On the way out to our Devil's Spine trip, I had a few experienced motorcyclists tell me my rear tire wasn't going to go the distance. I called several shops in Montrose, CO, and chose Davis because they had the tires I liked and said they could get me in right away.
There was another shop that could get me in right away, but he didn't have the tires I wanted if given the choice.
After getting my bike to them, I waited while they worked on Cornfed's bike. Now I knew his was before mine, but when told I could be gotten in right away, I figured they had more than one tech. Turns out they do, but the owner doesn't trust the other to work on sportbikes since he's new. 2 hours later Cornfed's bike was done (And reasonably priced too).
My bike was next, and got done in a normal period of time for tires. About halfway through it I asked the service manager if he could cash me out so we could get on the road ASAP. He told me no, he had to wait until the service was done. This struck me as odd, but I couldn't really say a whole lot. Looking back it's probably because he was scared about what I'd say at his price.
The bike got finished, and then came the bill. $648 for a pair of Michelin Pilot Road 3s installed. I kid you not. $648. And my wheels aren't some crazy size, they are the same as every other literbike.
So searching online I found the tires for an average of $340, less in some places but $340 was the norm. I called Lincoln Davis today, he's the owner. He was nice enough, but didn't flex on the price and stood by it. He tried to blame it on the $35 in taxes and $5 in tire recycling fee. After that, he told me he would send me a $40 gift card to his shop. So, by his words, $40 off would put his tire prices within $60 of his competitors, which he felt was reasonable. I don't agree that prices 20-33% higher than all of his competitors is reasonable, but if it makes him more money I bet it is from his eyes.
So I've got a $40 gift card, which almost irritates me more because that's basically forcing me to spend more money at his shop, unless someone can find something useful there for $40 or less. And considering how his tires are priced $40 off anything above $40 is probably still considerably higher than Revzilla.
I guess you live and you learn, hopefully others don't have to live it when going to Davis Service Center.