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Some questions on motorcycle maintenance
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November 7, 2008 at 4:58 pm #2332samgoodyParticipant
I have a question regarding the ease of maintenance of the Suzuki GS500F (the one with the fairing). The place where I live there are no motorcycle shops, and the nearest ones are a three-hour drive away. There are plenty of auto mechanics, and since I’m not a mechanically inclined person, most likely I will look for them to help me do the basic stuff (change oil, replace oil filter, clean air filter). Would I have to take off the lower fairings to be able to reach any of this stuff? How easy is that to do?
I haven’t purchased a bike yet, but ease of maintenance is one of the criteria that I’m using to narrow down my selections. Besides the GS500F, the options available to me are the Kawasaki Versys and the H-D 883 Sportster. Are they any easier/harder to work on than the GS500F?
I’m also assuming that the oil filters used on most motorcycles are different than the ones used on cars? Do they require any special oil, or can they use certain types of car oils?
November 7, 2008 at 5:56 pm #14676MattParticipantMotorcycles require motorcycle oil. It is a different weight than car oil, and some car oil additives (notibly in automotive full synthetics) will damage the motorcycle transmission.
That said, motorcycle oil is not hard to get. Walmart usually carries it. And for any of the bikes you listed, you won’t need anything exotic- Castrol (what my local Walmart here carries) will do.
Bikes also use model specific oil and air filters (not all bikes have air filters though).
Oil and filters can both be purchased very easily on the internet. I’m not sure I’d buy oil because of the shipping weight, but filters sure. And if you are in a crunch, the shipping for hte oil won’t be terrible, since bikes use much less than cars.
As for maintenance. I don’t know if you need to remove the fairing to change the oil on that bike. Removing a fairing is remarkably easy – literally just a bunch of screws. I’m sure there are plenty of photo and video instructions you can find online for the entire oil change process for the GS500 (it is a very popular bike after all).
The sportster is likely easier to work on, but significantly harder to learn on, and parts cost more. Between the two, the GS is generally considered the better starting bike if you like the style.
The Versys has less clading around the lower part of the engine, but it is water cooled (more tubing, more potential for things to go wrong), and a generally more complex design. It is also a less friendly starting bike, and has a very different seating position from the other two (very tall bike, I would not recommend it if you have short legs). Remember – sit on any bike before you buy it!
You cannot bring a motorcycle to any old automechanic and expect him to have a clue how to maintain it. Though many “small engine” shops (places that deal with boat motors, lawn mowers, and ATVs) that can do it.
I would look around locally, despite a lack of dealerships there are most likely private shops that can work on bikes.
If know a local with a motorcycle, ask him/her where they get their stuff done.With no place local to have bikes worked on, have you considered where you’ll buy your gear, or take your MSF course?
I highly recommend the MSF course, even if you have to take a weekend get-away to do so (make it a vacation ).
And gear, well, we are talking about your life here. And to paraphrase Chris Rock “People say life is short. No it isn’t. Life is long. Life is very very long. Especially when you need to live with the consequences of a stupid mistake.”—
“The two seconds between ‘Oh S**!’ and the crash isn’t a lot of practice time.”November 7, 2008 at 7:10 pm #14685samgoodyParticipantThanks for the info Matt. Unfortunately, everything motorcycle related is three-hours away. That said, I am planning to buy the gear and take a course first, and then make a decision on purchasing a bike. At the moment I am still in the research stage and I’m taking my time to learn as much as I can about motorcycles and riding.
I live in Saudi Arabia in a town called Yanbu. It’s an industrial town on the Red Sea coast. The city where I need to go to get all the above is called Jeddah, and it is the largest trading port in the country. Being that I live here I guess the odds are stacked higher against me than they would be in most Western countries. No MSF courses, unfortunately. I’m not really sure what the degree of professionalism there is in the training here, but it’s probably better than getting instruction from friends.
Since I live so far away from all the bike shops, I have to consider ease of maintenance when shopping for a bike. Having said that, it’s not my only criteria for selecting a motorcycle. I do consider it an important point, though, because it is part of the safety of the rider – in addition to the proper gear and safe riding habits, of course.
As far as water cooling vs. air cooling, I’m not sure that water cooling is a bad idea, especially considering the extreme heat that we have here. During the hottest period of the year (we don’t have a “summer” in the traditional sense) it can get up into the mid 40Cs (we’ve had 50C days on occasion). I’m guessing that I would have to watch the engine temperature with air cooled bikes more than I would with water cooled ones, or am I wrong?
