I started taking my vintage Suzuki to BlueCat this past summer. All I can say is these guy's know their stuff, inside and out, back to front. I've also got no complaints as to how I was treated, customer service wise, 'cause I realize that these folks are first and foremost top-notch, old school motorcycle mechanics. If you ride vintage, and want your bike fixed right the first time, or even resurrected from a 20+ year sleep in somebody's pole barn, then bring it to BlueCat. If you want your hand held while some blow-dried yuppie d-bag pumps sunshine up your 'nethers and kisses your a$$, then go to your friendly neighborhood stealership's service dept.(that's if they'll even touch a bike that's over 7 years old) And if you go that route, be prepared to sell a kidney to pay the bill. (But hey, maybe they'll bring you a latte while they're screwing you over...) read more

Although my incident happened three years ago, after reading the first two reviews I feel compelled to share the negative experience I had with the owner of Blue Cat Motors. i am a forgiving person and his shop is conveniently located. I have been considering taking my scooter for a tune up. I even rode my scooter to his shop and inquired about a tune-up yesterday. But when I remember how poorly the owner treated me and how much I felt cheated out of my money, I do not think I want to go through that again. In any type of business, customer service is huge - you must treat people with respect and have patience as a good listener. The shop owner actually did the opposite. I was shouted at and treated with contempt. read more

They are great to work with. I just purchased a Victory Vegas a month ago and on a ride, snapped the clutch cable. Talked to Ryan about it and he agreed to work on it and change out the mechanical clutch for a hydraulic clutch, never having worked on Victories before. He said he's been thinking about working on Victories and did research them. It did take over a week to get it done, HOWEVER, it took over a week for Polaris to deliver the part plus the kit was missing a unique bolt, no fault of Ryan. He was honest with me throughout the whole project. On top of that he adjusted the initial estimate and took off one hour of labor being more honesty about the work he did. He did a great job, my bike works great. He was great to work with and I am proud to have my Victory being his first to work on. read more

I brought my 78 CB750 into Blue Cat for a Carb rebuild. A complete inspection was done and a few other items needed attention. I had them do about 2/3 of the recommended work thinking I'd do the rest next spring. Although a little pricey, the staff is VERY knowledgeable about old Hondas and did a nice job repairing mine. read more

I actually had to sue them, and they lied under oath! I'd love to go into detail, but to keep this terse I gave Ryan and Jeff several mutually fair options to resolve the matter of a Triumph their shoddy shop clearly DESTROYED. After screaming at me, insulting me, etc. back and forth for weeks, I decided to let the courts make a decision. Unfortunately I got a jerk referee who feigned mechanical knowledge and gave us zero time at the bench. She actually asked them, the self proclaimed "experts," if they knew what caused the failure, as if their determination was key. There are two options. 1: "We did," or 2: "No," which actually means "we did but won't admit it," they, the "experts" said "No." When the damage was obviously caused by the fact that they DID NOT USE LOCTITE ON INNER PRIMARY BOLTS and claimed to use "an invisible thread locker that leaves no residue" despite the fact that I removed these bolts BY HAND after one weaseled out and chewed up my motor mere weeks after they had assembled the primary. I wish I'd never have attempted the justice system and had handled this some other way. At least I would have satisfaction. Instead they pocket my $600 for a simple clutch repair (!!!!, which was 2 weeks late, and they ran my battery dead and had to borrow me a shop one, which Ryan threw a fit over) and stole the $4500 my beloved low mileage classic Triumph WAS worth. But for now, please, please don't disregard these negative reviews if you value your property. You have options, take it ANYWHERE but Blue Cat, and spread the word. read more

CAVEAT EMPTOR, and a BIG caveat, at that. I visited this shop before towing my Honda Metropolitan here for work. Cool shop, lotsa great old motorcycles and new scooters for sale. I spoke with Ryan, the owner, and described what was going on with the scoot, and the various things I'd already done/had done by a mechanic. When I returned several days later to deliver the scoot, Andrew cheerfully checked me in. I told him in detail all the work I'd just done on the scoot. MOST IMPORTANTLY, I CLEARLY REQUESTED THAT IF ANY WORK BEYOND THE CARB CLEANING WE AGREED ON NEEDED TO BE DONE, THAT I BE PHONED FIRST TO GET MY APPROVAL. I ALSO WROTE THIS ON THEIR COPY OF THE PAPERWORK, WHICH ANDREW ACKNOWLEDGED. Long story short, when I called before coming to pick the scoot up, I was cheerfully told (again by Andrew) that a full tune-up had also been done, for an additional $165 dollars or so, over and above the $99 carb clean. (I might not have this latter amount exactly right, but I'm close.) I calmly reviewed the fact that when I checked in with him, we went through the exercise described above. He looked at his paperwork, and oh, yeah, there it was. Later that day I was contacted by Jeff, who said he was the service manager (and who Ryan/owner would later claim was a "mechanic" who was "not authorized to have that conversation"). Jeff and I reviewed the circumstances. I asked that the unauthorized charges be removed, and he seemed to agree, stating that he had to discuss the situation with me because they had so many customers who tried to bring them broken-down machines needing a ton of work and then refusing to pay, or something like that. So imagine my surprise when I arrived at the shop the next day by bus to pick up my scooter. Ryan met me, and went a third round, and the most brutal, with me. He threatened ultimately to not release the machine to me, claiming I was refusing to pay for work I "knew" had to be done. I calmly told him no, I did not in fact know that, as NO ONE HAD EVER CALLED ME TO INFORM ME as I repeatedly, verbally and in print, had asked them to do. I told him this is always my practice, not limited to them, and it has served me well during my (middle-aged) life. He tried very hard to make me feel as though I was some kind of low-life miscreant who willfully and in a premeditated fashion was trying to get something for nothing and generally take advantage of this humble upstanding small business owner. Heck, I'm a wife, mother, and nurse-practitioner. I pay all my bills, like to bring more business to good merchants, and love to support local small businesses. But I've also been here just two years since moving from Chicago, and though I love my hometown, I've heard of stuff, and I therefore take precautions to avoid being taken advantage-of. So Ryan progressively lowered the amount of money he wanted for the surprise tune-up, down as low as $39, I recall. I informed him I'd rather incur fees much higher than that in small-claims court, just because of the rather obvious principle. I asked him how I could have been any clearer in my request when I checked the scooter in. He of course did not answer this. We were involved in this discussion, around and around, for quite some time. Ultimately, I calmly asked him to provide me with the contact information for his legal representation. (I admit, I have never played the litigation card, and I was working hard to avoid it.) He said curiously that we "could do it through the mail." Hunh? He said he'd been able to deal with disgruntled customers "through the mail," to which I said something like isn't that telling that you've had to do so multiple times. But ultimately his whole demeanor changed, and he informed me (with a long-suffering kind of facial expression and tone of voice) he would agree to charge me only for the carb clean. I think this actually might have been about the time a couple came into the shop to look at bikes. I was very silent after he changed his tune, just wanting to get my scoot and get out of there. So it was beyond astonishing that as he continued to prattle on while completing the transaction that he said, and I quote, "Actually it is our protocol to call customers when we find extra work that needs to be done." At this writing, several days later, I can say I rode the scooter home 16 miles without incident, until I stopped at an intersection a couple miles from home and the scooter died. I eventually got it started again, but it is now back to where it was before it was towed in. I have contacted Honda Town in Minneapolis. The service manager there says he suspects a fuel pump diaphragm, in light of the fact that the carb has been cleaned twice, and due to the other work already done on the scoot. So there it will go later today. Stay safe, friends, and keep the shiny side up. read more