Bike Maintenance
 

I am interested to know who you prefer to get your routine servicing done by. Do you love that service book to get its annual stamp or are you a shrewd penny pincher and do all your own?

I would love to save for the bike i have at the moment i do bit and bobs my self and large services i get a mechanic to do them but i cant as i am too lazy, but when i get the XT660R i will have to learn as i will be a fully qualified student (ie no money, all time)

Up until now I have been coverting that official stamp with gusto but after my recent experience with Yamaha I may well resort to much more DIY. To be honest I do prefer to do it on my own, not just from a fiscal view point but I know what's been done and what's been missed and what will be coming up soon and it's a great way to learn about my bike.

Plus I now question whether the worth of a fully stamped book equates to the cost of a Yamaha service.

On the down side my experience is quite limited so there's a slight lack in faith in my own abilities which can weigh heavily on my mind when I undertake bigger jobs. Always usefull to have mates with essential know-how at these times... I should join a forum or something... Oh, I have :tongue3:

With the milage I do I need the stamp for the warranty... that & the fact I can only do minor service items & I'd be bound to miss something.

Service for the warranty is made by the Yamaha-dealer so far.
Otherwise I do it either by my self o with my dad! :)

In the past I've mostly done my own servicing including a few engine rebuilds (TS250X, DR650/800, XRV750) as I've had oldish bikes with no warranties to worry about.

In the case of the Tenere, full dealer servicing (with a few diy minor services) has just paid dividends viz-a-vis the warranty!!!!

The warranty is still valid if a dealer doesn't do it. As long as the mechanic follows the service schedule and uses genuine parts you're ok.

Yamaha dealer's too far away. I've used a back street guy (next to an undertaker - very sobering!) for over 20 years and trust him implicitly. We're almost friends and I'm fairly sure he actually undercharges me!

I took/take my Tenere to the dealer for the valve service (checking and shims), as that is not something I want to get involved with - although I'm happy to adjust the screw type rockers on my Hondas...

Same with the WR shims - I'd rather someone who was used to doing it day-in and day-out (and has a handy box of shims in stock) did timing jobs, while I'm happy to do the rest...

Engine internals scare me x

Jx

Mine has been to the dealers so far, and will go back for it's 18,000 mile service within the next couple of weeks. Mostly because it's under warranty at the moment - I know you can get Yamaha to honour warranty claims with servicing by an independent/yourself, but it's an additional headache, whereas I've had no hassle getting my local dealer to put in claims for stuff either I've noticed or they've noticed. I don't know of a decent independent garage up here either. My bike's had probably a couple of grand's worth of warranty work done over the last couple of years, so I think I've got VFM out of it :D

But that will be the last one. Warranty is up at the end of the month, so it'll be done at home thereafter, unless I'm feeling money-rich and time-poor next time it's due.