I had my 10k service done at the dealer. Yes, I know, I got taken for a ride, etc. But I'd rather spend a weekend day with my family, than in the garage.

Still, I always check over the bike to see what odds and ends they did half arsed.

Sure nuff, found a few things done lazily. Most annoying was they apparently took my slip ons off to get to my rear brakes and change the pads. (Fine by me, I needed new pads)

But they didn't tighten the slip ons enough, and I was decel popping until I tightened them myself.

No big deal. But still, seems like a little attention to detail would be nice. If I didn't know that loose slip ons was a source of decel popping, I would have wondered why my bike was farting all of a sudden and ended up taking it back.

Seems like they are just asking for headaches and less than satisfied customers by not doing it right the first time.

 

But look at the money you'll save doing it yourself. And anything that's messed up, you can only blame #1.

 

You save a lot doing it yourself, that's for sure. I quit taking my bikes to the dealership because of the half *** nature of their services. If they weren't forgetting to tighten the oil cap or locking my bike up overnight and not telling me, they were destroying the custom paint with a breaker bar while replacing the back tire.

It may take a day of doing it yourself, but it only happens so often and you get a peace of mind knowing nothing was half assed. My two cents.

Edit: This never happened to my SGS, this happened to my other bikes. Maybe it's a non-Harley thing?

 

The more you do it the better and quicker you get at it.
It's my intention to get to know every nut and bolt on my bike, until I can take it apart and put it together in my sleep.

The advantage?
I installed a set of cams in my bike for less than $350.00

 

That's EXACTLY it. Doesn't take "a day in the garage" to do brakes and oil change. Some slower people make take a whole day doing something the first time, but once you do it once...quicker the next time..and then even quicker the next time...etc etc.

Pretty soon you're changing your oil and brake pads in less time than it takes you to ride the sled down the stealership...so...uh....what exactly is the time savings? And get better oil, and get better quality brake pads..for less money. I'd RATHER spend time with the family, and save money too..and know it was done right (cuz I did it!)

 

Hey SoCal, not wanting to get on ya but if this was meaning your bike now had 10,000 miles on it and your putting on rear brake pads on, there is something wrong. Either you have a caliber hanging up back there or your using the rear brake far more than you should be. Most of your effective braking should be done with your fronts. On my 2010 Ultra, I had between 65,000 and 70,000 miles on it when I put my first set of rears on. Of course I put a ton of road miles on but still, 10,000 is way too early for pads.

 

Working on my bike is my therapy . I built a nice small(28x32) shop just to have a place to be . I change my oil it does take me better part of half a day but I do enjoy every minute . I care less how fast or slow I am just doing what I love is enough .

 

you will save a ton of $ doing the service work yourself and I would bet you didn't need those brake pads too

 

Actually I think every shop has an ACE wrench.. but for sure not all of the wrench's are...

Until you know who is the best at your dealership or INDY and DEMAND only he/they work on your bike (WHAT I did) you can and most likely will get Sub-par work. (As I did on my 1k)...

My first service was Chit and I found two scratches on my new bike 4 days after I brought her home --- (too late to say where they where done at) according to them.

There are times we need to take you bike in (Wither the dealer or an INDY))) YOU have to trust them which every you choose...

 

Got my street glide back from the Stealer once and the only thing holding my outer fairing in place was the three windshield screws connected to the fairing. ALL four main fairing screws were missing. How do you explain that?