Motolab

Are you tired of other shops treating you like a punk? Like they have zero time for your mechanical issues — but pay us anyway! Do you think customer service and attention to detail are qualities that went out with the «old days?»
I was inclined to believe it – until I discovered Motolab. I can’t count how many times I passed by over the years, on 101 south, and noticed the sign. I am so glad I made the decision to bring my ride here. Excellent TWO-​WAY communication. Excellent customer service and attention to detail — this is what you get @ Motolab, and it’s worth every pre-​1965 dime you have.
Make an appointment and see for yourself.

Derek is a unique individual who is very knowledgeable about motorcycles and he is meticulously honest. If you are looking for someone like Derek, then he is a gem, but be careful because Derek is not what he appears to be. Motolab looks like a motorcycle shop, and Derek looks like a mechanic, but he is not a mechanic, and he will be insulted if you call him a mechanic. Derek is an artist, and when you take your motorcycle to Motolab, you take it to an art studio to be turned into art. Do not think that you are entering a standard transaction with a motorcycle mechanic, in which your motorcycle will be repaired or upgraded for a set price. Derek does not do estimates. He will work on your motorcycle until he is satisfied that it is a beautiful work of art, and you will pay his hourly rate. Derek will be very friendly and will take you out to lunch. You will feel like you are his friend, and you are… as long as you are paying Derek his hourly rate to work his art. If Derek destroys your motor on the dyno, you will pay his hourly rate for the work he did to destroy it, and then pay him to build you a new motor, and buy all the parts, etc. You’ll pay him to perform test rides. He is an artist after all, and your role is to support his art. If this is what you want, then Motolab is the shop for you.

Disclaimer: I am a complete newb to motorcycles and have not actually used any other motorcycle repair people other than Derek my whole life.
That said, despite the above disclaimer, I am nonetheless a fairly difficult customer to impress. My husband and I are control freaks and perfectionists, though goodness knows we WANT to get excited about finding good services.
When we brought ourselves and our dual-​sports (WR250X/​R) to Derek, based on Unilocal reviews, I quickly got the impression that 1) he was competent and a perfectionist and 2) he’d not worked on our particular bike before. But the latter didn’t really phase him. He took my emails with links to online articles in stride and showed us complete respect despite our lack of experience, and at every stage of the way has made us happy with his attitude and his results. He may sometimes question our judgement when we make a request, but he does it for the right reasons, and in the end he’ll still humor us if we get stubborn.
So far all our adjustments and repairs have made us very happy, and I’ve no complaint about the cost of his service (though given the above disclaimer, I may just be too clueless to know if he’s ripping us off, heh… wait, I didn’t just say that). We’ll be going back to him for all our future motorcycle repair/​mod needs.
Knowing that we’re done with the search for a good mechanic is a weight off my shoulders.
(Regarding the 1* review… am I Derek’s friend? Err, probably not. Not that I think he’d be a bad friend, but, um, I’m just a customer.)

I contacted Derek weeks ago regarding my Power Commander that I had bricked while trying to upgrade its firmware. He offered to purchase the programming tool needed if I agreed to come in and pay for him to recover the unit — this is at a fraction of the cost of the tool I will likely need only once. He quickly got my PCIII back up and running and we moved on to the larger issue of running my 2006 ZX10R on his Dyno to perform an overall HP run. The rest of the day was spent working through a few throttle positions to address a detonation issue (knocking and pinging) at low RPMs and flatten out my CO numbers. The lab’s fees aren’t cheap, but he spent a lot of time off the clock educating me about a variety of concepts and the meanings/​purpose behind the five gas system and how each was used (or not used in the case of O2) to fine tune a bike. Also, over a very pleasant 2-​hour lunch we were discussing various issues including the advantages of using his FactoryPro dyno over the Dynojet inertia model which would provide inflated HP numbers or other systems that relied only on O2 gas. The bottom line is I learned a lot, he was extremely thorough and efficient. I never once felt like he was sandbagging and wasting time. Every minute was productive. If you want something done right or even a custom piece/​system engineered then this is your guy.

I am a serious procrastinator. So, naturally, I waited until the day before a four day motorcycle trip to make sure my KTM 520 was in good working order. Unfortunately it was not in good working order. I spent my Tuesday morning at work calling every shop from SF to San Jose begging the mechanics to fix my sputtering, backfiring, dying bike.
Derek was the only mechanic willing to squeeze me in on the same day. I dropped my bike off on my lunch break around noon shortly thereafter he had diagnosed the problem as a leaky needle gasket and an incorrectly adjusted mixture. Derek stayed well past closing time that night to get the bike fixed and dialed.
The bike worked perfectly on my trip and Derek’s rates were much lower than I expected. He even gave me a call a week later to make sure everything was working right.

