DIY servicing for the S10

I think I have found my next bike in the S10... I am not full of brand loyalty, want reliability and all round performance over whether I get street cred/bullshit speak/admiring glances from the GSisti etc... I like the fact that it seems to do what it was intended for and seems to be largely problem free for stupid f'ing things like failing electrical majors and exploding FD's... It may even change gear properly...

Main thing is whether it is all-round DIYable... I don't much like the dealer umbilical and don't want a bike that means a constant and loving relationship with your dealer service/warranty dept be kept up...

Any major probs to report? Are the things like headlight looms or FD seals that seem about the worst of it DIYable... Are there any other fiddly/piddly/bollocks jobs that need dealer "intervention"......??

I am probably going to look out for sub £7k bikes with more miles on and much of the gear attached... The main things seem to be panniers, chip upgrades and better screens alongside all the other stuff it gets are add-ons... There seems plenty of choice and they don't seem to be the biggest seller so are great for good deals and long term ownership...

I have at the mo a VStrom 1000 with plenty of upgrades and it is a very underrated bike next to all the potentially overrated GS's etc... Cost me not much and owes me nothing and unless there is a decent alternative then it will stay for a while longer...


Thanks in advance...

Most of it looks pretty easy, the exception is probably shims which are a long job due to getting to them, and maybe a bit fiddly for the home mechanic - I will let my local indie do mine when the time comes as he is about 40% cheaper than the franchised dealer.

Officially they need doing every 24k, but it seems they don't move much, several owners have reported none out of spec at first check. I will probably get mine checked at 24k and then skip the 48k, and by 72k I probably won't care enough to check them again.

Oil and filter is a piece of piss, wheel removals quite straight forward, plug changes are certainly not beyond most folk and even removing swingarm for greasing looks easy enough - and removing shock and suspension linkages for greasing is very easy.

Rasher said:

Most of it looks pretty easy, the exception is probably shims which are a long job due to getting to them, and maybe a bit fiddly for the home mechanic - I will let my local indie do mine when the time comes as he is about 40% cheaper than the franchised dealer.

Officially they need doing every 24k, but it seems they don't move much, several owners have reported none out of spec at first check. I will probably get mine checked at 24k and then skip the 48k, and by 72k I probably won't care enough to check them again.

Oil and filter is a piece of piss, wheel removals quite straight forward, plug changes are certainly not beyond most folk and even removing swingarm for greasing looks easy enough - and removing shock and suspension linkages for greasing is very easy.

Click to expand...

thanks Rasher...

And from my time being based at a Yam dealer the shims on their bikes didn't need much attention after the initial break in... They used to say the PDI and the 1000 mile service was the most important as they were not always right out of the factory... My old XJ9 courier bike had no adjustments in 45k even with the 10k checks and my old CBR 6 had to wait until about 40k to get a check after the initial service...

It seems that they are boringly reliable which is always a good thing after BM ownership...