I just scheduled my 12k mile service and was wondering what everybody else paid (if they had it done by a shop). I'm thinking of purchasing a two-year maintenance plan from the shop rather than just paying for the service. There are a few other services covered (inspection, brake fluid, oil changes, etc.) as well as a free loaner bike while they have yours in the shop.
Unfortunately I'm not mechanically inclined enough to do everything involved, otherwise I'd take care of it myself and save a ton of money.
I have been doing my own work, first off I just can not justify the $98.00 per hour shop rates the local Kaw shop charges. When I first bought my bike they also did not have a mechanic that I was happy with. Now they have a really good mechanic. I will say that with this forum I have been really fortunate in having people that can answer my questions in a very timely and concise manner. So far the hardest task I have had was the Valve check. I had never dealt with shims and so had a ton of questions about the way to go about it. Then I lucked in the Kaw shop laid off the good mechanic and he helped me out.
The 800 is a very simple bike to work on and is hard to mess up anything really. I have not done any Carb work either because I am not comfortable doing anything with it.
But if you can afford the cost of the maintenance plan then go for it.
Please don't take this the wrong way, but how does a motorcycle this old need a 12,000 mi. service?
Quote from: Troll on April 20, 2016, 08:32:56 AM
Please don't take this the wrong way, but how does a motorcycle this old need a 12,000 mi. service?
I bought it used a year and a half ago w/ ~7k miles on the clock. I can't speak for the previous owner, but I think I've done my part. Haha.
I guess if you like your Kawasaki dealer this could be OK, but I personally have to do it all myself, not so much because of cost as lack of trust. And if I found that I got myself in too deep on DIY, I'd have to recruit some guys, maybe from this forum, to bail me out ;D
Quote from: Troll on April 20, 2016, 08:32:56 AM
Please don't take this the wrong way, but how does a motorcycle this old need a 12,000 mi. service?
. Bought our 04 a month ago with only 3600 miles on the clock! Guess some people just want to fill up garage space!
just a side note here, I bought mine after it had sat for a few years in a huge garage, and it has 24K on it, I used it for a few months parked it, then the next summer did a bunch of riding and was to just over 30K and decided to use the 30K as my bench mark and did everything from that check onward so it was treated as if it was new.