Who takes their VFR to a dealer for service?

Just curious as to who takes their VFR's to a dealer for maintenance (in general) and/or who does it themselves?

I'm not starting a dealer bashing thread or anything, im just curious.

 

Being this is my first bike and I wasn't to sure how to do anything on it, including changing the oil I took it to the dealer one time for the first oil change. At $65 an hr plus oil and filter hat won't be happening again!!! I think the total was just over $100 bucks. I tell you that's one hell of an oil change. I do it all myself now. Next is wiring my LED lights and my haol angel eyes. Only a couple more months of cold!!

 

I take mine to a trusted motorcycle mechanic, have to ride 48miles across town.

 

geezus!

just across town? holy hell!

 

must be a really big town

 

Oil changes I do myself, simply because if my Dad and Uncles ever found out I paid someone to change my oil they'd shun me from the family. I also do chain slack adjustments. Other than that if it's a job I don't have the proper tools for, which is most jobs, then off to the dealer it goes. I have a really good dealer with great guys very close by who I trust, which helps to offset the cost of the bills, which usually isn't THAT much higher. I figure how much is piece of mind worth? I'd really hate to have one of those worst-case scenarios happen and think "This wouldn't be happening if you woulda just shelled out an extra $50!"

 

Take mine to a guy that has his owm small buisness, he used to work for a main agent Honda/kwaker.suzuki, so he knows what they are about and half the price too!

 

IMO some dealers ought to get smacked around some. The assumption that they are all stand up guys is flakey.

Even the harleydoods doo-doo on dealers.

AUTHORIZED H-D $tealers & Dealer$


Fair wrench here. I do my own fluids and plugs, chain and sprockets, brakes, cable replacements, plastic fixes and paintwork. I am particularly great at R/R changes and can perform same with either hand.

Several places to download service manuals and the published books on bike maintenance are good.

As a last ditch effort , I guess one coulld try Craigslist under "Men seeking wrenching experience."

 

Perhaps a little poetic licence on the "Town" bit but the Metropolitan area of Sydney is actually rather large and to get to the mechanic have to cross from near the Soutern end to the West side so yes have to travel 48 miles.


As extracted from " City of Sydney- A Snapshot "

" Area
Sydney Metropolitan is one of the largest cities in the world in terms of area. Reaching across 4000 square kilometres, it is equal in size to London and almost double that of New York City. Beyond this built-up area there are a further 8000 square kilometres of largely natural parklands which make up the Sydney Statistical division. "


So if Sydneys parklands are counted then the Sydney Metro area is about 7500 square miles and North, South or West they contain some of the most entertaining biking roads around. :smile:


Google Route to my Mechanic not many twisties but fast.

 

I get my new VFR in 5 days. I'll be purchasing a shop manual for it very soon.

I've ridden a Honda Shadow Sabre for the last 5 years. Did all of my work myself, oil changes, exhaust/air filter/carb rejets, carb syncs, etc. If you have basic wrench knowledge and like the grease monkey thing, its a lot of fun. You always know the job was done right.

One word of advice if you decide to do your own work. Get a torque wrench, and use it. On all of the Honda's I've worked on, when they say 15 ft/lbs, they mean it.

 

I do all my own work, mainly to save costs and secondly because it's fun and thirdly I *know* it's been done right because, well, I trust myself pretty well.

 

I just do all of the work myself. It's cheaper and I take a lot more time with it than a dealer would.

 

One - still under warranty so I don't touch it mechanically.
Two - although I'm technically minded, I have better things to do than spend time wrestling with fairing panels, sump nuts and so on. The local Honda dealer is reputable so I don't mind handing over the extra cash for the labour.

Yep, lazy, I know... :biggrin:

PS: JT, love your avatar - could stare at it for hours....

 

I am a cheap bastage. Therefore the work gets done in my garage. Well, whatever I can figure out on my own. I have taken a couple bigger jobs to the shop.

 

I do my own work, except for some things like grinding valve seats and painting. I thought that this modern bike was going to be a lot more difficult to work on than my old ones, but it's turned out not to be. Everything is really well thought out and refined. I'm glad I only have to check the valves every 16k miles though. On the Beemer it's so easy I can do it with my feet while riding...

PITA things like steering head bearings, suspension linkage bearings, wheel bearings, I do over the winter. Gives me something to do. I might neglect that sort of thing if I rode year round.

 

I do most everything myself, due to stubborness (you can't do that, oh yeah , watch me), and a slight perfectionist glitch. But I did just have the 16K valve service done at the dealer, what a waste of $500, nothing was out of spec., took over two months to get done because I was the guinea pig, and they did it with a dvd from Honda! Needless to say, unless I don't have the proper tools, I'll do it myself.
That my friends is why I LOVE this site, so much knowledge and so many good people here, it's awesome.

 

Agreed! My father pretty much stopped doing work on cars after fuel injection and computerized ECU's so now it's all up to me and that stubbornness is a bitch sometimes but I love the satisfaction of finishing a job myself and saving money. Gotta love being a cheap bastage!

 

I work on my bike for the same reasons as joey dude - with emphasis on being a cheap bastard.

With a shop manual and the usual tools. Most tasks are possible. I have several months over the winter to work on it and that's when I do most of the work. I enjoy it for the most part. I like knowing that I torqued the bolts.

I know there are good mechanics out there but...no body cares more about your bike than you.

If I have the panels of for some reason, I clean them before they go back on - it's the little things

 

John451, nicely done Sir.

I'm a terrible wrench so I take mine to the dealer for scheduled services other than oil changes. After that I take mine to a local guy for everything in between.

I take it to a dealer for scheduled, only because I think it may be good for resale value if I can provide records from the Honda guys. I may just be kidding myself on that point, not sure.

 

I do most of the work myself. I did take my bike in for the 32K service to a local mech, who used to work at a reputable dealer. He did the whole service; valves, fluids, brake pads, chain, etc. and it was only $500 bucks. He had the bike for 3 days. I thought about doing it myself, but had a trip coming up, and my dirt bike was torn apart in the garage. The next one, I'm gonna give a try.