Evolution Motorcycles - Santa Clara, California

jonathan M.

Aside from the shop being very quick, precise, and friendly they renovated the shop and its insanely nice and makes you not want to go home and just wait there. Super neat and now has some merchandise and other items for sale. My new favorite shop now and its close to home. Can’t appraise this shop enough it has come a long way.

Anton U.

This review is for this particular service, not for the shop in general.

I took in my '15 S1000RR for DDC fork and shock service (seals + oil) and a strange clanking noise that was happening on hard fork rebound when yanking the clip-ons. I provided a different rate fork spring replacement for a bottoming out issue on track. They diagnosed the issue as a loose bolt that had the bottom of the cartridge effectively loose within the stanchion, did the service and swapped the spring. From what I can tell by the bike's behavior thus far, the core work was done well and the bike dynamics are finally jiving with my weight and braking habits.

However, there were some issues, some of which they resolved fully, some partially, and some I had to spend my time on fixing.

This is a track bike and was brought in with mirror block-off plates atop fiberglass racing bodywork. Each plate was attached via 2 bolts, and their respective washers and nuts on the inner side of the fairing stay. The bike came back with one washer per block-off, and one of the nuts without the washer was small enough to go through the fairing stay and disappear into the thick rubber grommet underneath, so that only the bolt was seen. At first I though I was missing the nut altogether. Undoing it required bending back the race fairing and snapped off a firmly-attached windscreen attachment point. I wrote back to the shop and provided photos of the issue, and they were nice enough to buy me a replacement windscreen. A few days later, I came in on the bike (now with mirrors) to replace the windscreen and they were nice enough to let me borrow Torx bits and a Philips screwdriver to get the front fairing off. Justin was also kind enough to offer me a couple of well nuts for the windscreen, when he saw that one of mine was very worn down.

During the replacement, I noticed that none of the six Dzus fasteners had the original washers they came with, resulting in some that were completely loose and could have easily been lost on the road, thankfully none of which happened. They gave me 6 plastic washers (most they could find), which I was able to pad 3 of the loose Dzus fasteners with - the other ones seemed tight enough.

I also noticed that at least one of the small bolts used in attaching the bodywork was swapped from steel to aluminum, and differs visibly from the rest.

Finally, I have a relocated ambient temperature sensor to the air intake tract at the front center of the bike. The way the tract was fitted to the front fairing when I disassembled it was unaligned, resulting in the fiberglass cutting into (and bending some) the hard plastic of the tract under pressure.

The most important issue is that there is no external temperature reading on my dash any longer, which probably means the extender wire was damaged. (Edit: confirmed damage to connector and torn wire at connector).

I would recommend to the shop that they use the cupcake tray method to collect and organize all fasteners, so as to return them to their proper place. If I had been a titanium bolt kind of guy, I'd be utterly pissed. They were very helpful in retrospect, just the bodywork aspect was seemingly rushed or done without paying much attention.

Note: I have had other minor service done here (sheared off shift lever bolt extraction) and it was done very well. The shop threw in a temporary spacer while I shopped for the real deal.

I will certainly get work done here again, but will explicitly remind them of the issues seen in the past. If you have any non-standard equipment or bodywork, explicitly mention how to take it down.

Geoffrey W.

This is an amazing shop! Frank, Jay, Mike and Terrence are extremely knowledgeable and always will point you in the right direction when it comes to advice and figuring out what upgrades/solutions are best for your situation. When explaining any additional work or upgrades the front will send you in the back so you can see exactly what’s going on and it is fully explained (I’m not the most mechanically inclined) but they make sure you fully understand what’s going on before you leave your bike with them. They’ve worked on my Husqvarna 401 Svartpilen and my Husqvarna 701 SM. They have handled all of my upgrades, services, and accidents with no issues. I love that they never sugarcoat anything and they always let you know if a part is cheaper by you purchasing it. Also, I noticed on some of the other reviews had issues with communication. I have NEVER had any issues with Communication. Communication is a two-way street I personally call if it’s a longer job just to check in with them to get updates. Overall amazing shop, second to none customer service and quality work.

Jay

I went to this shop for the second time, even after a friend’s warning, to get my turn signal lights fixed, which were only working intermittently. They initially quoted $150. Instead, they tore the bike down for what should have been a simple issue, spent three hours on it, replaced a relay, and ended up charging me $360. Ridiculous. Thanks, but no thanks.

Edit:
You and I both know why it took over two hours (though definitely not three). Let me explain, and maybe it’ll jog your memory:
1.While I’m not an expert, I’ve been saying all along that it’s a relay issue that only happens intermittently, yet you went ahead with a different approach.
2.Despite my repeated concerns about the lights flashing too slowly, a faulty or incompatible relay was installed. I had to talk to every technician in the shop and even those at the front desk (possibly you) to explain and show videos of how the lights were and should be working, other motorcycles on the floor.
3.After a lot of back and forth, the relay was finally replaced, and the lights started flashing normally.
4.I was told the bike was ready, but when I got there, the dashboard was lit up with error codes, including a check engine light. Once again, I had to be on the floor and get those cleared before leaving.
5.The original appointment was for both the flashers and the info/trip button, but there was no mention of why the trip info keeps resetting or why the button won’t work, despite the hours spent and the hefty bill.

Trust me, it wasn’t fun spending all that time on the shop floor and then having to pay $360 for the subpar work.

Jessica D.

They have helped me out with my triumph bonneville bonner; consistently offering higher quality care than the licensed Spirit dealership by me at a lower cost

Matthew R.

I had my 2018 KTM Duke 390 apart in my garage for valves and needed thinner shims. They had the 10.00mmX2.35mm shim I needed, and Mike took the time to make sure it was the correct size shim even though I had come in 5min before close on a Friday. And they charged bulk price for the shim! I priced the same part, and it was 5.2X more expensive at the dealership.

Vijeth V.

Better than the dealership for my Aprilla Tuono V4. They now have all the equipment needed to do a full dealer spec service.
Everyone's super friendly and their attention to detail is impeccable. Definitely recommend for your Ducatis and Aprillias.

Miguel H.

Went in a few months ago to drop girlfriends motorcycle off. For full tune up and tires and a wheel. After spending 1300$ there we got the bike back an about a month later and it keeps stalling out on freeway. Took it back dropped it off for another week and they couldn’t find an issue. So we have a bike with $1300 worth of repairs that doesn’t work proper. Have called numerous times with nothing back from owner. Lost all respect for this shop. When Rob had it it was great.

Update still not hearing back from the owner van. Horrible customer service. They won’t cover a part that was supposed to be replaced. Going there back and forth to drop off the bike cost me $85 per trip in fuel since shop is 122 miles from home one way. And already gave them $1300. Stay away from this shop. New owner van is a crook.