Service Costs

First topic message reminder :

Hiya everyone. I am joining the world of the maxiscooter after riding bikes for 35+ years and at present still have my much loved Transalp that has offroaded, raced and toured all over Yurrup. The trouble is that my knee cartilage is starting to play up and I am going to give a scoot a go for a summer and see if that keeps me on 2 wheels, heck, i am only 53!

I have purchased a 2003 Swing, 10K on the clock and in super condition. I am hoping to get some serious miles in this summer (hasn't it started early!! ) and want to just run it around for a few hundred miles and get my head around no gears etc...!

It seems to me from browsing the net, that the bike will need a new belt around 12k miles or so, and as the bike is on 10K and is 8 years old, sooner rather than later may be wise? Will the pins need doing too, or is this a bit unecessary at 10K? I am tempted to do it myself, as I am happy fettling bikes (and farm machinery!) but just wonderd what the going rate for a dealer would be to do this job ie belt and pin change? I guess drop the oil too?

Any ideas or thoughts please?

About to enter 5th week off work.

Swellings gone, hurts when walking. Nothing too bad - just annoying.

Still haven't got the bike back either which may be evident in my bored and sometimes aggressive posts!!!!!!!

Things don't heal as fast as when we were in our 20's, eh

rodenbach wrote:

Things don't heal as fast as when we were in our 20's, eh

That's truly the most annoying truth.

This has been an interesting discussion. I'm getting on a bit now, and whilst the bike is still fairly new, I'll pay to keep it serviced at a dealer. Another reason is that I have been to Europe for a few years now, and insurance to get you and your bike back home to UK includes clauses that should you need to use this insurance, you will need to provide evidence that your bike has been properly and recently serviced. Looking in the maintenance section of this forum for any tips or advice on checking valve clearances, no one claims to have actually done this job on a Silverwing. My dealer tells me they have to take off the majority of the tupperware to get at the engine. I suspect that all those who claim it isn't necessary, will never get it done due to the difficulty. Another point, is that regular mechanics will recognise symptoms of things beginning to go wrong, that I would not. A service is not just changing oil/filters/spark plugs, which I know is easy peasy, as I it did on my old bike, but also checking the whole bike over.

I keep oil and filter receipts-----ride a lot you will know more about your bike than the people who work on it. My take on modern Japanese stuff, frequent oil and filter changes, don't worry, when washing bike you can usually tell if stuff falling off,fix it-----Rubber Band drive scooters require frequent drive belt and roller changes with OEM parts. In now near 300,000 miles of rubber band drive scooters, only one belt broken---Helix at near end of recommended service life of belt. Regardless of scooter, I carry spare belt. Helix advantage---belt can be change roadsided, no removal of front pulley---Not so SilverWing and others.

On belt change I go by Honda recommendation-----recently stretched Suzuki 14,500 change interval to 20,000----at that time front pulley was shot as well as rear clutch outer bearing---belt seemed ok----warranty paid for everything but belt---which is considered normal wear item.

If bike has 50,000 miles plus, I might worry about things other than drive train.

I keep receipts also and have an Excel spreadsheet to record all maintenance and repairs. Rudimentary but keeps info in order and costs are tracked as well. Keep one file for each bike/scooter.

Honda seem to price spares according to cc's, ie belt price for a FJS600 is about £100, it is only £30 for a 125. Brake pads, filters and bearings are also much cheaper. I traded down from a Burgman 650 to a S-Wing125 and notice how differant the costs are.
I ride at about the same usual speeds and enjoy the little Wing, but it really is the costs of spares and simple DIY servicing that pleases me.

Parts typically get more expensive on larger engines for any type of vehicle, particularly for drive train, brakes, etc. these need to be beefier with a bigger engine or heavier vehicle.

I will note the Bergman's parts (650 *or* 400) cost more than Honda Silverwing 600 parts, usually by a factor of 2 or 3. Compare the Bergman 400's belt and roller costs (for a whole set) to the 600 Wing. That is why I bought a Wing, combined with the simpler design and more straightforward repair processes (less hours to do things make things cheaper). I am sure the Suzuki is a great machine, but it is expensive comparably to fix.

I don't think the intervals are bad at all on the Wing's belt and rollers - plus both are easy jobs. If you want to complain about maintenance on these, complain about the need for a 600 mile stearing head bearing check or the valve clearance checks.

Interesting discussion. I have 80, 250 and Swing scoot's in my harem.
The maintenance costs are not directly linear with displacement. That is, the 250 costs are not 3x the 80, but they are about 30% more and this follows from the 250 to 600 at about another 30%. Love them all and so far have done all maintenance short of tire replacements and I remove the wheels. None of the scoot's save enough money to replace our Prius in general maintenance and feeding costs. The savings comes from license and insurance, which can be substantial.
I plan to disassemble the Swing to the point where the valves can be adjusted and delivering the scoot' to my mechanic to check/set them. Fortunately, my mechanic is okay with working with me. The rest of the non-serious maintenance looks doable for this shade-tree guy.

What are the body parts that have to be taken off the bike to do a valve adjustment? Is that a job an unskilled owner can handle if done carefully. I would like to see a pictorial. I have heard that the valve adjustment is easy once the Tupperware is removed. Has anyone done the valve adjustment?

On a diesel truck that I drove in alaska a service part was very difficult to reach from under the dash, they made it easy by fabricating a door in the Tupperware. It looked like the spark plug access. Just a thought.