I called Berkeley in beginning of March in order to make an appointment. I was told that they were busy that day and that I should call back in April and they would take the bike then. I called back and now they say they are too busy to take the bike. They made no attempt to keep their word . They made no attempt at any accommodation at all and referred me to someone who they said could handle it. That shop said that they knew little about Triumphs and I should call someone else. This is crappy business practice. read more

I would never trust this shop. I called the owner for 3 weeks before I got a response after dropping off my bike. I had to work and didn't have time to go in and check on why they were being negligent and unprofessional. To top it off, the owner was belligerent and angry when I showed up and requested an estimate of parts and labor costs, and refused to a print out an itemized estimate of the repairs. I strongly suggest taking your business somewhere else! read more

Unlike most of the other reviewers, I had a bad experience with Berkeley Performance Motorcycles. I was due for a 6000 miles service on my Ninja 250. I sent the bike in to do carb synchronization and other items on the maintenance chart. When I got my bike back, I soon find it overheating (in the red zone) on the freeway. When I checked the coolant tank under the seat, it was completely empty - not a single drop of liquid in it. What's worse is that when I called and brought the bike back, I was told that the coolant tank was supposed to be empty and some technical explanation. I'm a newbie to motorcycle, but I'm reading the manual and it says you're supposed to fill coolant up to the "full" line. In the end, they filled the coolant tank and my bike was running cool again. They did not offer any compensation for any potential damage caused by my engine overheating, and not even an apology. I feel like I've been lied to, and I had to bring in the bike twice to get it done. I don't know if I'm going back again, I lost faith in their technical competency and honesty to their customer. I do have to give them props for accomdating my schedule, he waited half an hour after closing for me to pick up my bike. read more

Eek! I just called to see if they had oil for my Honda, and the guy who answer the phone seem pretty unbelievably the opposite to good customer service. Simple questions as "do you sell motorcycle oil" seemed to annoyed him. He should be remove and replace with someone who truly loves motorcycle mechanics world... read more

I see the five-star reviews, and I agree that Rich is an, honest, straightforward guy. My rating comes from own regrettable experience here. My first visit was to repair a dead cylinder, and I agreed to have them replace the rear tire as well. Price was somewhere around $400 for the total job. However, when I picked up the bike, the gas gauge was broken, the rear swing arm had been damaged, and the bike suddenly went from a gentle purr (it's a ninja 250) to a throaty, load, choppy roar. They took care of the broken gas gauge on the spot, but I didn't have time to stay for the wing arm and the increased volume. I allowed three months to pass before bringing it back in to have those two issues addressed. Rich immediately identified the cause of the volume increase (some air intake thing), but told me that its breaking while in their shop was only coincidence, so he wouldn't fix it for free. He did fix the swing arm, which he acknowledged was damaged by the shop. Lastly, when I came to pick up from that $110 job, having learned from the previous experience, I closely inspected the bike before riding away. The noise and the swing arm were fixed, but one of the panels hadn't been properly set, so I had to wait for them to fix that. Conclusion: Fair shop, but in my two experiences, they did sloppy work that ultimately cost me two extra trips and $110. read more

BPM fixed my bike a couple of years ago. While they made an honest effort to get the bike running right, it took a long time and was extremely expensive. To be fair, I don't think they expected it would be so much work either. The owner is a really nice guy and is very knowledgable and professional. I would give them 3 stars, but one of their employees, in a bout of "revenge" listed my bike on craig's list for a super low price and gave my phone number. This silly attempt at "getting even" actually netted me a bunch of nice parts for my bike...including a new tank....at bargain basement prices.....ha ha ha I win! read more

