I do most of my own work. Just the same I notice how many bikes that have high mileage with little or no problems because they are done by a dealership. You get a copy of the check list with your bill. Really good independents are okay but every thing they use is after market and I have been burned more than once with those.

 

First of all I was not bashing the dealer! As a matter of fact I pointed out that the dealer was cheaper than the Indy(in the 4th thread).

For you and a few others that didn't understand what I was trying to put forth. I was trying to make a point that the Indy should not be more expensive than the local dealer for that service or any other service. The Indy's overhead should be NO WHERE NEAR what a dealers overhead is and therefore the costs should be less and it wasn't....as a matter of fact it was allot higher than the dealer.

 

$450 for an indy to do the service?What does your local dealership charge?

I'll be doing the 5K on my bike soon.I cant see spending hundreds of dollars paying a dealership to do something that I can do.Also out here on the west coast the dealers probly charge more than in other regions of the country.

I did all the services on my old '06 Road Glide with 52000 miles.The only service i did not do was the 1K.

I can understand that some riders are not mechanics,dont have the time or simply dont want to work on their bike.Of course then they will have to pay.

 

I run a small indy shop in so. maryland. We get 260.00 for a 10k with amsoil.

 

In Orlando the local dealer is right about $500 for a X0,000 service. The X5,000 are "only" about $300. That includes synthetic in all three holes (Mobil 1 V-twin).

 

Had one done last fall at local indy and it was$390.

 

Well if they are buying their Amsoil for 40 bucks a quart, that doesnt sound too bad.

 

Some of the dealer price fluctuations are likely dependent on simplicity/complexity of model, from Sporty to Ultra Classic.

Just recently did my own 10k service; it's all spelled out in the owners manual--cost ~$70 using Syn3 in engine & primary, and Redline in trans. It is quite a piece of work to accomplish, for the 1st time, but is something that most intelligent, mechanically savvy owners can do themselves. I suspect that my own service was rather more thorough than what some shops would do @ flat-rate pricing.

For many riders saving $200-$300, a few times a year, is unimportant. For most of the rest of us, that would fund a decent annual fuel budget! And whether we're intending to do all our own maintenance, or just be prepared to thoroughly check our bikes before riding, we should all have owners, service & parts manuals, a basic emergency toolkit, plus a few necessary specialty tools such as torque wrench... A jack is not needed for changing fluids.

On the other hand, a man's gotta know his limitations.

 

Quite right! At my dealer, during the 1,000 miles service for which I was 200 miles early, they did the following:

• neglected to check my steering head bearings (loose after service)
  
• neglected to check critical fasteners (a couple of loose bolts)
• neglected to check throttle (broken / defective: I had to point it out to them and then they replaced assembly)
• neglected to fill engine oil properly; it was one quart low. I had to point out that oil did not appear even on the tip of the dipstick, then they added oil.
  

I'm not a qualified mechanic, so I am not aware of the other services I received.

 

It all depends on what they do. A proper 10K takes anywhere from 3-4 hours, so at lets say 70 and hour that's $280 then the fluids, gaskets, lubes etc. 400 - 450 isn't that bad with synthetic fluids.

A side note, we are an Indy dealer and use all genuine HD parts and fluids unless otherwise specified by the customer.