Mr Mechanic Bike Rental: Bikes not prepped properly

[wallycycle]

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Just did a 7 day trip in N Thailand and rented bikes from Mr. Mechanic. I booked/deposit the bikes (Versys and ER6N) three months in advance and told Benz that I would be doing a lot of riding and to make sure the bikes are in good mechanical condition. He told me "don't worry, be happy". Well, the Versys had a bad fuel leak and when I brought it back to the shop the gal didn't believe me and gave me a bit of hard time. Replaced with a ER6N. All the bikes had tires that were not inflated properly. They were all over inflated which is quite dangerous. The rear tires had 55-60 psi and the fronts were all in the upper 40's. My clutch cable was completely out of adjustment. My wife's ER's front brake got weaker by the day and when we checked, the front pads had maybe 1mm of pad material left. Caveat Emptor.

[KenYam]

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Bike hire shops would be the same all over the world mate, even if correct you should check everything out for yourself anyhow for piece of mind for your own personal safety. I have lived here awhile and it becomes second nature to check things out yourself. I remember one bike hire place performed an engine oil change on a ER6N when they first arrived in Thailand but only finger tighten the sump drain plug, so it was slowly dropping oil onto the rear tyre, very safe practise. Good to hear you survived your Thailand bike adventures and hope you enjoyed yourselves around the north Thailand country side.

Cheers Ken F

[schackster]

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Kens right , the same things could happen regardless of which place you rented a bike from. When its high season the bikes come in and often go straight out to another customer. Always good to go over the bike in detail yourself before taking it. Some places will allow you to take it round the block a few times to test it. As for the tyre pressure, that you could of and should of checked yourself when you gassed up.

[Tom Forde]

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Mate, when I hire a car in Oz I dutifully check tyres, oil and spare tyre before I leave on my journey.
Do the safety check, tyre pressures, chain tension, brake lights, oil level,brakes etc.

It is your life! After all you are probably paying peanuts for the bike, riding with a 200bht helmet and with no body armour.

This is Asia mate, the standards are different and the bikes are cheaper to hire.
Life is cheap, so do the homework.

It is a hard lesson when you end up in a Thai hospital at the start of your dream holiday.

Cheers
Tom

[nikster]

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Good advice to check the bike yourself.

No excuse though.

[Davidfl]

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In high season this could happen at any bike shop, the shops are so busy - not enough bikes to meet demand.
99% of the customers return their bikes with no complaints as all they want is their passport back.
They very seldom alert the shop to something that needs attention or might be wearing out.
The shop asks if everything was ok & they say yes.
The bikes come in & go out the next day.
So it always pays to check your bike out before you head off up-country for a few days. Or day 1 or 2 day trips from Chiang Mai first to check out your bike & get anything adjusted changed before you go away.

IMHO & experience Mr Mechanic look after their customers better than anyone else in Chiang Mai, so are always worth checking out for a rental bike.
As with all shops & rented machinery you need to go over it yourself first.

But despite your gripe, it does sound as if had a good good trip. A brief trip report with the highlights would be appreciated.

[johngooding]

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As most people advise it makes a lot of sense to check the bike as thoroughly as possible before taking it on longer trips. However, wether busy or not, surely the shop must do the same check, takes a few minutes, each time the bike is returned. The business which is prepared to do this will deservedly maintain their reputation as well as their bikes.

[squawk76]

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Hi

Does anyone know if Mr Mechanic or anyone would have Versys or ER6N's available in a week or two if I showed up? Tried booking here but haven't heard back yet. Can't seem to book online with the others. Thanks

[madjbs]

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I have had quite a few poorly maintained bikes from Mr. Mechanic. Before the new Kawasakis were available I rented a CB400 there which turned out to have a warped disk. It vibrated heavily if you braked at speed, I didn't notice it on my test ride around the moat but it became apparent soon after I rented the bike. I took it back to the shop only to be told "sorry, just use the back brake"......Also, they didn't have any suitable alternative bikes available and would not return the remaining rental amount. Needless to say, I never rent from them any more.

Now with the new Kawasakis, the hardest part is finding a bike with decent tyres.