There are so very few places that are worthy of such unbridled adoration. Berkeley Performance Motorcycles has saved my ass before, literally. Rich and Susie are two of the most honest business owners I have ever met and this is a shop that will never overcharge you, tack on additional BS charges like Thomas P mentioned some other places do, or worse, put you in harm's way by messing up your bike. Rich is a stand-up person and I support his establishment 110%! I first brought my salvaged-from-a-garage-fire dirt bike here to get fixed years ago. NO, not MY garage fire, no cause for alarm (*ahem*). All the wiring was melted, the seat- what seat? blobs of re-hardened melted plastic everywhere. So much work, it looked like I would have been better off buying a used one off of Craigslist. In comes BPM to save my wallet and day. They fixed up my bike tire to tire, and only replaced the things that were necessary (the seat was nice, thanks guys!), and told me that although the rims needed cleaning up and possibly a new set of tires in the not too distant future, it was now rideable again. He could have very well said I needed to replace the forks or the gas tank, etc, etc, but he didn't because he's not there to rip you off. Years later we're still riding that little Honda XR thanks to BPM. Another time I wanted to pick up my first street bike. Knowing nothing of how a healthy Ninja is supposed to sound, I took his advice and passed on the bike after he had a listen to it. I was disappointed as I was eager to have my own bike, but his knowledge paid off for me. Another one of his mechanics inspected my current bike before I bought it and deemed it healthy so I took it to their shop for maintenance as it had been sitting at the previous owner's house for a while unused. My bike runs great still, well after a year of off-and-on riding thanks to this shop's great staff, and Rich's expertise and knowledge. I later found out shortly after I passed up buying the Ninja- an aquaintance of mine had bought it, and they had to tow it as the engine died while she was riding. If it wasn't for Rich I would have been in her shoes, which I thank him for all the time. He was even so good as to recommend me to another shop when I was recently in need of a custom brake line- he didn't try to take the business for himself but sent us to a shop that whipped us up a cable in no time flat and knew the guy would take care of us. Talk about good business practices. Thanks Rich and Berkeley Performance Motorcycles as you guys (and GAL!) are my heroes! read more

Do not go any where else!!! A few nights ago my clutch cable broke and I was stuck in Downtown Oakland until the tow truck picked me up at 12 AM (I work late hours). I told the driver to drop my bike off at the parking lot next to Berkeley Performance. He told me he knew Rich, and would give him a call. Despite being almost 12:30 AM by this time, Rich swung by the shop just to open the garage so I did not have to keep my bike outside. I spoke w/ him and told him that, in addition to the clutch cable, I was due for a 17K service, and he told me he could take care of it by the end of the week. Unfortunately, they had to order the clutch cable, so my service took an additional week. However, Rich completely made up for it when he waited until 9:30 PM for me to pick up my bike on Monday evening. This is the best shop in the Bay area in my opinion. Not only is their customer service spectacular, but their pricing is very competitive! read more

Straight forward on point place of business , treated my bf and his bikes like royalty... Long story short come here to truly be taken care of no BS included, even helped sell one of my Bf's bikes, yayy more bag and shoe $$$ for me. read more

Brought my bike in for a 20K service and rear brake fix on my Harley Davidson. They were informative, swift, and very reasonable. My brakes acted up again a couple of months after the service, and Ian rebuilt them all pro-bono. I recommend these dudes to everyone who needs work done. This is the place to go. read more

This place has a great location and is very customer oriented. The work performed was on time and was very satisfied with the bill, I received. Owning a late model motorcycle has its ups and downs yet with Manager Kara and her knowlegeble staff, No problemo.. read more

Rich reminds me a bit of Leon, the professional. Minimum overhead in communication and job is perfectly done. Since I have only 2 months of riding experience and 1,500 miles under my belt I got a handful of advices on bike maintenance that actually affects his business ;) Silly dealership wanted to hook me for some extra service before the tune-up period for no apparent reason just b/c I am "new". I also got ride to BART and arranged pick-up on Sunday when the shop is closed. Uber nice as for a "local" shop!!! My Ninja runs like a charm now! Sooooooo smooth!!! read more

This is my boyfriend writing: best of the best, i would definitely go there again. the people who run the business are both friendly and honest. as long as i live in the east bay i will take my bikes there. I got the short end of the stick after buying a "new" oil pan on ebay and these guys took care of me and got my bike running again. read more

