Oil Change/Maintenance

[redhead4u]

How often do you usually get your oil changed or have maintenance done on your bikes? Do you usually do it yourself or have it done at a shop?

Elizabeth

[dre_2k2_f4i]

DIY most jobs. I bought a front and rear stand for the bike, and am now saving at least $30 per tire when I get new ones.

People on this board are pretty cool about calling garage days to wrench your bike. The best part about garage days is that you just need to bring parts, tools are (usually) readily available. And if you get stuck or confused about something, there are people around to help you out (or in my case, laugh really hard, then help me out).

http://www.aguto.com/pages/2003yzfr6c.php
(The reason I have so many new rear tires is because I have had 2 flats -- both on the same freeway: the dreaded 405. That freeway has it out for me. I also totalled my F4i on it)

[Ikazuchi]

changing mine on saturday....Weeeeeee! Oh the excitement never stops!

[shichyea]

I've been changing the oil/filter every 1,500 miles...

[shichyea]

Oh yea, I take the wheels off and bring them over to shop to change the tires too. A lot cheaper! and it's real easy.

[Bryant]

I change my own oil/filter every 200 miles on my racebike and oil/filter every 2000 miles on my street bike.

If you want a shop to do it for you, they shouldn't charge more than $40 labor else.. it's prolly not worth it.

There was a time that Lee's charged me $45 to unscrew a bolt! Man.. that sucked. I still have the receipt for that one too.... It's not like I couldn't have done the same thing.. but what i wanted them to do was actually drill/tap the thing & insert helicoil. But they just unscrewed old bolt and shoved in a "longer" spare bolt they had laying around so that it would catch the last few remaining good threads deep in the engine. *sigh*.... $45!

[redhead4u]

I had mine done at 3000 I think, and it was over $200 at Fun Bike and It took me a month to get it in there. Wishing I knew more about my bike, there's not a school around here is there?

[dre_2k2_f4i]

Here is one in LA (sorry, tis where I live). http://home.netcom.com/~tatu/lattc.html

Just shout out for help on the board and I'm sure you'll get some people willing to help you out. My first oil change was a disaster: filter wouldn't come out, so I had to poke a screwdriver in it; container was leaking and spilled oil all over the place. It has gotten easier over time. Wish I had a garage to work in, but usually I just do my wrenching in my poorly lit carport :(
http://img.aguto.com/albums/030930/IMG_8085.jpg

Where as my friend's garage:
http://img.aguto.com/albums/031115/IMG_8732.jpg

[HondaRider22]

Elizabeth,

We have mainenance days from time to time to do all sorts of stuff. I've had a couple at my pad and they went pretty well. I am working on a motor right now and plan to do a mainenance day here soon. If you want we could set up a day some time soon and do your oil and I could work on the motor and anyone else can do there oil changes or whatever I'm down. I have the tools to do the job. Let me know...

[redhead4u]

Thanks that would really be great, just have to figure out a time.

Elizabeth

[deathblow]

Originally posted by shichyea
I've been changing the oil/filter every 1,500 miles...

I usually will do mine after 1500 miles if I did Palomar several times along with a track day. But I have been averaging about 2k miles with my bikes.