After years of riding metrics, I'll be getting my first Harley within the next week or 2. Many of my friends have Harleys and I hear horror stories about dealerships voiding the warranty. One friend of mine told me the local dealer said if he changed his own oil it would void the warranty. Now I'm the kind of person that can't see spending the kind of money a dealer charges for oil changes and prefer to do it myself. Can anyone enlighten me about this?

 

Changing your own will NOT void your warranty. It does however must be the correct grade though.

Like every dealership you go to....autos, trucks, mowers, and motorcycles; there are always gonna be at least one bad one of the bunch. Having said that though, there are plenty of goood ones out there.

You can meet 12 new strangers.....out of that 12, at least one is going to be a butthole. Dealerships go the same way!

 

Thanks for the info. It just didn't make sense to me, but then after trying to work with my local dealer I can see they are a-holes. When I told them they were $1100 more than a dealership a few hours North of us, the sales guy didn't even flinch. I told him I'd rather give my business to them, but they HAD to come down to the other dealer's price. I gave him my trade info and he said he'd call me the next day with new numbers. He hadn't called by 5 PM so I called him. I was told he was "at lunch in the back" and they'd give him the message to call me. He never did. I'll be going to the other dealer to get my new bike.

 

If you do your own maintenence,be sure to document it and save all receipts.Get a manual also.Best $80 you ever spent

 

Another good thing are the Fix My Hog dvds they give you some good info and demonstrate what's where what tools and how to do itetc. If your mates are into H-Ds then they'll probably be able to guide you but then some of their old habits may not be the best and lead you down a wrong path.
Dealerships here in Australia occasionally run maintainence workshops, check to see if any do close to you.

Loaf
Living To Ride

 

dude,

im in the same situation with my bike. got almost 1200 miles on my bob and dealer is asking $220 for the 1000 mile service, which is way outa hand! i called the dealer up and he said just to keep the receipts for your fluids and youll be good! so i will not take it in until something breaks. GL