I had these folks do some tire work a while back. Made an appointment, brought the bike in, it was ready when they said. Fine. No complaints. Today the bike was a bit hard to start and once under way, it was running oddly -not revving freely, as if it just wouldn't warm up. I had a suspicion, based on a past experience. I stopped and sure enough, my #1 plug wire was off and the plug itself had been broken off. Goddam crackheads break off plugs to use the porcelain insulator section for a pipe. #%&*!! I was headed toward Performance so I stopped in to get a plug -it's barely a block from the dealer but I like doing business with the smaller guys. I planned on swapping out the plug on the street but I asked if they would use their air hose to blow out the chips of broken porcelain from around the plug so they don't fall in when I pulled the old one. Rich pulled my bike into the shop, blew it out, then pulled the old plug and popped in a new one, and I was on my way in minutes. and for just the cost of the plug!! Admittedly, it was a quick, easy fix, but I really didn't expect him to stop what he was doing and deal with my little drama. He and the guy at the desk and the other mechanic were all very pleasant and sympathetic to my plight. I rode off in a better mood and feeling good about this shop. I'll be back read more

I've got a '76 Honda project going and needed new tires. I thought I could do it myself having done hundreds of tire swaps on bicycles, but even with decent levers I found it would be a lot harder than expected. I was also worried about damaging the rims so I took the wheels/tires/tubes to BPM on a Friday morning shortly after they opened and they had them turned around in about 90 minutes (mounted and balanced.) I can't speak to their ability to do other types of repairs, but the shop seems reasonably tidy and organized. My dad warned me maybe 35 years ago to avoid shops that can't even be bothered to keep their floor clean as it says something important. Did some shopping at Whole Paycheck while waiting, and I was outta there. read more

I purchased tires for my Triumph online from a giant motorcycle parts store in Oregon. I used their "preferred installer program," of which, BPM&S was one of the many choices. I had the tires shipped directly to BPM&S, made an appointment and was in and out in a couple of hours. The installation price was fair and guaranteed... I'm increasing their star count to 4... read more

Wonderful, wonderful shop. Repaired some relatively minor issues on my (first) bike for a very fair price, and gave me some amazing advice. Rich even took the time to show me a few things I should know, like how to check my tires. It's hard to find good folks like this, they have my admiration. I wish them the very best! read more

I won't be bringing my bike, or any bike, for servicing at Performance Motorcycles anytime soon. 1. Talked with Performance about a couple of issues (fork seals needed replacing/starting issue) with my ol' Kawasaki '82 LTD. 2. "Sure, bring it in: we'll take a look at the starting issue, and will replace the seals." 3. An hour later, I get a call: "your bike is too old; we won't touch it." 4. Me: "But you knew the year, make and model when we talked by phone." 5. They finally agree to replace the seals. I don't hear anything for two weeks. I finally call for an update: "we're waiting for a tool to get a stripped bolt off." 6. OK, fine, that's cool. 7. Next day: "we can't get the bolt off; come pick up your bike" 8. Me: "What about the starting issue?" "We're not going to work on your bike; come and get it." 9. Fine. "I can be there by Tuesday (they're closed Sun/Mon). Does it start?" 10. "No. It won't start and it's leaking fuel/oil. Pick it up by Saturday or we'll charge you $65/day storage (for days they were going to be closed anyway). This is after having the bike for two weeks while they waited for a tool. 11. I went Saturday: the bike started up immediately; no fuel/oil leaks that I can find. (I think the starting problem just has to do with the Fuel Valve Petcock; I had it on "reserve" which, for some reason, causes the bike to cut out after 10 minutes or so.) 12. Performance charged me $175 to tell me they couldn't replace the fork seals (and for brake pads they ordered that they couldn't use because they couldn't replace the seals). Others may have had a more positive experience with Performance, but they've lost this customer due to really unprofessional service, attitude and, ironically, performance. read more

I will not take my bike anywhere but BPM. Rich and Suzie are great about staying in touch with updates about work on your bike after you drop it off, and the crew of mechanics does consistently great work. In over a dozen times I've had my bike into BPM, whether for routine services or to fix one or another problem that has come up (my bike has 50k miles on it now so it's getting to that point in its life...), the only issue I had was a small piece of fairing that got cracked while they worked on the bike -- which they pointed out to me when I came to pick it up, and which they fixed quickly a week later when the replacement part came in. I recommend BPM to all my biking friends. read more

