[Lyoko]

So I've just gotten the first service done one the bike here.
And I've seen/read in this forum somewhere that many of you just did the service yourself, to save cash and what not.
And seeing that the first service mainly was just an oil and filter change I thought about doing it myself too.
But I got strickt message back from the dealer that in regards of the guarantee it had to be done there at the dealership, because the first time service was infact more than just an oil and filter change.
They inspected the whole bike, every nut and bolt, lights, exhaust, all the fluids and refilled if nesseseary, they looked deeper into and fixed things I mentioned that I found odd about the bike, etc, etc.
They litteraly went over the whole bike, to make sure that everything was in proper order as it should be.

So now I'm kinda concearned about those of you who did the service yourself, instead of letting the dealer handle it.
The dealer that each and every one of you have purchased from may each have their own way of doing things, or ways of not doing things in worst case.
So I thought I should share this experience with you guys, just to let you know.
The bike might be new, but that doesn't mean it's a 100%, they might just have scr*wed up something at the factory when building it.

 

[macjosh1]

So I've just gotten the first service done one the bike here.
And I've seen/read in this forum somewhere that many of you just did the service yourself, to save cash and what not.
And seeing that the first service mainly was just an oil and filter change I thought about doing it myself too.
But I got strickt message back from the dealer that in regards of the guarantee it had to be done there at the dealership, because the first time service was infact more than just an oil and filter change.
They inspected the whole bike, every nut and bolt, lights, exhaust, all the fluids and refilled if nesseseary, they looked deeper into and fixed things I mentioned that I found odd about the bike, etc, etc.
They litteraly went over the whole bike, to make sure that everything was in proper order as it should be.

So now I'm kinda concearned about those of you who did the service yourself, instead of letting the dealer handle it.
The dealer that each and every one of you have purchased from may each have their own way of doing things, or ways of not doing things in worst case.
So I thought I should share this experience with you guys, just to let you know.
The bike might be new, but that doesn't mean it's a 100%, they might just have scr*wed up something at the factory when building it.

When I picked up my bike, sense I live 4hrs from the nearest service shop, the service manager went over the entire bike before we loaded it, should me everything I needed to know for servicing it myself. Sense its a $4600 bike, it only comes with 12 month factory. Think you can by extended, but why would you? lol.


I just did my second service on my 300, oil/filter change, adjusted slack, check lots of bolts, coolant, brakes, everything is good. Don't know about yours, but it tells you how to do all this, and what to do for each service checkup in the service manual. Unless you need a tire change, there's really nothing on this bike you can't do yourself. Just need a few wrenches, maybe a socket or two, and a good pair of eye's. lol.


Now I don't know if its true or not, but anything major that goes wrong with a bike, you'd know right away. Most cases it simply won't run. New bike, parts stretch and break in. But you can't go wrong as long as you follow what to do at each service interval.

 

[Lyoko]

Well at least your dealer had the sence to do that with you at least.
And sure, it all good and nice to check it before you leave with it, but such things are things that should be checked when you've ridden the bike a little while, to get things moving a little, get some vibration in the bike. It's first then you'll get a loose nut or bolt somewhere that needs to be re-thightened.

 

[macjosh1]

Well at least your dealer had the sence to do that with you at least.
And sure, it all good and nice to check it before you leave with it, but such things are things that should be checked when you've ridden the bike a little while, to get things moving a little, get some vibration in the bike. It's first then you'll get a loose nut or bolt somewhere that needs to be re-thightened.

My tank bag I bought off FORTNINE came in yesterday, so I was messing with that and getting the mass amount of bugs off the bike last night. Noticed the fuel take shifts a little bit. So spent a good hour checking everything over again in case I missed something last weekend when I gave it the second service. Couple little things needed to be tightened. The worst was that dam windscreen. It comes with little plastic and rubber washers, to dampen vibration. The last week or so riding, I can watch that thing vibrating. Tightened it up and the stupid washers fell apart. Now its worse. lol. Parts store to find some decent rubber washers and hopefully that will rectify that issue, but other than that, bike in perfect running order.


Adjusting the slack in the chain was interesting to say the least for the first time. lol. Simple and straight forward, but for the first time, you tend to scratch your head a few times if your doing it right, or second guessing your measuring. lol. Had a buddy the following day check it out to make sure I did it right sense he's worked on bikes for years. It was bang on.

 

[Lyoko]

Sense its a $4600 bike, it only comes with 12 month factory. Think you can by extended, but why would you? lol.

Hmm, I only first today got the actually service book for my bike, and in it it says that I have a 5 year warranty on my bike.
2 years "Europe Warranty" that is put upon Honda from the EU's rules and regulation to guarantee that the bike will perfome as promised.
And a 3 year "Norwegian warranty" that guarantee that the bike will perfome as promised from the Honda dealership where I bought it.
And the two warranties doesn't "run along side of each other" sort to speak. First the 2 year EU warrant will run it's course, and then the Norwegian warrant covers the next 3 years.
So yeah, 5 year warranty on the bike. So if anything goes wrong or boom, I just deliver it at the dealer and they'll fix it free of charge.
Pretty neat if you ask me.

 

[Lyoko]

My tank bag I bought off FORTNINE came in yesterday, so I was messing with that and getting the mass amount of bugs off the bike last night. Noticed the fuel take shifts a little bit. So spent a good hour checking everything over again in case I missed something last weekend when I gave it the second service. Couple little things needed to be tightened. The worst was that dam windscreen. It comes with little plastic and rubber washers, to dampen vibration. The last week or so riding, I can watch that thing vibrating. Tightened it up and the stupid washers fell apart. Now its worse. lol. Parts store to find some decent rubber washers and hopefully that will rectify that issue, but other than that, bike in perfect running order.

