My Royal Enfield vs Shivajinagar, Bengaluru Service

arunko350 (25)in #royalenfield • 7 years ago

Hello Guys,

I am not really a blogger nor I have enough time to be one. But now I am here to tell you guys about someone special. Someone who has been expertising himself in same field since past 7 years.

His name is FIROZ. A Royal Enfield Mechanic, who owns a small garage in Shivajinagar. A Man Of PERFECTION.

I believe that he is the best mechanic that a RE owner can get in Bangalore. The trust that I have on this man is really something very precious. For you guys to get into the track I will tell you a little story how I, in the first place, got to meet this person.

I own a RE Machismo 350 bullet, 2005 model. I got it for seconds at a Rs.60,000/- bargain. When I bought this bike I was told not to ride above 60kmph for atleast somedays as it was kept un-used for more than 6 months. Then later, I didn't get a chance to ride it more than 60kmph since I was riding in city only.

TRIP 1 - Shivasamudram Falls (300 kms)
One good day, while we were on the way to Shivasamudram Falls, my ride stopped all of a sudden as I reached high RPMs and I had to wait for around half an hour to get it started. A local mechanic nearby however, fixed the issue temporarily by connecting the air flow pipe to carburettor correctly. Then, that trip went on well enough to reach back to bangalore safely.

After that, I serviced my bike couple of times at some shitty Royal Enfield service centers and some local mechanics in bangalore. One of service center guy who lost my horn cable while servicing was trying convince me that I had short term memory loss and the cable wasn't there since the start. I knew it was there because I put it there. Such a dumbass service-men the royal enfield recruits. Anyway, we planned for a second trip, to Coorg (Madikeri).

TRIP 2 - Madikeri/Coorg (554 kms)

My bike never reached more than 80kmph this time. Then after the trip, I started hearing some tikking noise from my engine while the engine was running. Like, some spring was cut out and left free to float around in the engine.

I neglected the engine problem because RE service center guy told me he would charge Rs.15,000 just to open and close the engine and I didn't have so much money at the time. Then came-by the third and major trip plan. Bangalore to Goa via Udupi.

TRIP 3 - Goa via Udupi (1486 kms)

It was around 730 kms to reach Goa finally. In this trip, my bike never reached more than 70kmph. While we were returning to Bangalore, almost when we were near Nelamangala, My bike broke down. The engine completely got ceased and stopped running. The bike never started. Then I came to realize that I was very unfair to my bike. Anyway, we pulled my bike with a rope tied to my friend's bike.

The Instinct Decision -
Next day, I decided to get the engine servicing done. I didn't want to give to any RE service centers because I had heard bad reviews of all the service centers in bangalore. So, I decided to give to a mechanic in Shivajinagar. I know what people out there say about servicing in Shivajinagar. I too was afraid that my bike could have been sold part by part and finally I get cheated. But this man, Firoz. I had been to his garage couple of times for some minor accessories fitting.

The Garage Master -
Firoz, I liked his way to treating people. Not only the customers, but even a beggar. He would straight away give Rs.5 or 10 to any beggar who come to his garage. He never let any customer leave his garage without a cup of awesome tea of Shivajinagar. And He will go 5 times a day for Namaz (Prayer).

I kinda thought that he was a good person, and so he was. But how would I guarentee myself that my bike is safe with him? I, with a very doubtful face, asked this guy to check my bike. He started the bike, listened to the engine sound and said, "I need to open-up the engine to see what the actual problem is". I finally made-up my mind and approved it. He convinced me that he would work on the engine only in my presence if I insisted so. But how can I come and sit here daily? I am a Techie. A busy bugging jackass. I wouldn't get so much time to even visit the garage daily. I told him the same thing. Then he pointed to a person and told, "You see that person? He has 2 bullets, one of which he has kept here for servicing since past 3 years. I finished servicing long ago. But, he let it be here as it is more safer here than to park it idle in his parking lot."

I told, "Ok open the engine let's see what's wrong". He opened the engine in front of me and pointed out all the parts that had problem. Lot of them were broken or craked. He made a bill estimate of Rs.20,000 only for the parts. He said, either I can get him the parts and give or he could get it himself. I left that part to him anyway. Then I also said him to do the buffing and polishing of engine exteriors. So final estimate came around Rs.25,000/- (only for parts and polishing). His service charge was Rs.7500/- (better than RE service center anyway). He used to call me whenever any work is done or whenever he buys new parts. I would go and have a good check on the same.

The Grand Finale -
Finally, after 17 days, He called me and said everything's done. I went to him and saw that my bike was as good as a new one. He told me to ride and check the performance. I never knew my bike would be so new. It was awesomeness of servicing by his hands and his employees. Now my bike is running like a GEM. I guess even Rs. 7500/- is very less to give to his service.

My bike After Service