After having some dealings with my dealer about service and listening to lame excuses and senseless explanations, I decided to get my 1st service (1800 km.) done at by an old timer Harley mechanic who runs a small local shop. My first impression was a bit leary when I arrived as in many private shops the place looked like a junk yard inside (many years of various HD parts accumulation). Turns out he is building a number of custom bikes and doing some serious mods for some high profile individuals that love customs. Boy did he know his stuff. Unlike my dealer he was happy to change the oil to what I wanted, dealer only would use HD or SYN-3.
I brought my own supply of Amsoil that I purchased from a local dealer, the mechanic performed the entire first service in under 1 hour and charged me a whole $35.00 labor. I found this a great deal since I felt confident in his ability and got a great lesson in HD history and motorcycle building 101 by spending some time going over some of the bikes in various stages of assembly in his shop. This was a great experience and I feel I made the right decision to have my service performed by this shop. He's been working on Harley's longer than most of the dealer's mechanics have been around and very intimately knew every nut and bolt throughout the generations of bikes, from rigids to shovelheads to current 96's. I was like a kid in a museum - really made my day.

 

You did well. Grab yourself a set of manuals and learn to do it yourself. Great quality time for you and your scoot.

 

well, Iguess I need a manual also but I figured I would let the dealer do the first and second service then start doing it myself

 

check out some of the online web stores for the manuals. 20% off and you have plenty of time to get them in before the next service.