Factory Wrench

So I guess it’s just a matter of time before you experience how crazy this guy really is. About a month ago I took my fz8 to get the gear shift lever changed. At first Nathan was fine and very helpful. He said he needed to order the part, and that he would call me when it arrived. Sure enough a couple days later I received the call and took the bike in again. Later that day he calls and he tells me that he needs to order some metal rod that connects to the lever because that was bent also. No problem I thought. He tells me to pick up the bike whenever I can, no problem I’ll just go after work I thought. He calls me yet again later that day, I couldn’t pick up the phone bc I was busy at work, so he leaves a voice mail message telling me that since I did not come pick up the bike and I did not tell him whether to leave the bike inside or outside he would just leave it outside and leave the keys in the mail box. Mind you he left this voicemail message at 330 pm. His store hours say he’s open until 5 pm. Preoccupied about my bike I call him back but sure enough he was gone already. I couldn’t do anything else until I got off from
Work. At which time I immediately went to he shop to get my bike. But the bike wasn’t there. Naturally, the first thing I thought was that it got stolen. So I call the police and blah blah they told me they couldn’t do anything until the next day when he opens again. Next day I call the store he picks up and tells me the bike is there followed by a «my bad». I go to pick up the bike. And he did not even say anything. He just had just left the bike outside with the key in the ignition and the part attached to the passenger seat. I took off. Mind you Nathan is the owner of the shop.
Of course I’m glad that he came to his senses and left the bike inside. But his demeanor and treatment of his customers is just very unprofessional. Of course I’ll never come back again, but I would also recommend anyone to not go to him. HE’S NICE AT FIRST, JUST GIVE HIM TIME AND HES TRUE COLORS WILL COME OUT.

I have read the reviews and have seen some of Nathan’s quirkiness but its because he is a genius and cares about what is going on.
I took in 2 1970 CT70 Honda Trail bikes from my childhood and he was stoked to get them running. His enthusiasm to get these running was so refreshing to see. He would call me regularly for updates and I swung by a few times as well. He was always glad to see me and explain everything he was doing. He found some very hard to find parts, including factory seat covers from Honda!
His estimated cost to fix both bikes was right on money and I know he gave me a break on some parts and labor. It was kind if a labor of love for him.
I watched someone try to rip him off with a few other people standing there. He handled it very well when I would have punched the guy or called the police.
His prices are great and so his is quality of work! I will be back and recommend his services.
He is top notch!

First rating was a 4 star, this last service from Nathan made it a 5 star. I called around to the many different shops in the area to see if they could do a brake and lamp inspection. Del Amo wanted the bike for at least a day, and wanted to charge me $ 62 for looking at the brake lights. They also needed an appointment. I called up Nathan, and 30 minutes later we got everything done. He is a very knowledgeable guy and I wouldn’t hesitate to take my 2002 VFR800 shall it need any service. Thankfully, it’s a Honda so it never needs anything other than oil, and new tires.

No problems. Nathan knows his stuff. He’s always super busy with tons of return customers so what’s that tell you.

Love this shop! I’ve taken my kawasaki ninja here for the past 4 years. Nathan and his team always get my bike working like new and they have very reasonable pricing/​fees. Great customer service! They make me feel like I’m working with family. I’ll be a returning customer for as long as I ride.

I wanted a cheap oil change and what I got was ignorance, a non stock filter and who knows what type of oil?
I asked for the most basic of services on a very basic motorcycle instead I got attitude and worries if my bike is even safe to ride.
I returned the day after the oil change because I saw a few drops of oil on my garage floor (my KLR650) has only 672 miles it’s immaculate. And was told by the aggressive senior tech that it’s normal it must be from spillage when refilling the oil. He would not look at it and said if it leaks more then I should be concerned. iive been riding for 10 years atv’s jetskis dirt bikes sport bikes and now adventure.
Do not trust a filthy unorganized unprofessional and non OEM service facility. Find an authorized dealer to service your unit. By the way I replaced the oil and filter with stock filter. What a waste of money and time and disrespect.
Stay far away they also will try to up sell your pants off!