Good ol fashion motorcycle shop that goes above and beyond for there customers. the front desk & the mechanics are professional & courteous I've had my bike worked on twice by them and I always came out satisfied. read more

These are awesome people!they fixed my tire in about 1 hour on a Saturday afternoon. Friendly and competent- that's all I needed. I will be back and get my bike fixed the next time. They kept there promise to get it done the same day. Sorry to say Good bye Motopia, welcome Performance Motorcycle, but better is better. read more

These guys have become my primary source for service to my bikes. I've found them to be fair, honest professional and very personable. They provide a thorough review of issues discovered and will even photograph and send you pictures of problems found. Options are provided as far as repairs go and their quick and good with their work. read more

Brutal honesty is a good thing coming from a mechanic. I used to drive a POS car and when I would pull that thing into a garage the mechanic's eyes would light up with all the potential useless fixes he could try to get me to pay for. Now I wouldn't say my bike is POS but it's been around the block a few times and the guy who looked like the owner of Berkeley Performance Motorcycle gave it to me straight. He told me what I need to fix to make it safe to ride and what will just break down again. "Fortunately it still runs so it will be easy to sell". It wasn't an easy thing to hear as I love my bike, but maybe it's about time to upgrade to that Ducati Monster that I've wanted for so long. That last thought got me thinking and I called them up to see if they do Ducati work. They said they do everything except valve adjustments ... not particularly shocking as that's what most bike shops say. They recommended Desmoto (http://www.yelp.com/biz/AA6w5Ol-fdX-9rH34f-0Lg) in the city for that kind of work. read more

I recently brought my bike in for repair over a month ago to get the rectifier, stator and battery replaced on my gsxr. Service was awesome. The owner even stayed after hours to wait for my bike to be towed there. Fast forward a month later, I totaled my bike :( I decided to call Rich (owner I think) and he was able to tow it there right away. I needed to take some parts off the bike before my insurance company moved it and his employees were instrumental on helping me remove the parts that I needed. I was initially going to leave my power commander on there since I didnt know how to take it off, but one of the employees didnt like that idea and removed it for me on his own time. Honest and great service I tell ya, this is definitely my new shop and I highly recommend Rich and his trusty crew. read more

Can't go wrong with these people. They are polite and business like, but still very friendly and personable. Very straight forward about talking even to idiots like me. My bike was in pretty bad shape by the time I got around to getting it in the shop, and they still didn't treat me like the dumbass I am. They had my bike for a month, which is long enough that I almost want to say they should have moved a little faster, but I can't because of how much work they put in! Bill and Rich really put in the time to make my bike right and I am very happy with the service. They could have charged me more for all the little things they did but didn't. Two other times my bike has been in, they got it back to me within hours for tire and chain maintenance. Great people, very professional, reliable mechanics. Thanks BPM! read more

Went back and had them check out my bike because I was hearing some odd noises. Turns out that my chain was stretched, and they also pointed out that my tires are worn because I didn't keep the proper air pressure. This shop is awesome, great service. read more

Even though they seem to specialize in very nice high class bikes, I always take my beater bike to these guys and they always do a great job. Somehow the cost is always less than I expect it will be. Make an appointment. They are often busy. I didn't have an appointment today and they still took my bike, however, which I appreciated. read more

Took my Kawi Nina 250 in for a tune-up. Well I took it in because I was having all sorts of issues, but turns out I was due for a scheduled maintenance. Rich was super nice and very helpful. I got a good accurate quote and had the bike back in less than 48 hours. This place is friendly, honest, good, and fast. What more could you want? read more

