New bike questions

[training_wheels]

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I picked up my bike (ninja 250) on sept 2011 and have put on 2000 km.

My question is; the dealer told me about the "first 1000 km check up" which includes an oil change and "tightening" bolts that might need it and some other stuff. To all those whose gone through many new bikes, is this a dealerahip cash grab or is it something that should be done? cost $170+


I can do the oil change myself and lube my own chain but are there really bolts that need the tightening?also if I need to do it does it have to be done where I bought the bike or any shop can do it?Thanks in advance for any advice

 

[ViperZ]

I picked up my bike (ninja 250) on sept 2011 and have put on 2000 km.My question is; the dealer told me about the "first 1000 km check up" which includes an oil change and "tightening" bolts that might need it and some other stuff. To all those whose gone through many new bikes, is this a dealerahip cash grab or is it something that should be done? cost $170+I can do the oil change myself and lube my own chain but are there really bolts that need the tightening?also if I need to do it does it have to be done where I bought the bike or any shop can do it?Thanks in advance for any advice

You obviously can do all of these things yourself, there is nothing hard about this stuff. Also, I'd make it a habit checking that the major nuts and bolts are properly tightened on your bike, your call how often you'll be checking those. I found a couple bolts getting loose on my bike doing regular inspections, especially on my old 2-cylinder bike, so it's pretty worth the time to me. Also make sure that doing it yourself or doing it outside of dealership will not void your warranty.

 

[nakkers]

There are things the dealership should look over and knows what to look for. However, I've heard of stories of dealers just doing the oil change and charging for the once over. There are a number of things that should be inspected and made sure they are ok. Is the $170 worth it? Just depends on what was done. A lot of riders just turn the key and go so, they rely on the dealer to do everything else.

A lot of the stuff is easy to check. The quesiton is, do you know what to look for and do you have the time, tools and skill to make any adjustments if neccessary.

And you should be able to take it to any dealer that is familar with the bike you ride.

 

[rafiki911]

I did mine at Z1 cause I did not trust the dealership I bought mine at. You want to get it done by a mechanic as your bike is under warantee til Sept and if something goes wrong you don't want them to say oh well you didn't do your first service...

 

[Lyndsay]

+1 to checking for loose bolts etc. regularly. I didn't on my old 75 CB and one day I was putting along and it was sounding funny and losing power on one cylinder. Sort of felt like I was on reserve but I had a full tank. It started getting really noisy and then I heard a strange sound of metal hitting something and there was a huge leap in my exhaust sound. Turns out the muffler had fallen off and when it hit the ground it must have flown pretty good as I still haven't been able to find it along that stretch of road.

 

[ABCarr]

I did mine at Z1 cause I did not trust the dealership I bought mine at. You want to get it done by a mechanic as your bike is under warantee til Sept and if something goes wrong you don't want them to say oh well you didn't do your first service...

I'm fairly sure I know which dealership you're referring to.....if I'm correct, I bought there too and I did the same thing at Z1.

 

[stormcat]

I did mine at Z1 cause I did not trust the dealership I bought mine at. You want to get it done by a mechanic as your bike is under warantee til Sept and if something goes wrong you don't want them to say oh well you didn't do your first service...

When I bought my first bike (also brand new and under warranty) I thought the same thing: that doing the work yourself will void the warranty. It's actually not true. It won't void the warranty.

training_wheels, if you feel comfortable tackling these little maintenance jobs yourself, then by all means do so. And learning how to do it will save you a lot of coin in the future. There's a reason they call dealerships, "stealerships."

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