Do I really need to take my new bike back to the dealer for the 1000 mile checkup? I know how to change all the oils myself. Or is this just another way for Harley to make money.

 

No you don't need to take it back to the dealer, but you do need to make sure that the work gets done (whether by you, a dealer, indy shop, friend, etc).

Besides changing the fluids, the 1000 mile service also calls for some critical adjustment, including steering head, critical fastener torque, and secondary belt (not so critical).

For me, I took the $350-ish that the dealer wanted to charge me, and used it to buy all the supplies I'd need to do it myself (service manual, jack, etc). Now I only need to spend a few dollars each time to do it myself for fluids.

 

I took mine in for the 1000 mile, had a couple of concerns nothing major but I figured they would give my concerns more of a look if I was already paying to have the bike serviced anyways rather than just bringing it back to complain about something and hoping they would even look at it.