I have to disagree with 3-4 hours. That whole list takes two hours by someone who knows what they are doing. 3-4 hours for a DIY job makes more sense.

For you guys who want to take your rides down to the dealer and pay this kind of cash, I have no problem with that. Still I think you are missing a great opportunity save some money, do your own service, and become more familiar with your rides in case you have a breakdown on the road.

You can buy a motorcycle jack and a nice set of tools for $400.

 

I read the list posted on page 2, that would be closer to 2 hours or so. Our 10K service is a little more thourough than that. Ours includes checking fall away/swing and adjusting neck bearing if needed, internal clutch adjustment, I take the calipers off and clean them and reset the pistons to allow for pad wear, I load test the battery, adjust the throttle cables if applicable, and pretty much everything els on the list. It can take an hour to properly do a neck bearing adjustment on a bike with a fairing. Anyways, whatever people are comfortable with is fine with me, if they want to do it themselves that's cool, but alot of people just change fluids and ignore other stuff, then come on here and bash HD when they have problems with their bike.

 

Being an independent mechanic, that's actually not too far from what I charge. I tend to do value added services with everything I do so my customers understand they are getting what they are paying for. After several years and two dealers of being an HD tech I became an independent for a reason and it has nothing to do with greed. It has to do with honest work, it's what customers expect and will pay for. Not that the dealerships I worked for didn't do honest work, let's just say there were no value added services (free) and if a job was completed quicker than the flat rate, the customer paid the flat rate in full. I always encourage my customers to look around and remind them the door is still open should they decide to come back.

 

I recognize there are plenty of honest mechanics providing value to their customers. I think the OP is objecting to $400 to $450 for a two hour service appointment. For the sake of argument, lets say four hours. $60/hr times four hours is $240. Add oil in all three holes, grease, brake fluid, and miscellaneous shop material, lets call this $300 for a 10k service. Notice I am not getting to $450 with these numbers.

By this math I'm counting the 10k service as $100/hr plus fluids and materials. Personally I believe this and the frequency of shortcuts being taken by some service departments makes arguing the price open game.

Look at this another way. The same customers can have a major repair or a raft of big mechanical upgrades done for $60-$65/hr plus parts. This price difference does not go unnoticed.

Consumers who think the service bill is too hefty have a choice to make. Pay the price, or do their own maintenance. Personally, regardless of the value, the $400 to $450 flat rate service interval drove me out of the market and compelled me to buy a jack and some nice tools. Don't get me wrong, I still use dealer service departments on projects I either don't want to do, or I don't have the ability to do.

 

The OP was wondering why a indy is higher priced than a dealer.
Both get items at wholesale prices unless the customer requests HD parts.
Then the indy would buy those parts over the counter at the dealer.
I think his point was, why take it to an indy if the savings aren't there.