I am the proud owner of a new to me 2008 SG. I have had several bikes in the past but have never had a Harley before. The bike was a bank repo but I have both keys, fobs, the owners manual, and even the tool kit with it. It has about 7500 miles on it now and is in good overall condition. I know that the 2 recalls on the bike have been performed but I have no idea of how or if the routine maintenance has been performed.

So far I have spent hours reading various posts on here and have learned a lot so far. I have not seen the following question come up before.

My dilemma is with the first oil change on the bike. I am comfortable with, and plan on doing the regular fluid changes and basic maintenance myself. However I am curious to find out if you think there would be a reasonable value in having a highly trusted independent shop change the fluids in all 3 holes this time for me. I am thinking that they will be able to give me a heads up if they see anything that I need to be concerned about when changing out the fluids.

What do you think?

Thanks,
Craig

 

Get a service manual, you can do a better job of changing the oils yourself and it will be a lot cheaper. I would only take it in if I suspected a problem. JMO

 

Find a good Indy shop and have em give it the once over. Do all the oil changes yourself, they're easy. I have my bike "once'd over" every spring before we head out on our trips just for a second set of eyes. He charges me $45 for the service.

 

That's what I did when I bought my bike. It had 4600 miles on it and I took it in at 5k for that service. I told the tech I was new to Harleys and he gave it a good look over. He even checked to see if it had recalls or upgrades done and let me know. From that point on I've done all my regular service intervals. I think it helps to really know your bike. Good luck and enjoy your new ride.

 

Sometimes it can be nice to build a relationship with a shop by using them for maintenance and finding out for yourself how competent they are rather than trying to find that shop when you have a problem that requires a shop to diagnose and remedy it. Just a thought.

 

Ditto +1

 

I am not familiar with any recalls on '08s. Are you talking about TSB's?

 

I would do it myself.Buy a service manual for reference.
You will know if somethings wrong if chuncks come out with the oil!

 

With that few miles on the bike, I'd change the oil myself... look on the drain plug magnets for any metal shavings. If you don't see any large shavings... which I'm pretty sure you won't with those few miles on it.... then have it checked out. I've heard a lot of bad reviews from dealership services...ie, overfilling the oil, pipe dope with the o rings on drain plugs, etc... I'd rather do it myself per the maintenance manual... and know it's done right... and cheaper.

 

I'm not a gear head but enjoy mechin' on things including my '08 Ultra. I just did all three changes and feel good about knowing exactly what went into my ride. Not being negative about the dealer as they have to keep their lights on and eat, I just don't believe they need to eat steak and lobster every night.