I don't get the "I'd rather be riding than servicing the bike" thought. If you take the bike to a dealer you have to wait i.e. not ride & usually longer wait than if you did it yourself. I really don't care if someone chooses to work on their bike or have a dealer do it ,it's t heir bike and they should do what they want and not care what anyone else thinks. I just don't get that philosophy? I guess if you have them pick it up & return it when you were working or doing something else that makes sense. But if you're taking & waiting @ dealer??? Again NOT critizing either means of servicing YOUR bike. Enjoy riding & be SAFE!! Cheers!

 

Really.

In about an hour or so, at home, you can change all the fluids and the filter and be on your way.

Otherwise, ride to the dealership and wait for them to get to your bike and then do the necessary changes and i will guarantee that you have dicked off more time there than if you had done it yourself at home and not to mention the money you saved.

So the "I'd rather be riding" mantra really just doesn't hold water.

 

I think the thought is that you can drop it off and have the service done while you are doing other things. Instead of using your free time to do the service.

 

Good point. I do my own service, but fine by me if others use a dealer, Indy, whoever.... And me servicing my own bike doesn't cut into my riding time any more than if I took it in to a pro. There is no waiting in my garage, but there sure can be at the dealer. And if they are really busy I don't wouldn't want them rushing the job. But sometimes I enjoy spending time at the dealer too.

The second smartest education decision I've ever made was taking auto shop classes in High School. Taught me to take care of most of my repairs myself. Smartest decision was to go into IT.

Turned myself into a relatively self reliant person.

 

The thought is actually they could somehow have more riding time by not doing their own service. ”I'd rather be riding than wrenching on my bike ".

Unless these folk have another bike to ride while their first one is at the dealer, not sure how it would give them more time to ride.

I only have one bike and if I change my own oil I think I'd actually have more riding time than waiting for it at a shop. But that is REALLY splitting hairs.

On the other hand, I can think of a lot worse things to do than knocking around my HD dealer a couple times per year for an hour or two. They usually have something interesting going on.
Last time one of the sales guys brought in this giant bag of jerky and shared it with everyone. Jerky was made at one of the local meat markets, really it was good. That was when I was getting a recall done

 

Or maybe they like talking with others at the dealership. You know like minded people who also love bikes. Just a thought

 

I generally don't do my own service anymore. But I don't sit around the dealer on a day I could be riding either. I will drop the bike off (dealer is only 3 miles from my house) on a day I'm not going to be riding anyway and have them do whatever services I happen to need at the time. I'll pick it up that evening or the next day and it's ready for me to ride and I didn't spend any time doing the services myself.

These days I don't put on the miles I would like to, and with a relatively short riding season, sometimes I just have the services done during non riding months. For instance, my bike will go into winter storage soon (need to make room in the garage for my Jeep and snowthrower for the winter) and it will also be due for an oil change, so I'll just have it done while they have the bike. Doesn't hurt that it's free with the storage fee anyway.

When I was younger, I enjoyed working on my bikes and other vehicles, but not so much anymore. Now if I can just figure out a way to not have to work anymore, I can add even more riding time.

 

Bits of truth in all these posts.


I actually do have another bike to ride when one's in for service. But I'll either take it to my indy and wait for it (the same amount of time it'd take me to do it) or take it to the dealer and wait for it. And yeah, I spend the time looking at new bikes, talking to other folks, whatever. And sometimes I take my laptop and get some work done. Better the dealer than the office.


But to tell you the truth - doing the oil changes ain't that bad and I'd probably still do 'em myself if it wasn't such a pain in the *** getting rid of the old oil. THAT more than anything is what pushed me into paying someone to change my oil, both bikes and cars.

 

Different stroke for different folks.

I do all my own work.

I also have 3 adult sons.
The oldest wouldn't and couldn't do even the most basic service on a motorcycle or car.
The middle one would not think twice of tearing into a engine if it needed it
And the youngest, who could handle basic service but likely wouldn't go deeper than that

All 3 sons raised side by side with the same mechanical experiences as I worked on bikes and cars as they grew up.

If my sons are a microcosm of the population, some, like the oldest, has no mechanical knowledge or skill and should absolutely take their bike in for service.

Others, to varying degrees, not so much.

 

I have two brothers and this is absolutely the same, were are not that far apart in age, but our interests are so completely different. I guess its a good thing, I have a brother to call for any difficult mechanical issue and a brother to call with absolutely any tech issue!