DON'T FALL FOR THE GOOD REVIEWS LIKE I DID. DO NOT USE THIS SHOP UNLESS YOU WANT IT TO TAKE FOREVER, TO BE TOYED AROUND WITH, AND TO BE RIPPED OFF I have never actually written a review on Yelp before but this shop's incredibly poor service on 2 different occasions, and that for some reason there are many good reviews for this shop on yelp, made me feel that it is necessary for me to warn people. If I had to describe this Berkeley Performance Motorcycle's services, customer interaction, speed and effectiveness in one word it would be "Pathetic". Two times I have brought my Triumph Bonneville in to them to get various repairs. Both of those times the workers there took over a month and a half to get the parts needed and replace them. First Time: I left the state for a month and asked that it be finished when I get back (It was actually supposed to be done before I even left). Turns out they didn't even work on it or order any parts until I got back and called them asking whether my bike was finished. They then took another 2 weeks after that to finish the basic cosmetic repairs that needed to be done. While replacing the pipes on the bike, (which they took questionable means to acquire possibly to save themselves money) they failed putting them on (scratching the pipes) twice, and then had to order an entirely new set of pipes which meant MORE waiting. Additionally, they forgot all requests I made for specific grips, mirrors, foot pegs ect. and ordered completely wrong parts. After having waited already for such a ridiculously long time even though the mirrors/grips/pegs ect were wrong, I just took it and left. Even after seeing how pathetic their work was once, when my bike got knocked over in a hit-and-run a bit I decided to give them another chance, which was a very stupid decision on my part. Second Time: Brought the bike in and specifically listed about 10 things that needed to be fixed. A few days later they find 2 other issues, inform me, and I tell them to go ahead and fix those as well. Week after week after week I waited until a week ago when I called and found out that THEY HAD NOT EVEN STARTED THE EXTRA WORK THEY SAID THEY NEEDED TO DO. I at least assumed that they had finished the other repairs that we had originally discussed and so waited another week to go pick up my bike. I pick it up and: THEY HAVE NOT REPAIRED ANY OF THE ISSUES I BROUGHT THE BIKE INTO THE SHOP FOR. They did fix the two issues they called me about after I brought it in, but nothing else (grips still ripped, throttle still broken, engine covers not replaced, shift peg not fixed, front fender not replaced and many many other issues) in a month and a half. They then proved a new level of stupidity by claiming that that the two things they noticed after I brought the bike to them and went over a long list of other repairs I needed was all they were supposed to do. If the was the case then WHY WOULD I HAVE BROUGHT MY BIKE TO THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE, I didn't even know about those when I brought it in. Then the vacuous and apparently fairly unintelligent woman behind the counter had the gall to tell me (after I complained a bit, remarkably calmly for how frustrated I was), that she was having a "long day and didn't need to be bitched at," citing that for Triumphs parts take a long time to ship so I should shut up. After which I pointed out that: THEY DIDN'T EVEN ORDER ANY PARTS FOR MY BIKE AS THEY DID NOT DO ANY OF THE PART REPLACEMENT ASKED OF THEM (they just unbent the frame a bit) In conclusion, I am sure that the owners of the shop are reading this and know who I am so to you I say Hey there! and I am incredibly disappointed. You seemed nice and by some mystery have good reviews on yelp, but turned out to be an uncaring, inefficient, and essentially pathetic establishment. You clearly do not care about your customers so this review will probably mean very little to you, but perhaps you could figure out how to treat customers reasonably and do your job. Who knows maybe you used to be a good shop and have just completely fallen off. If not, this review will be worth it if just a few people see this and realize that they should NEVER bring their bike to your shop. STAY AWAY FROM THESE PEOPLE, THEY JUST WANT TO RIP YOU OFF read more

Took my bike in for an oil change and a tire install. They sold me on a "servicing." 350 bucks and they didn't even top off the break fluid, which was low. I guess I didn't look like a biker so they thought they could get over on me. read more

Quick lube job recently for free. Wish I had more cash to tip. They changed chain awhile back for great $$$ always good service. I travel to LA and back and will never miss this stop for a check up read more

I brought my 2005 SV1000S here due to an oil leak from an unknown location. They located the two bad seals and did what they do, replaced my 7 year old battery and did an oil change and filter. I got the bike back clean (it was pretty dirty when I brought it in). They also cleaned and oiled my chain.... The attention to detail that wasnt even on my bill was impressive. The labor time was pretty close to what I would call true labor hours and not inflated. They even stored my jacket and helmet for me so I wouldent have to lug it around after I dropped off the bike. The job took four days from drop off to pick up. I left here with a good feeling. read more

