self maintainance of a GS

That's because they charge their labour at £100/hour due to massive overheads from shiny marble floored showrooms. Specialists can beat main dealer prices every time, and often provide a better service.

And free Coffee n Biscuits....dun forget about that...
 
Well I got a nice estimate from BMW Mottorrad I could but won't scan and copy it. The very salient part is for a 30k kms service and fit new tyres the bill is ... € 797.23 now how much is a 2005 GS with 30Kms on it worth ? They want €156 labour just to change the brake fluid and bleed the brakes plus another €17 for a road test! I think I will decline their kind offer and do it myself. I understand why these things cost so much at a main dealer their workshop is like a operating theatre and they have people to pay as well but the price is a bit rich for me.. € 65 to fit and balance two Tourance tyres costing €97 for the front and €121 for the rear I can take to the motor cycle shop and have fitted to loose wheels.

To be fair to the Stealer it is a fair bit of work to fully change the brake fluid (assuming your 2005 has linked brakes) and get all the bleeding done, but E17 for a road test - surely that just wheeling it out and turning round in the road?

Just you carry on doing your own mtce.
 
Valve clearances and throttle balance ned some engineering/mechanical finesse........

That's why mine is going the local independent for it's next service. Plus I want the FD oil changed, gear box oil changed and the clutch checked for wear as it sometimes judders on hill starts. It has covered 65K in my hands. For the last 30K miles it has survived with me doing 6K oil/filter with fresh air filter every other oil change, spark plugs changed, brake pads when required. All these tasks are easy enough for a muppet like me to do, and when 6K services come up every 3 months it saves a fortune and plenty of time.
 
Valve clearances and throttle balance ned some engineering/mechanical finesse but the single cam is about as easy as it get for those jobs. Changing the clutch is a big job but most of the work is not especially technical. Rebuilding a gearbox or final drive is so technical that BMW don't even bother. They simply swap it out for a new one.


To be honest Bendy if I could not set the valve clearances on this bike I would not even be thinking about doing anything at all myself! These jobs are to be fair about confidence in ones ability ... I have been messing about with bikes for over 40 years and this is just about the least sophisticated in terms of mechanics I have ever owned barring two strokes :)
 
To be honest Bendy if I could not set the valve clearances on this bike I would not even be thinking about doing anything at all myself! These jobs are to be fair about confidence in ones ability ... I have been messing about with bikes for over 40 years and this is just about the least sophisticated in terms of mechanics I have ever owned barring two strokes :)

In a clumsy way that's what I was trying to say.
 
self maintenance

The last time I took a bike for a service was a Honda 400 four in 1978
it was such a poor effort I have done it myself since then. Invest in the proper tools, be super-clean, and take your time, take good advice, and accept it might not be ready for Monday morning...
I recently bought a r1150gs, no service history, but rode and sounded sweet. Just done oil, filter, totally refurb front brake, pads, pistons, ss brake lines. when you do it yourself you take care and get a great feeling when it all works.:clap
 
I do a fair bit of the servicing myself but as it lives on the street upstairs and is hard to do in winter (light, no leccy) and running up and down for tools/oils/lubes forgotten (never mind having to take the dog out mid job) I often ask steptoe to do the work. I like working on my bike and learning, so at times i have used oval motorcycle centre where you get indoors, access to a ramp, special tools etc but quite honestly the cost is exactly the same as having steppers do it, so I use him. And he is close and good! If I had a garage, id be more inclined to do more of my own work.
 


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