Yes, you ARE covered for three years, should some component fail, as we all are, but you are not covered for all the routine maintenance costs that you see listed in your owner's manual and those services, (shop rate @ $80 - $100.00 per hour), which many of us are capable of doing ourselves, will cost you a bundle over three years and for as long as you own the bike.
Stories of bungled work done on owner's bikes by dealers abounds on any m/c website you can find, hence, those that are capable like to do it themselves to ensure it is done right, according to the factory service manual in many cases.
Right to repair legislation is being looked at by governments right now, as this corporate money grab, by holding vehicle specifications hostage by the manufacturer and dealers, is an overreach of their authority over the vehicles they sell.
If you are happy to spend hundreds, or thousands of dollars over the course of many years of owning a vehicle, that is your right, but most of us would prefer to save that money for trips and fuel and buying just those parts that we need to keep our bikes in fine working order.
In 26 years of owning a Honda ST1100, I have saved literally tens of thousands of dollars by doing all the work on this bike myself, except for tire changes, thanks to having the factory service manual from Honda.
Amen, Dexter! I've wrenched on my own bikes too. I've outsourced things that don't happen often enough to justify investing in special tools, e.g. changing fork oil. I also used to outsource valve checks; my previous bikes were Jap bikes that had long service intervals, and they had the PITA shim & bucket system that's a nightmare to work on. For tires, I'd pull the wheel, and bring it to a local shop to change the tire. While they were changing one, I'd go back home, pull the other tire, and bring it them; by that time, they were done with the first tire, which I brought back and mounted. When I was done with that, I'd pick up the second tire. Unfortunately, that shop closed.
But yeah, I don't like the fact that RE won't share the service manual. While there may be RE dealers on every corner in India, that's not the case in the US. We only have 140, which puts most of us some distance away from one. My closest RE dealer is 45 minutes away; the next closest is an hour or so; and the next three closest RE dealers are 2-3 hours away. Not only is there the issue of questionable dealer work; there's the issue of even GETTING to and from the dealer in the first place! You'll need a ride from the dealer when you drop off your bike, and you'll need a ride there to pick it up. How many of us like to ask friends or family, who are busy themselves, to take 1.5 hours, minimum, to help us twice? How many of us want to pay for a cab, car service, or Uber to get to and from the dealer?
It would be one thing if they were 10-15 minutes away; arranging the logistics of getting your bike to the dealer is so much easier when they're close, i.e. less than 30 minutes away. It's another thing when they're farther away than that. I wish RE would be mindful of that.
Oh, and my closest RE dealer was backed up TWO MONTHS! That's right; if you called today to make an appointment for your first service, you'll be waiting until early-mid February to get the work done. Seriously? While I don't mind being without my bike during winter, I mind very much riding it there this time of year. You want me to ride it over there in February, in PA?! GTFOOH! And I surely don't want to be waiting two months to ride when riding season is here...
Thankfully, I'm lucky in that the service manager at my RE dealer has printed out manual pages for me. I simply said that, since I live far away, it's hard to bring the bike in; it's easier for me to do the work myself. I think part of him is relieved to not have yet another cycle owner adding to his backlog, so he's helped me out with that...
Topic: Work shop manual (Read 12035 times)