November 7, 2008 at 7:29 pm #14683AndrewParticipantI’d want a water cooled engine in that climate.
November 7, 2008 at 7:50 pm #14686CityHunter357ParticipantYou can’t get much better with “low maintenance” if you stick to a bike that has a shaft drive. I have a Honda Shadow Aero with shaft drive and it’s great! I change my own oil and filters, change my own air filter. When it’s time I’ll change my own radiator fluid and gear oil too. The only thing I haven’t done on my own yet is remove the wheels to get tires changed. If motorcycle shops are scarce around you, I’d be sure to get a service manual, regardless of what bike you get so you’ll know what parts to order on the “internets” as required.
–“You don’t get to be old bein’ no foo, see? Lotta young wise men that’s deaaad as a motha!#@% ain’t they?– Richard Pryor as “Mudbone”
November 7, 2008 at 8:07 pm #14687samgoodyParticipantThanks for the advice CityHunter. Shaft drive sounds like it could be nice. I was also considering belt drive. In this country, though, shaft drive means it will have to be a BMW. Belt drive means it has to be a Harley. I’m pretty sure Honda don’t bring the model you mentioned here because all I could see in the showrrom the last time I went there was the CBR repli-racers, the behemoth Goldwing, and some offroad bikes. Not much of a selection, I’m afraid to say. Thanks for the heads-up regarding the service manual, though.
November 7, 2008 at 8:09 pm #14688samgoodyParticipantI’d be really grateful if someone could invnet water-cooled clothing for this kind of heat.
November 7, 2008 at 9:53 pm #14691Sangria7ParticipantI heard opposite. You can use automobile oil of the same weight just as long its not have the Energy-Conserving label on the back of the oil. I know a lot of people who use standard 10w40 weight but then again its easy to get oil from your local dealer.
November 8, 2008 at 4:16 pm #14702samgoodyParticipantI don’t know much about oil or maintenance in general. Perhaps I need to read more about that stuff. LOL, when I get my car serviced I don’t even think about the weight or whether it’s 10w40 or anything else, I just have the oild and filter changed! My guess is that car oils here are geared more towards extreme heat, so perhaps they are relatively heavy oils? I guess I’ll have to consult the dealership/service manual when I get a bike and see what weight of oil is acceptable.
November 14, 2008 at 11:20 pm #14834JirikiParticipantI just got the maintenance manual for my 250R and it goes through all possible maintenance procedures with pictures. This is actually the same manual that the technicians use when you take your bike to them.
So, if you have some previous experience or some know-how.. it is pretty easy to do almost any maintenance. The only thing holding you back are specialized tools – which you can buy.
If you are going to do the maintenance yourself, I highly recommend getting one of these manufacturer’s manuals.
November 18, 2008 at 4:08 pm #14889Clay DowlingParticipantIf you don’t have any pro shops near you, I recommend becoming mechanically inclined real soon now, definitely shortly after buying the bike. Also, strongly consider the service record of your bike. I’m not sure how the Harley Davidson bikes are now, but they have a long standing reputation for being high maintenance, which makes them a very unhappy choice for you.
November 18, 2008 at 11:40 pm #14903RobMParticipantI’m interested in getting this for my 2006 ninja 250. Can you tell me where you got your manual? From the local Kawi shop or on-line? Thanks…
November 19, 2008 at 3:47 am #14909dcJohnParticipantI’ve often seen mfg. maintenance manuals for bikes available on ebay (often its dealers selling on ebay for a discount).
November 19, 2008 at 8:03 am #14893samgoodyParticipantHow mechanically inclined do I need to become? Can I get by with just regularly shceduled oil/filter changes, or must I go any deeper than that? Perhaps I will need to ship the bike back the dealer for the first maintenance after the break-in period, and then get by with just oil and filter changes?
Thanks for pointing out the issue with the service record of the bike, I almost forgot about it. You’re right, it’s better for a first motorcycle to be low maintenance.
Edit: I forgot to mention that I will most likely be buying new. In this country, finding a used bike that is suitable for a beginning rider is an almost impossible task. To further add to my dilemma, bikes like the GS500 and Ninja 250 will be difficult to sell on when I’m ready to upgrade because there is virtually no demand for these sorts of bikes. (Sigh). I tossed about the idea of a Sportster because of the above factors, but the weight of the bike and the concerns about reliability have me thinking twice.
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