I agree with the 5 star posts but unfortunately he charges a LOT of money and will perform tasks you did not ask for.
He will charge for hours of CAD design and 3D modeling when he has no CNC equipment to interface with them-​just regular machine shop stuff. It would be better (cheaper) to just sketch out on a pad.
I took a simple machining job down which he messed up and got bent out of shape when I asked him not to perform additional work that I had not asked for.
Be careful and make him write out a work order so that you don’t get conned.

BAD ADVICE BAD SERVICE DON’T TRUST HIM!!! This guy is a complete rip off! the other write-​ups are his friends, don’t trust him!!! He CANT do restorations, he tripled billed on the same thing. WHEN YOU DISAGREE HE WILL BREAK YOUR BIKE!!! Split my fuel line! Don’t trust him.

The main man at Motolab is known as Derek. No doubt this guy knows his bikes. I was interested in beefing up a brand new DRZ400 and he helped me weed through all the possibilities available for this bike and we ended up going with a somewhat common carb and exhaust upgrade. He really took time in doing the research and explaining in great detail what the options were. He carried out an extensive dyno tune of the bike and I’m glad I had him do it as we learned that the available information about this particular upgrade is not accurate. The largest problem with the information about performance mods on this bike stems from the fact that many shops use an inertia dyno and can really only tune for wide open throttle. The problem is that most people don’t always ride at wide open throttle and should care about how the engine is performing at all throttle positions. This can be done at Motolab on a brake (or steady state) dyno. Derek did the work and put in a tremendous effort to say the least. It was obvious when I got the bike back. I have ridden bikes all my life and have owned around 15 bikes and it’s good to find a shop that does this kind of work well.
Overall, I highly recommend Motolab!

Derek took the time to give my rookie ass some legitimate mechanical advice and sold me some new jets for my cb750. He’s real thorough dude who walked me though a lot of the work involved in my project when he didn’t have to. Motolab is the legitimate article.

Derek will transform your motorcycle from ordinary to extraordinary. He will unleash the potential in your bike as he did with mine. I got to see first hand the results of dyno testing before and after the changes. I also got to see my bike worked on and the level of detail applied. To achieve optimal CO levels and increase horsepower, I got a new exhaust system, carb kit, and air filter among other improvements. Derek is honest and fair. He will educate you on what you don’t know and what you should know regarding your bike.

Five stars here as well, I first met Derek a few months after I bought my TLR. I called him hoping to get a little tuning done on the bike, What I got was an hour long conversation with one of the most brilliant men I have ever spoke to. He had so many options for me all with honest predicted results. I have been around the shop soaking up Derek’s knowledge ever since, because he does know how to do tuning, body work, paint, fabrication, machining, etc. Derek will never compromise quality of work for any dollar or time amount. Go to him if you want it done right.

Motolab deserves ten stars, Derek broke down every detail that was an issue on my gsxr 1000. He fixed everything beyond my expectations in a timely manner, even when i told him there was no hurry. Explain every detail in a step by step process till the bike was complete and I have never been more thrilled. If you are looking for the ultimate hi performance shop or just need to get some repair work done look no further than Motolab.

Derek tricked out the suspension on my new motorcycle. Totally custom work as a one-​off. He walked me through what it was going to take both mentally and mechanically. Seriously, a good custom fabricator has to be part psychologist to help you get through not having your bike and seeing it in pieces for as long as the job takes. But, whew, when Derek gets it done it’s a thing of beauty, both looks and performance wise. Derek takes into account not only aesthetics, but also how the bike will ultimately perform which is important to me because I don’t ride no stinking Harley.
Highly recommend Derek and Motolab, he can do pretty much anything you can think of.

i own a 2003 triumph speed triple. from the factory the bike felt like it had a lot more to give. a friend of mine recommended motolab. derek, the owner’s shop is a treasure trove of new and old equipment all in place to do one thing; use derek’s apparently limitless skill to make bikes better, faster, more brilliant. i have been around machines and people that build machines for years. derek is one of the best. if you want a power commander plugged into your bike, go elsewhere. if you want an artisan go see derek at motolab. i don’t think there is a bike out there he cant fix or make better. oh, and my bike performs way better than i could ever have hoped for.

yep, derek is a gem. he can do it all, from design to fabrication, machining, welding, restorations, normal maintenance, dyno tuning, fuel injection /​carburetor tuning, suspension tuning, etc [hell he even does beautiful bodywork!]. he is really easy to work with, and an unyielding perfectionist. you know it’s going to get fixed right.

Motolab is owned by a guy named Derek Capito who is a class act in the world of motorcycle mechanics. He is honest, down to earth and very friendly.