I am coming up on 400 miles on my new "05 Midnight Star" and I was wondering if most of the people here let their Dealers Service their Bike, the first time at 600 miles?? I heard they charge you up the "ying yang" for a Bike service. I believe I can change the oil myself,but for sure I'm no Wrench!! Do they really check everything like they should??

Are there other things on the Bike, that really need to be checked by the Dealer??

Or do you think I should swallow my pride and pay the Bucks and take it down there, when it needs the 600 mile checkup?? Is the Service there required, to keep up your Warranty?

Please, any help would be greatly appreciated!!

Frank from Bama

Depends how you feel.

I'm a pretty good wrench but I let the dealer do the first one for $240. Considered it a first class oil change.

Warrenty is not void as long as you have the bills for the consumables.

Doc

My experience:

I let the dealer do the first 2 services ($120 for the first; $220 for the second). When they wanted to charge me $360 plus parts for the third, I switched to self-service. Did that service for $100, and it included buying supplies and various tools.

I'm no wrench, but I'm fairly mechanical and follow directions well.

Frank,
In my opinion, the best $60 that you can spend (give or take a buck or two) is to buy the factory service manual, if you haven't already. If you're somewhat mechanically inclined this manual will save you thousands of $$$$ in the long run. I've had one for each of the bikes I've owned, and with the exception of carb work and tire changes, I've never had a bike in the shop in 23 years of riding. That's mainly because I'm cheap though!!! And lucky that I've never had anything major go wrong with any of my bikes.
Just my 2 cents worth.





In The Wind,
Aaron

I have only had mine for one service, the 8,000 mile. I was a little closer to the 10K mark when I took it to the dealer. I waited until my rear tire was ready for a new one to save on the labor. I don't have the stand for the oil change and only having the bike for about 2 months I was not ready to tear into it. I may in the future....but the dealer has done all of the work on the bike prior to me getting it and it runs like a top... so I don't want to mess it up.

Frankallen, Robertjfoster, If you can do your own oil changes in your cars, the bikes are a piece of cake! Frank, if letting the dealer handle your first one sits better with you, then, by all means let them. But if your mechanically inclined enough to handle your cars, your bikes easier. I don't use a stand, I do have a catch bucket I cut to fit under the bike, to catch the oil though. You have two drain bolts (oil bag, motor) and a filter. It's a 30 minute job. I don't know what it saves you doing it yourself , but for the savings you can switch to synthetic oil, and still be ahead. like Aaron said, a service manual is great, but oil changes are covered in the owners manual as well.Just a thought.BB

Here is two cents worth….
My husband does most of our work but on the few occasions that we have had
To take our bike’s to the shop it has always been a nightmare.
My suggestion to you would be to talk to other bike owners from that dealership and see how they work the service department. We hate the one at our dealer. Don’t get me wrong we buy our bikes from them, we just don’t let them work on them.
I don’t think our dealer has the brightest tools in his service department and we have complained in the past. All we get out of that is a free t-shirt to advertise for them and that really pisses me off.

I'm suprised to see no one has brought up the valve adjustment. The first maintenance calls for the valve adjustment at 500 or 600 (dont remember which) and according to my stealer it was a warrenty requirement. oil change is not. I did mine myself to save the $320 plus I bought it private party with 300 miles on it and it was already out of warrenty period. It wasn't hard but did take some time the first time.
My 2 cents anyway

Frank:

The most important items on the 600-mile break-in service are:

1) remove and replace crankcase oil filter
2) remove and replace crankcase oil
3) remove and replace transfer case gear lube
4) check nuts & bolts - make sure everything is tight and nothing is missing

You can DO this! It's easy. We're here to help you. Put the $100-200 back in your own pocket and get it done, bro.

Oh No!!!!! I'm sweatin' it now. If you guys didn't catch it, I dropped my bike last week, due to the rear cylinder dropping out and the stalling in mid turn at the end of my street. I've been fighting with my dealer ever since, as he told me that I put bad gas in it, then that I fouled the plugs by over using the choke. It's taken me three days just to find someone that can get it to the dealership for me. (the dealer lives a mile from me...huh!) Since it has 880 miles on it, I'm most likely liable, as in theory he would have caught the too rich jetting that they did before I even seen the bike and possibly been able to adjust the valves before one stuck open and causing me to drop it. (I've got an 05 midnight*). Thing is, like I told him, I asked him twice before buying it he he was sure there was nothing wrong with that carb, as it would not idle, before I put money down on it. He told me that nothing was wrong with the carb and all it needed was plugs. With that blow off history, what's to make me think that he would have changed the jetting and caught the nearly stuck valve, with just an oil change. Oh, I've checked my manual and I can't find where it calls for the valves to be adjusted. I'll look again, but thought it said as needed later on. Regardless, by the time he gets it running, I'm afraid to guess at what he's gonna charge me. I had an appointment scheduled with an attorney, but canceled it today, as I feel that by me asking him two different times about the carb and him telling me that it was just plugs that he should be responsible for the poor running condition and rear valve sticking open, causing it to die in mid turn and drop it. He never told me that they start with the richest setting and work down. Had he, he would have also told me (I would think) that I should be watching for various signs of running rich and to get it back to him, if that's the case. Now, I feel I'm at his mercy and I don't trust him one bit.