Cycle Maintenance for the DIYer
- Thread starter Lurch
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Depends. I did my valves at 7500 miles and they were out of spec. But, they were 15 years old as well. For the synching, on a 4 carb bike, I'd ask the opinion of the person who would be doing it. Normally that's something that would be done when it's jetted or some other modification. If things are properly maintained, I'm not sure that's a normal thing to do maintenance~wise.
Try your best to do all your own work you can so get a service manual and some good tools. I could ramble on here for 15 minutes explaining all the botched work I've encountered at dealers whether it auto or motorcycle and this is with me doing 99% of all my own work! The 1% dealer visits, warranty issues, recalls, 2000 miles away from home on the road ect, my gosh all horrible experiences.
It's so true that when you take your bike to a dealer service dep't, there is absolutely no guarantee that the tech can do the job competently. You can get a kid at $9/hr trying to do a valve adjustment with a service manual, or you can get a journeyman tech doing the same job. When you ask who works on the bike, the answer is always "my top mechanic". Yeah, right.
Lurch
Make up a maintenance schedule from your owner's manual, and better yet, get a repair manual.
List the jobs you're comfortable doing and the jobs you're rather take pot luck with at the stealership. Do all the jobs according to the maintenance schedule. Know the specs for the jobs you take in, and inspect everything before you accept the bike. For the work you take to the shop, try to find some way to rig tattletales on the bike to see if they really did the job...a drop of paint on the joint where the valve cover meets the head, etc. If they charge you, tell you they did the work, but you can see that they really did not touch it, complain then and there to the state agency that regulates motor vehicle repair shops. Do it from your cell phone while you're standing in front of the service manager.
Make up a maintenance schedule from your owner's manual, and better yet, get a repair manual.
List the jobs you're comfortable doing and the jobs you're rather take pot luck with at the stealership. Do all the jobs according to the maintenance schedule. Know the specs for the jobs you take in, and inspect everything before you accept the bike. For the work you take to the shop, try to find some way to rig tattletales on the bike to see if they really did the job...a drop of paint on the joint where the valve cover meets the head, etc. If they charge you, tell you they did the work, but you can see that they really did not touch it, complain then and there to the state agency that regulates motor vehicle repair shops. Do it from your cell phone while you're standing in front of the service manager.
Lurch,
Is this your first bike or what? The owner's manual specifies when to do those things....
Listen to these guys and try to do the work for yourself, setting valve clearance, or synching carbs isn't hard especially on that bike.
Is this your first bike or what? The owner's manual specifies when to do those things....
Listen to these guys and try to do the work for yourself, setting valve clearance, or synching carbs isn't hard especially on that bike.
Originally Posted By: Zedhed
Lurch,
Is this your first bike or what? The owner's manual specifies when to do those things....
No, it's about my 12th but I thought I'd ask here because BITOG has been a tremendous source of good advice for me in the past. I probably wouldn't tackle valve adjusting or carb synching but most everything else I would.
You're right about the owner's manual. I need to get more familiar with it. Thanks for replying.
Lurch,
Is this your first bike or what? The owner's manual specifies when to do those things....
No, it's about my 12th but I thought I'd ask here because BITOG has been a tremendous source of good advice for me in the past. I probably wouldn't tackle valve adjusting or carb synching but most everything else I would.
You're right about the owner's manual. I need to get more familiar with it. Thanks for replying.
Carb sync is easy, but you do need a set of sticks. Valve adj. can be DIY, but may be a challenge on some bikes. A factory service manual goes a long way, as does your own level of experience. I always try first everything first, figuring that if I can't get it accomplished, the mechanic at the shop can, and chances are it will already be apart to some degree for them to start. The factory manual will also call out the intervals for the maintenance items.
Most of the factory service manuals can be downloaded free on the net. Soem of the later ones are actual text and image with indexing as opposed to scan immage versions which can be a bit more cumbersome to use.
If you are competent at removing the valve cover you can check the clearances yourself, it's a piece of cake. If the engine uses rocker arms or some other method of adjustment without removing the cams, ala OHC riding on inverted bucket with shim, then you could do it quite easily. Popping the cams on an OHC engine on the other hand can be a little daunting for the uninitiated.
If you are competent at removing the valve cover you can check the clearances yourself, it's a piece of cake. If the engine uses rocker arms or some other method of adjustment without removing the cams, ala OHC riding on inverted bucket with shim, then you could do it quite easily. Popping the cams on an OHC engine on the other hand can be a little daunting for the uninitiated.
Each of your maintenance items are to be done at time or mile intervals. When something comes up that you can't do, it's off to the shop (unless it can be deferred).
Try to tackle more and more difficult items as time goes by and you'll learn to do those things. If you screw it up, THEN you can take it to the shop. Most shops I've been to always moan about fixing people's fixes, but they're just fishing to get you to not even try first.
I'm doing my valves for the first time on the KZ1100 I bought late last year. It's got just over 19k miles and three valves need new shims. One is real bad, but two I'm going to put new shims in since they'll be out of spec before you know it.
I get a repair manual for everything I maintain. There's no way I could pay to have all the work done. They have tons of information, and if you need more there's always the web and our old buddy Google.
Plus, and this may be the best part, you save money on repairs and the money you save goes to more tools and better quality beer! What a racket.
Try to tackle more and more difficult items as time goes by and you'll learn to do those things. If you screw it up, THEN you can take it to the shop. Most shops I've been to always moan about fixing people's fixes, but they're just fishing to get you to not even try first.
I'm doing my valves for the first time on the KZ1100 I bought late last year. It's got just over 19k miles and three valves need new shims. One is real bad, but two I'm going to put new shims in since they'll be out of spec before you know it.
I get a repair manual for everything I maintain. There's no way I could pay to have all the work done. They have tons of information, and if you need more there's always the web and our old buddy Google.
Plus, and this may be the best part, you save money on repairs and the money you save goes to more tools and better quality beer! What a racket.
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