I would give this shop 0 stars if i could. After it changed ownership i should have never left my bike there. How they returned my bike to me was ridiculously dangerous. Missing hardware all over the bike, American hardware instead of metric shoved into holes. Cross threaded bolts, and things completely loose. Not to mention being fucked around for months and months waiting for my bike. Unreal the level of irresponsibility when I brought up all of these things that where wrong with it. No one in the shop would take ownership of there work, or lack there of. Cant say enough how terrible this place is. read more

I recently had Cycle Tow (510-644-2453) drop off my ZX 600 Ninja to Berkeley Performance to have them rebuild my carburetors. While they were working on the bike they found a few other problems that required additional parts. Jason, Suzie and Kara were very helpful in helping me order guaranteed parts at a reasonable price. They also kept in contact with me while my bike was being fixed and they gave me a great deal, much cheaper than other shops in the area! read more

I've only had a couple oil changes and tire swaps here, but they really do go the extra mile to be helpful and friendly. Makes a difference in today's world. read more

Buyer Beware!! Run, don't walk away from this shop! As an enthusiastic rider, I was very excited to get, what I thought was a reasonable deal on a used bike. I was so wrong. They misrepresented a sale on a Suzuki SV 650. -- they did not complete the sales paperwork properly so that I could not legally own and register it. The DMV suspects that Performance Motorcycles owner, Susan Hendrickson is either trying to avoid paying sales tax or otherwise did not own the bike but just pawned it off from a previous customer who couldn't pay for repairs. Several visits to the DMV trying to get Ms. Hendrickson to complete the paperwork have been met with silence. DMV staff has voiced concerns of fraud. The Better Business Bureau efforts at resolution were ignored and rebuffed. Several agencies are now getting involved to see if there are deeper levels of consumer fraud - among them, the New Motor Vehicle Board, DMV Investigations Unit, and the Attorney General's Office, It was all smiles when she took my money for the Suzuki. Now she ignores me when I attempt to ask her to fill out the paperwork for proper sale, or when any of the state agencies contact her. read more

I brought my f650 in here for it's 9k mile birthday present, an exciting oil change. I dropped the bike off and asked that they check the other fluids as well to see if they needed to be flushed or if anything else was amiss. They confirmed and I went on my way. I came back to pick up my bike later in the day and rode off. Before I even got home, 10 miles away, the engine temp light came on. I called them the next morning and they said to bring it by (the light was still coming on from 2-3 miles of riding). I was pretty miffed; wondering what had happened. I dropped off the bike which was kind of a pain to do a second day in a row. They were nice about it and didn't give me any guff like some places do (they didn't automatically accuse me, they didn't go into defense mode) . I did ask them again whether they checked all the fluids, and she said that they don't check coolant..which seems odd. I would consider that part of 'checking all fluids'. One of the lead mechanics took the bike and said he'd handle it personally. I got a call later and came back. They said it was 'a tiny bit low' on coolant and they had topped it off. They didn't charge me for labor, just a few bucks for the coolant, so they were pretty cool about that. Also? They cleaned the bike for me, wiped down my sad dusty plastics, and re-set my clock to the correct time. TL;DR: I think they made an honest mistake or miscommunication and resolved it in a very classy way. They are kind and obviously care about bikes and bikers. The oil change was rather expensive ($150 if I recall) but if I ever have an issue I can't fix on my own i'll be going back. read more

Left them a bad review for not wearing masks when a state wide mandatory mask was under effect. Was kicked out earlier today for not changing my review this place is very unprofessional will be going to cycle gear from now on. read more

just wanted to update my review after having a bunch more work done. rich is the most honest mechanic i've ever come across. if this tells you anything, i have free service thru the dealership i bought my bike from and i still take it to berkeley performance cycles for all service....the work is just so much above anywhere else i've ever gone that i'll never let anyone else work on my bike. read more

My experiences have always been positive when I take my business to BP. Everyone is great at making sure I am taken care of and get enough time for all my questions to be answered. Susie is professional and I have never left her business unsatisfied with the service. The skill level shown in working on my machine, has always been top notch. Thank you for all of your hard work and attention to detail. read more