I am at 1500 miles...... So I went over a little bit. I took my bike to the HD dealer and had the oil changed and I told them to use Synthetic Oil (after reading up here).

They tried to sale me on a bunch of other crap too. I told them no...... Can anyone tell me what is really necessary. I can get my manual out and read it but I want to know what is real...... You guys always know far more than the manuals or the dealers. Thanks.

 

Do what the manual says.

Also, check all the fasteners.

 

Heck, if you can't change your own oil you better become good friends with the service department. If anything I would've changed my own oil and had themcheck the other things like steering head fallout, fasteners, engine mounts, clutch, belt tension, etc.

 

Yeah, I am did my first service, with the help of my buddy who was more knowledgeable than me. I took it in for my 4000 mile service b/c I was leaving for a 2000 mile trip and didnt' have time to get to it. I just changed my fluids again at 6500 myself. I will take it in at 10000 just to have the adjustments and check done, but will change the fluids myself. From now on I will just do my fluids and filter myself b/c I am using Amsoil and want to make sure that's what goes in my bike.

 

Well its like this, maintence is key to any machinery.
In order to get the most out of your scooter you should stick to the recommended maintence practices listed in your owners manuel.
It doesn't matter who performs the maintence so long as it is done properly.
So if you up to the challenge and with a small investment in some tools (should or will balence out after taking it in to the dealer a few times )performing you own maintence is pretty easy if you understand how to work on bikes/cars etc
Plus which you can get a better feel for you bike
I have a 100 k on my 00fxst & have done my own maintence from day one, I have also stuck to the recommended maintence practices & the only problems I have ever had are from parts that fail that don't have any maintence needs , such as starters etc, or they fail from absue such as racing

 

I am sure I could of changed the oil...... But I have been there done that. I would rather pay and let someone else do it now.

I will probably pay someone to do the rest of the 1000 mile service too.

I just wanted to see if it was really necessary.

What is the most important things that I should do?

 

I've worked on cars my whole life and am very comfortable with a wrench. Then came the motorcycle and I'm a fish out of water. I got the manual and am learning as I go.

I plan to do most of my own work. Aside from saving money I don't have a whole lot of trust that a mechanic will perform all the required maintenance. Have had too many bad experiences and read about many others. The only good thing is if they sign off on the service and my wheel falls off as I'm riding down the roadmy wife can get a big check from them. That is if it can be proved they didn't do the service. Big IF.

Having said that the main problem I had with my 1000 maintenance was checking the steering head fallout. My cables was causing tension and I'm not sure how accurate my results were. I bought a belt gauge and checked the belt tension. No biggee.The clutch was pretty well out of adjustment so I adjusted and lubed that. I may have to invest in a spoke gauge so I can check those. Just go down the list and do what you can do.

Invest in some tools as you go along. Good torque wrench, torx bit set, allen wrenches. Alot of guys recommend the fix my Hog DVD. I checked out the index headings and it covers just a few areas that are easy enough to pick up from the manual or online sources. I didn't see anything on steering head adjustment, spoke tensioning, or critical fasteners which I was interested in. Would be great if a DVD or manual would cover all the maintenance steps in an easy to understand format.

 

makes me wonder if what you did (just change oil) doesn't violate warranty....... just wondering out loud.....

 

I am pretty sure that missed maintenance can be an issue if warranty breakdowns arise. Does that maintenance have to be performed by your dealer? No, but you better be able to show receipts for the items that were needed to perform the maintenance...ie, oil, filters, o-rings, etc.

The most important things to do? For the 1000 mile maintenance, I would say full fluid chance, PLUS everything the book SAYS to do.

 

While pefrforming the 1000 miles service..... has anyone ever found anything that needed to be fixed or anything that was actually out of adjustment (other than the fluid changes of course)?