothing to do with mike - pistons are currently proving hard to find from any of the usual suspects, aprilia included. throughout, mike has been communicative, responsive, super-thorough in his approach, and has behaved in a stand-up manner.

i had initially been talking with speed and sport in livermore about having them do the reseal and some mapping work, and when they found out that my 07 had a plate they said that they were declining to work on any early plated sxv or rxv bikes, period. if it was never registered and used strictly off-road, they would work on it, but otherwise they did not want to deal with the potential for scrutiny from big brother. this, apparently, thanks to some of the earlier debacles with plated bikes and plate recalls around the state and a generally heightened sense of awareness about rxvs being on the CARB and EPA radar.

ah well. in the meantime i've got a gasgas for the dirt, and a recently street-tracker sheep in wolf's clothing sr500 for the street. could be worse. hope one day that some pistons arrive and i can scare myself silly on the rxv again. but then again, the less i ride it, the longer it will last between rebuilds, right?

[amauri]

I have CP pistons with new cylinders available for the 550 motor, call me if you need a set.

Aprilia raised the price of 550 pistons last year to $300 each (w/rings) but they've been on back order for a couple months.