Servicing - SV650

[Robertjp]

Had my SV650 3 months now and a little bit surprised at quite how quickly im piling the miles on. Started on 2k - now done 6k

Been phoning round for prices and im looking at £200 to £250 which is more than i was hoping. Im piling the miles on and will use all year round - i dont want a £200 bill every 3 months.

Question is - if i do the service myself, with OEM parts - will i still retain the warranty? Bike is 12 months old. If i do invalidate the warranty - does it really matter - the bike will have done at least 20k when i come to sell anyway which may override any depreciation due to non dealer servicing surely?

Also - anyone have a schedule? Think its Oil, oil filter, plugs, check air filter - rest is just inspection. I look after chain alignment / tension etc all myself anyway.

[Mr OCD]

Service it yourself and retain all receipts and keep a log of the service work done... assuming that you plan to keep it long term - if so then its not a problem

I service my own bikes / cars myself and keep records of everything - never had trouble selling any of them...

[B15TT0]

Mr OCD said:

Service it yourself and retain all receipts and keep a log of the service work done... assuming that you plan to keep it long term - if so then its not a problem

I service my own bikes / cars myself and keep records of everything - never had trouble selling any of them...

One has a feeling given your name and profession that you are rather meticulous. Evidence of that probably helps the cars and bikes sell well. For those of us of a less particular nature (i.e. me) i would get it serviced by a good indy. I just have not got the time or the patience.

[Ace-T]

I see you are in the Midlands from your profile, East, West? However people have come from Wales (IIRC) to use this bloke:

www.stewartsmotorcycles.co.uk

Lovely chap, he services my bike and once spent a couple of hours setting it up for me (pedals/levers/suspension etc) for no charge.

Also get yourself over to forums.sv650.org for all sorts of help and advice. If you are a forum member you get a discount with Stewart too

Trace

[Carl-H]

I do all mine my self but that's because I know I will do a better job than most mechanics. Recently did my brakes and if a mechanic did them he would probably say it needs new piston and seals or second hand caliper but as I did it it's like new now. Would only have someone else doing my bike if it was for warranty.

[Venom]

Couldn't agree more. If you're mechanically minded and don't mind getting your hands dirty, do it yourself I say. Given the starting price for an SV too, any depreciation is likely to be minimal compared to the cost savings over the years that you keep the bike.

I recently had a garage do some work on mine for its MOT, purely because I haven't had the time, and came out feeling raped at the £180 bill, for what was essentially a £30 MOT, and another £40 in parts. Bills like that soon stack up!

Next job that needs doing is changing the chain and sprockets. I'm new to bikes, but how hard can it be? I've got a set of manuals, and have been over on sv650.org - great bunch over there.

[Dakkon]

B15TT0 said:

Mr OCD said:

Service it yourself and retain all receipts and keep a log of the service work done... assuming that you plan to keep it long term - if so then its not a problem

I service my own bikes / cars myself and keep records of everything - never had trouble selling any of them...

One has a feeling given your name and profession that you are rather meticulous. Evidence of that probably helps the cars and bikes sell well. For those of us of a less particular nature (i.e. me) i would get it serviced by a good indy. I just have not got the time or the patience.

Do you think it bothers him that it is not in alphabetical order i.e. CDO?

[Taita]

Ace-T said:

I see you are in the Midlands from your profile, East, West? However people have come from Wales (IIRC) to use this bloke:

www.stewartsmotorcycles.co.uk

Lovely chap, he services my bike and once spent a couple of hours setting it up for me (pedals/levers/suspension etc) for no charge.

Also get yourself over to forums.sv650.org for all sorts of help and advice. If you are a forum member you get a discount with Stewart too

Trace

+1 for the Org, its a fantastic resource. I'm removing the tank on mine and I'm going to create a topic on it later.

[dern]

Robertjp said:

Question is - if i do the service myself, with OEM parts - will i still retain the warranty? Bike is 12 months old. If i do invalidate the warranty - does it really matter - the bike will have done at least 20k when i come to sell anyway which may override any depreciation due to non dealer servicing surely?

Servicing the bike yourself and high mileage will affect your market. Some people don't want a bike that hasn't been serviced at a dealer and some won't won't a high mileage bike. I'm not saying you won't sell a bike like that but the market will be smaller. I know that bikes can take more miles than generally gets put on them... nevertheless if two bikes are up for sale, one at 10k miles and one at 30k miles then I'll take the one at 10k miles (subject to condition). If you're going to stick miles on a bike and service it yourself then do it to a keeper or accept that saving money will cost you money and weigh up one against the other. It makes no sense to skip a dealer service and do it yourself for the first time only to sell 6 months later.

[smack]

dern said:

Robertjp said:

Question is - if i do the service myself, with OEM parts - will i still retain the warranty? Bike is 12 months old. If i do invalidate the warranty - does it really matter - the bike will have done at least 20k when i come to sell anyway which may override any depreciation due to non dealer servicing surely?

Servicing the bike yourself and high mileage will affect your market. Some people don't want a bike that hasn't been serviced at a dealer and some won't won't a high mileage bike. I'm not saying you won't sell a bike like that but the market will be smaller. I know that bikes can take more miles than generally gets put on them... nevertheless if two bikes are up for sale, one at 10k miles and one at 30k miles then I'll take the one at 10k miles (subject to condition). If you're going to stick miles on a bike and service it yourself then do it to a keeper or accept that saving money will cost you money and weigh up one against the other. It makes no sense to skip a dealer service and do it yourself for the first time only to sell 6 months later.

Very true Dern

[Robertjp]

Will have the bike around 18 months to two years i would guess. By then, at my current rate mileage will be 35-40k. Thats 8 services and over £1600 im going to save doing it myself, based on the quotes i have been given.

Made up my mind - the value difference to the bike servicing myself vs dealer servicing is not going to be £1600 - particularly when an SV with 40k miles on isnt going to be worth much more than £1.5 - £2k anyway i would guess.

Thanks for advice. I popped into Knotts in Stratford to get a warranty claim sorted actually - corrosion on the water pipe manigold as it goes into the block. No mention of servicing at all - they just took a photo and told them it will in all likelihood be sorted without quibble. The guy also said that to be honest if i use OEM parts and document it, it shouldnt make a difference to anything really.

And - i will part ex it anyway, so any differences in values will all be swallowed up in a deal....