It seems like every time I take my wide glide in for scheduled service, the service writer always says it's a major deal. "that's the 10,000 mile service and it's a spendy one because we have to tighten the flux capacitor" or some such b.s.

Took my bike in for the 20,000 mile service and asked what the damage was going to be. The service writer started to say "well at 20,000, we .....". I stopped him and said yeah, yeah, I suppose the 20,000 is a major service interval and I bet you have to do a whole bunch of stuff including changing the blinker fluid.

He looked up, smiled, and told me "that's an 05 right. That's got synthetic blinker fluid in it, your good till 25,000 miles." Then he smiled again and asked me if I wanted the summer air changed out of the tires and replaced with winter air.

Since it would void the warranty to not have the right air in season, I told him to go ahead.

Nice to see my service guy at least has a sense of humor.

 

Hey; it's a Harley--when is it NOT spendy?

 

It's their way of softening us up before the blow of the bill. But then again, I guess he doesn't have to make you smile, so that's cool.

 

Make sure to have the coolant flushed and the A/C 6recharged.

 

It's all fun and games until you see the air change listed on the bill ($x2)

 

Let's see if he charges you in '05 dollars

 

I am sure it helps with PR and helps make his day go by. People get ugly when you hand them a statement, Obviously they dont always agree with what is being charged and in some cases I agree. My dealer has all prices posted. You know up front what it is going to cost and you sign the repair order stating so.

 

I don't mind the prices on the parts, and I can even stand a little gouging on the oil and fluids, but the labor is unheard off. My dealer is getting right at $80 an hour. No thank you please, other than tires, I'll do it myself!

 

When you do it yourself and shop right.

Saturday I changed my oil (engine/transmission/primary) with Amsoil synthetic, new K&N filter and HD spark plugs - around $70 (Amsoil goes for under $8.50 a quart, regular price, at the local indy accessory store).

Sunday I put on my detachable sissy bar sideplates ($65 on Ebay), docking kit and Cyclevisions barebacks ($30 on Ebay, new in package). and relocated my rear turn signals to the license plate mount ($35 Kuryakyn relocation kit from Ebay).

That's probably $1,000 if I got it all done at a dealership.

 

i don't like the high prices at the dealers either. $80 to $100 an hour seems standard at most dealers--automobile dealers charge about the same. dealers do have lots of overhead and are in business to make a profit. that $80 per hour pays the mechanic, the service writer, the service manager, the porter and the wash boys. insurance, social security, uniforms, taxes, utilities and mortgages on those fancy buildings all come out of that $80 per hour. i can see why they have to charge so much.
the cost per mile to operate a motorcycle is more than the cost to operate a car. lots of cars get better mileage than a motorcycle. my wife's toyota cost less than my RK to buy. toyota gets better mileage. every 5k it costs $400 bucks or so to get the bike serviced. had a new rear tire put on at dealer for about $400--will last about 15k miles. bought 4 new tires at discount tire for the toyota for the same amount...and they are going to last 50k. toyota oil change( mobil 1) every 10k for about $75. spark plugs, transmission oil change, and brakes at 100k. will be very surprised if the RK goes 100k without some major expense.
transportation for most of us in a necessity...riding a motorcycle is not. you have chosen to ride a motorcycle, and with that the higher costs of repair/upkeep. do the work your self and cut the dealer out of the equation...but don't complain when the dealer can't afford to stock every part you might some time need and can't buy elsewhere. the dealer has a large investment and supports lots of families thru the jobs he provides. the dealer is not guaranteed a profit and deserves a nice return on his money and time.