How much maintenance do you do yourself?

[mean dad]

He lives in Orange County, Kev.

Does he want to learn or not?

 

[Kornholio]

Fair point.

 

[Karbon]

Interesting points brought up. There was a time when you had to be mechanically inclined to own and operate a moto.



Also, whats with shying away from suspension? I'd say it's easier to install new springs and do fork service than it is to do a valve lash adjustment.

 

[aminalmutha]

Interesting points brought up. There was a time when you had to be mechanically inclined to own and operate a moto.



Also, whats with shying away from suspension? I'd say it's easier to install new springs and do fork service than it is to do a valve lash adjustment.

Suspension isn't voodoo, tho I wouldn't rebuild a shock myself per se. Forks? Not a big deal, really.

Valve adjustments vary wildly. Some bikes require four bolts and a few minutes. Others require the bike to be 75% disassembled. Either way, I would/have done both.




Which brings me to my anecdote about a shop calling it good. Many modern bikes barely need adjustment after they've been broken in, so in many cases, you could probably get away without adjusting them for long periods of time.

Know a dude who brought his bike in for its first valve adjust (on schedule). Bike lived at the dealer for about a week and he paid a few hunnert bux. Got bike back everything seemed the same. Not that you should notice a huge difference, but to him it just felt too much the same? Intuition? I don't know.

Anyways, he axed me to help him check it out. We did and found that about half the valves were out of spec. Some tight, some loose. Radiator hose had obviously never been R&I'd. They didn't do jack diddly shit but charge hundreds of dollars for an oil change. Had the bike open, so we did it ourselves.

He went down there later and laid into 'em, tho their response was something like "duhrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr".

I have heard other similar stories as well. Not to say it happens everywhere all the time, but it does happen.

 

[Kornholio]

I can check/adjust the valves on Scarlett without special expensive tools. Not the case with the suspension. Plus I don't trust myself with suspension work. Engines are not a problem.

 

[BiG Chris]

If there is no warranty then I will do it all myself

 

[RickM]

Suspension tuning is black magic to me. I understand the concepts, but that doesn't translate to practical knowledge.

So I need professional help for suspension work if it involves re-valving. Fork seals and installing new springs are easy.

 

[akdmx]

I don't even put the gas in myself

 

[redtail]

I even go to the doctor to have him wipe my ass.

 

[EastBayDave]

I do all my own maintenance. The only thing I might send out would be shocks/forks for rebuilds. It's the only thing I haven't done in 50+ years.