I’ve used this place for ordering parts and, since it’s close to me, worked quite well for that. Then I needed some actual work done…
I had a breakdown and thought of this place first, and had my bike towed here out of hours. I called the guy the next morning to explain what had happened.
He agreed to work on the bike if I paid a deposit for what he thought it was, without having looked at it purely based on his listening to the motor. I asked if he could spend an hour on it (with upfront payment) to diagnose it and then get back to me — it didn’t seem to make sense to me to just agree to the work without knowing the for sure the cause or the cost to repair.
The guy then accused me of trying to trick him into getting a diagnosis so I could then repair it myself. Clearly this has happened to him before and he’s been stung, but I was offering to pay for his time and materials — apparently he’s too busy for that. In other words, if he can skin you for as much money as possible, you’re a welcome customer. If not, he doesn’t have time for you.
He also left my bike outside in the rain for three days straight, causing rust, bodywork suffs, and potentially electrical damage.
Way to drive away business. I won’t be taking anything here, or ordering parts from here ever again. I also wouldn’t hesitate to warn my fellow riders away from this place.
Other reviews mention the guy is hit or miss depending on the day/​his mood, which seems about right. I wouldn’t trust someone like that to work on my motorbike.

If you want your bike fixed right for the right price this is the place to go. They fixed my 200 Yamaha blaster and Honda 50 kids dirt bike. next is my 660 raptor. Always done on time and the best work.
Thanks Nate keep up the good work

I’m sorry to see all the mixed reviews on Factory Wrench. I’ve been there a few times for minor things, usually mounting a tire, and the service is always great!

I’m not sure what these other people experienced. But, I had nothing short of an excellent experience with Nathan.
My old 86 Honda Shadow VT1100 needed all kinds of little things done to it. Nathan described everything to me, and made the quote price.
Said that the bike would be ready Tuesday afternoon.
Ready on time and $ 100 under quoted price. All this and a friendly, outgoing personality.
I can only imagine these other reviews are false, because Nathan gave me a great experience, and I won’t be taking my bike anywhere else.

Could Not Be Happier With The Service I Received!!!
I had to flat bed my 07′ V-​Star to Factory Wrench. Met with the owner the day before and explained the issues I was having with the bike. The bike simply would not run properly. It sat for awhile and the old gas screwed the insides up. This much I knew and relayed to the owner. I could tell he knew what I was talking about as I later learned he is especially well versed as a Yamaha tech! Good News For me! :D
I brought my bike in with a huge (THIS SUCKER JUST WONT RUN) Issue. I left a few days later with the problem fixed and my bike running better than it did stock. I felt the price I was given was definitely fair considering the work performed! The amount of time it takes to pull a bike apart, tweak and tune it and put it all back together, From personal experience is not a quick job. Then to perform what i considered (Open Heart Carb Surgery) and tune my bike better than its ever run before. The custom pipes could not make for an easy tune either.
My hats off to Factory Wrench here guys. In reading some of these other posts, I always wonder why everyone has time to leave a bad review, but no one has time to leave a good one. I know one thing. Motorcycles across the board are not «easy» to work on and are often very much like a woman. Finicky /​Hates To Get Wet /​and downright grumpy at times. It takes the right guy to be passionate about his work in the monotonous «automotive repair» world.
This dudes got my vote!

I read the reviews and was hesitant to go here but it was close to my house. He did a good job so I was going to come back and get tires he said he could get them for cheap and gave me a price and said just call me a couple days before you want to do it and I’ll cover the cost of the tires. So I called him and told him I was ready for the tires. He said ok bring me the money for the tires and I said I won’t have the money till the Tuesday (the day I wanted to get them done) he flipped out and was very rude… I was tempted to go beat his ass! Lmfao… He’s not worth it tho and I’ll just take my business elsewhere and pay extra if I have to… Can’t trust this dude he changes prices on you and I think he’s high on something… This place won’t last with his customer sevice

I have been going to this shop for 3 years and he was very efficient and accurate with the price! Recently I went in for break pad n tires… etc and he always add something in for free, very honest with his price and friendly guy! I saw few bad comments of him and i never saw that side of him past 3 years! My dad/​brother always comes here for past 10 years and all us didn’t have bad experience with him! I will definitely recommend this place to others

When he’s in the right mood, Nathan is great, quick & cheap. But when he isn’t in the right mood, you’ll get horrible service from him. He can be rude & inconsiderate, he makes up prices as he goes, and pretty much wings things. If you want a «professional experience», go somewhere else; if you need something quick & easy, he’s your guy.
My latest experience (causing me to write this review): I brought my Honda scooter in to him 2 weeks ago for oil change, brakes, tune-​up & new tires. He completed everything in one trip except the brake pads, which he said were «on back order» — but it would be «5 minutes to replace when I get them & there’ll be no charge.» But when I came to pick up the bike a few minutes later, he said it would be a $ 25 charge to install them. When I called today to see if he had received the pads, he said he hadn’t checked his back orders in a while. He asked if I had prepaid for this & reminded him of all the details of my previous visit. He said he’d look into it and call me back (without asking for my name or phone number).
Nathan is not customer or paperwork-​oriented. He clearly runs this shop as a hobby, not a business. So, cavaet emptor.

