Cafe Racer

This is an AMAZING shop! The mechanics are super friendly, knowledgeable. The mechanics are AMAZING. I brought my new sport bike in for oil change and general checkup. Three of the guys swarmed it, working as well oiled team, very efficient, changing oil and doing well bike exam. Greg is an encyclopedia and provided much education to this new rider. They told me about a big Sunday morning social event with coffee and ride that gathers each week next to their shop. I’m going to be going to Café Racer for all my mechanic needs. It’s very nice to find a quality shop like this.

YOU DO NOT WANT TO TAKE YOUR BIKE HERE!!! I would like to first say that I am an EXTREMELEY patient person, with an extensive history in the customer service industry. Patience, however, was difficult to hold on to while dealing with Café Racer in Kansas City, MO. It started when I took my 1973 Honda cb 175 with only 2,000 miles on it in for a carb/​ignition tune-​up, and tube/​tire replacement on May 30^th of 2012. I understood completely that this was their busy season, so being 3 weeks back-​dated on getting to my bike wasn’t an issue. I actually thought that anticipating another week or 2 after the 3 week back-​dating period to finish a rather standard/​routine job was quite fair. In fact, it wasn’t until apx. 10 WEEKS after I dropped the bike off that upon my questioning was informed that MINIMAL progress had been made, and was apparent the bike was not a priority whatsoever. After speaking w/​Woody on several occasions, I was informed he was having difficulties tuning the bike. Also, he has many other tasks to fulfill such as answering phones and running certain errands, all of which hindered his ability to focus on my bike, or any project in the shop for that matter. When I finally got to speak with owner Greg, he said Woody was out for the rest of the week, and he would instead sit down with Dan and update him on the bike (I’m assuming so he could then take over), and then return my call by the end of business on that particular Thursday. BUT, my call was not returned. In fact, when I called the following Friday, Dan said Greg the owner was now going to be out of town for a few days. No big deal I guess, but when I tried to be civil and inquire with DAN as to where they were with the bike and why it hadn’t been put on the dyno within 10 weeks or if the tubes/​tires had even been installed yet, DAN literally FLIPPED OUT, and said if I could do it better/​faster, then to go ahead and try. He then proceeded to HANG UP ON ME!!! When I called back and said «Is this how we’re running a business now???» DAN said, and I quote, «This is how I’m running a business!» I told him” PLEASE DO NOT HANG UP, I need to figure out what’s going on with my bike”, but he continued to act juvenile, and HUNG UP ON ME AGAIN! As I called for the 3^rd time, Nick answered the phone. He was very calm/​professional, and after I explained the story to him, he apologized and said he would check the back story on my bike (because this was not at all his project, he just volunteered to help me because he knew how UNPROFESSIONAL DAN was acting). It was Friday, and there wasn’t much he could do with the time allotted, but he kept in contact with me that day as well as the following week, (apx. Week 11 – 12) because the owner was still out/​not returning my calls/​messages. Long story long, Nick kept in touch with me while Dan was «working» on the bike the first part of the week. I did not, however, receive a call by Friday saying it was done, so I called Nick and he informed me that it was finished. I rushed in to test ride it before they closed, and {not} to my surprise, the bike was still bogging down at high RPM’s, and the clutch was still sloppy. Dan was too «busy» to take it for a spin to verify, and pretty much just shrugged me off saying it was running fine a few days ago, and he’d take a look at it at some point. I wanted to get the bike out, so I paid the ridiculous amount close to $ 600.00, informing the new guy Chad (very friendly and helpful) that Greg needs to contact me to discuss the charges of the incomplete job. He said he called Greg and that Greg would be in touch the next day, (Sat.) but of course, was not… even after I called and left another message that morning. SO, that’s where I am with this whole saga (other negative reviews can be seen at yahoo local); currently waiting to dispute the charges of a shotty job «done» with the owner. This could be a really cool shop, as the café culture has been and will be around for years, but my experience with Café Racer in Kansas City, Missouri has proven otherwise. –Brett Schmidt