So I arriving at the 1K mark. The dealer if I remember correctly wants $300 or so to complete the service. While funds are a bit tight, should I have them do it? What do they all do besides oil and look the bike over?

 

its in your owners manual... its more than changing fluids. buy yourself a service manual (50-60 bucks) it will tell you what you need to do. and your going to save money doing it yourself. you just need the proper tools, torx set, allen set, belt tensioner tool, etc. you will pay for the tools in your first two services.

but you need the service manual... its the best purchase you can make.

 

usually your dealer gives a discount or free if you bought it there. If not, I would take the money, buy the service manual, get your Harley tool set started. If you want to make sure everything is done right for the first one, have them do it (then check it) but I would do everything from them on either myself or a good independent.

Regardless, get service manual ASAP. Will help out in long run.

 

+1 on doing it yourself, provided you are comfortable with that. The service manual is your friend, read it carefully and it will guide you through.

 

When i bought my bike 2 weeks ago....they told me they had to do the first service or it would void my warranty......any truth in this?

 

I had the dealer do the first one. I'll be doing the rest, it was $260 with some extra for switching to Synthetic on my Ultra.

 

No. Never heard of this before.

 

That's total BS!!
Do it yourself and keep records. It's not difficult, actually fun.

 

They usually take some of your money and order Beer and Pizza.

 

Buy the manual and do it yourself. Have the HD guys show you in the warranty documents where it states that an owner performed service will void the warranty. Unless you bolt on some ridiculous components, or take your bike up a ski slope, you should be fine. Its a BS line to scare you back to your stealership. IMO, all owners should know and perform at least the most basic of maintenance on their bikes. The more you know, the better your chances of helping yourself or another of the side of the road one day.