Horrible customer service. Work is mediocre. My pods are still screwy… PODS! shouldn’t have been lazy, and done them myself instead of paying this guy. If you have a vintage or older bike, don’t bother. My buddy rolls in with a 70s Honda… «Hey, you work on these…» Factory Wrench-«Not on sh-​t that old.» Awesome, you just lost all the café racers in the south bay, Venice Vintage, The Steadies, whoever. Word gets around.

Not to be mean, but this guy really does have issues, I honestly feel sorry for him. After reading some of the reviews I’ve realized he must be a little crazy (I mean he has a screw or two loose). Long story short, my son races a KTM 50, and I’m his mechanic (I’m professionally trained). Thinking this guy knew what he was doing, I went to schedule a couple of shop hours for the guy to give me his opinion. I’m 6’4 250lbs, so I can’t exactly test ride my son’s bike. That being the case, I felt like the bike was making GREAT top end power, but the bottom was a little short of where I THOUGHT it should be. KTM 50’s are known for making poor power in the bottom range, I just needed a second opinion. Long story short, after a few minutes I literally asked if this guy ever worked on one before (he started acting weird). He told me he did, but I’m convinced it was for an oil change, as it was clear he was a shop manual mechanic.
At the end of the day, the reviews and overall ratings speak volumes. Even people with positive reviews really haven’t done much more than have the guy mount a tire. I’m the kind of guy who likes to take care of the little guy, but this little guy (literally) gives other small businesses a bad name. It’s not common that I say something like this, but I can truly say the area would be better off without this guy. I can all but guarantee this business won’t be around in 5 more years. It’s like the guy inherited the business or his mom and dad bought it for him. Either way, it won’t survive.

This guy isn’t a factory wrench he’s a prick. Please go to a REAL shop that wants your business. He yelled at me for asking a question about my scooter he worked on. My scooter still doesn’t work because he scammed me and charged me $ 100 for nothing. There’s a few other shops I go to… Never this one again.

DO NOT GO TO THIS GUY!
I dropped my motorcycle (1965 BSA) off at wrench factory to get the throttle cable replaced and some electrical work done to make the bike run better. When I dropped it off it was running, we started together in the parking lot. I came back numerous times to check on it and the owner was rude to me every time complaining that that it was not his specialty but continuing to find mythical problems with the bike like a hole in the gas tank that needed to be welded. To the best of my knowledge the hole was not there when I dropped off the bike. I had ridden the weekend before with no issue with the gas tank. I believe the shop put the hole in the tank when they removed it to change the throttle cable. I agreed to have the hole which I believe they caused fixed because I could not ride my bike with a hole in the tank. When I picked up the bike the paint was stripped off the tank to fix the hole I believe they caused, costing my $ 500 to paint
When I picked up the bike the battery was dead so we did not start it to confirm the required electrical work was done. I took the bike home, charged the battery and it would not start. I returned to the shop the hoping to get the issue resolved and get the bike started. Then Nathan proceeded to yell at my aggressively to the point passing police stopped to make sure everything was OK and tell me not to unload the bike because he refused to touch the bike. He then cussed me out and told me he hoped I crashed my bike.
It is my contention that Wrench factory damaged my gas tank causing the damage which required me to have it repainted and did not fix the electrical because the bike no long runs.

These negative reviews reflect my experience with Nathan as well. I have a dirt bike that needed a new piston/​rings. For some reason, he ended up taking apart the whole engine and then quoting me over $ 1,500 to put it back together plus more parts than were necessary, like a new cylinder. The cylinder wasn’t scratched or showed any signs of damage.
I had already told him that I couldn’t afford more than $ 500 and he was just to replace the piston. He said he’s already put in more work than that (which wasn’t necessary) and if I don’t like it, pay him for the couple of hours he spent taking my whole engine apart and then take my bike back in pieces. So, that’s what I ended up doing.
It was very tense when I was loading my bike up on my trailer and he literally threw parts onto my trailer while I was securing the bike.
There are many good shops available for bike repair and no reason to deal with a bad egg. My go-​to guy now is Steve Biganski on Artesia/​Van Ness. Affordable, straight-​forward and knowledgable.
By the way, I took the pieces of my bike to a Yamaha mechanic and after I told him what happened, he put my engine back together with the new piston for under $ 500. Still runs strong to this day.

We brought our BMS 150cc here for repairs, at first we were a bit hesitant due to the poor reviews on Unilocal.But after talking to Nathan on the phone he was very convincing and honest. He was able to fix our issues right away on time and for less then what he had originally quoted the estimated cost of repairs would be! This shop is an exceptional repair shop and I strongly recommend you to have your repairs done here!
Thank you Nathan for doing such a professional job.