Yeah that's just it, things might move when exposed to vibrations and in general normal driving. Always a good thing to keep a keen eye on things.
Havent had much problems myself with any vibrations in the bike, but I keep finding places where things are bolted together where it's metal against metal, and several against the paint itself such as on the fender, etc. I've gone over all such boltings and put rubber O'ring seals onto the bolts to atleast give it a somewhat protection from having metal on metal contact. Quite dissapointed that they just havn't cared about this when designing and building the bike. Seems so careless.

Adjusting the slack in the chain was interesting to say the least for the first time. lol. Simple and straight forward, but for the first time, you tend to scratch your head a few times if your doing it right, or second guessing your measuring. lol. Had a buddy the following day check it out to make sure I did it right sense he's worked on bikes for years. It was bang on.

Yeah, think I'll let the pro's handle chain slack and such in the future. Just in case. Better safe than sorry.
Will do it myself with time, I'm sure of. But not when it's still "brand new" as it sits.
I've been driving cars and heavy machinery for over 7 years now, but this is my first bike ever, so I'll try to be a little desent with it until it has a couple of years on it at least.

 

[CueBaller]

Many of the little things (fluid level checks, chain tension, bolt tightness, etc.) should be checked periodically anyway, and (as macjosh said) are explained how to do each in the manual.

IIRC, the first service that's recommended to be done by the dealer is the valve clearance check, and that's many thousands of miles away.

My bike came with a 1 year factory warranty, and nothing in the manual says that the dealer has to do everything in order for that warranty to be valid.

 

[Chritty]

My dealer wanted $170 USD to change the oil+filter and clean/wax chain... There was no way I was paying for that!

 

[dollarbill181]

I took mine in for first service a few weeks ago and glad I did, mostly for peace of mind.
Surprisingly they techs were excited since mine was the first rebel brought in for service, they couldn't wait to dig in and see how it was.

paid $130 and they did the expected oil and filter change, adjusted chain, tightened bolts, and adjusted the clutch and throttle as well. Could definitely tell a difference w/ the throttle adjustment they did. I'll do the oil changes myself going forward till I get to the point of needing a valve check.
But if you're a rookie, like me, I think it's worth the money for the first service.

 

[Kenny G]

If you are in the United States all you have to do to prove that the bike was serviced is keep copies of the receipts for the items purchased to service the motorbike. Taking a photograph of the odometer at the time of service is further proof. We have consumer laws in this country to protect us from the manufacturers and dealers.

Kenny G

 

[01-7700]

Many of the little things (fluid level checks, chain tension, bolt tightness, etc.) should be checked periodically anyway, and (as macjosh said) are explained how to do each in the manual.

IIRC, the first service that's recommended to be done by the dealer is the valve clearance check, and that's many thousands of miles away.

My bike came with a 1 year factory warranty, and nothing in the manual says that the dealer has to do everything in order for that warranty to be valid.

Adjusting valves is pretty easy - you can learn how.

 

[500]

I'm at the 483 mark so I'm comming close. I'm a mechanic but I've never worked on bikes. Thankfully this is fuel injected so from what I can tell so far is it's exactly like any of the cars I work on just with different points of access. Good looks on the loose bolt theory though. I didn't even think of the vibrations loosening things. Luckily I have a 500 which from what I hear is less vibratory. I've already ordered my oil and bought a K&N 204 at the parts store. I'm not worried about the 600 mile valve check they speak of. They valves will seat just fine without looking at them.

 

[macjosh1]

I'm at the 483 mark so I'm comming close. I'm a mechanic but I've never worked on bikes. Thankfully this is fuel injected so from what I can tell so far is it's exactly like any of the cars I work on just with different points of access. Good looks on the loose bolt theory though. I didn't even think of the vibrations loosening things. Luckily I have a 500 which from what I hear is less vibratory. I've already ordered my oil and bought a K&N 204 at the parts store. I'm not worried about the 600 mile valve check they speak of. They valves will seat just fine without looking at them.

Yeah, valve check, I asked the dealer about that when I picked up the bike. He says very rarely do the make actual adjustments to the valves. They seat themselves where they need to go over time. Unless your beating the crap out of the bike, then that's a different story. But for the most part, since the customer wants it done, they'll go through the trouble of checking them out at least to say that they did. Fella was really honest and up front. He's also the manager, so I assume he knows his stuff. lol.


I'm at 1600miles now, just did second oil/filter change. It was mentioned about metal on metal contact, and theory makes perfect sense in terms of vibration. I am a machinist by trade, so making rubber O-rings or washers is easy enough to do if I got the materials. So thumbs up for the idea. lol.


But to each their own, every bike is different, even if its the same bike. Weather, roads, altitude etc all comes into effect, so the vehicle/bike will operate different from one another.


Only issue I had, was the gear peddle was too far down when it was assembled. 5mins, 1 bolt, and careful re-positioning fixed that. bonus for having a mechanical clutch/gear peddle. lol.

 

[Djdavies]

I think that the people who do their own service also do all, or a lot, of those same things to maintain their bike as your dealer is doing for you. Nothing wrong with either approach, just glad we're not strong-armed into going to the dealer just to maintain the warranty.

 

[Lyoko]

It was mentioned about metal on metal contact, and theory makes perfect sense in terms of vibration. I am a machinist by trade, so making rubber O-rings or washers is easy enough to do if I got the materials. So thumbs up for the idea. lol.

Hehe, yeah that would be me! I found it rather horrid that they have done it like that. The worst ones are the ones on the back fender, with the two bolts for the passenger seat, and the two bolts that sitt inside the fender that holds the whole piece at the back with the lights, plate, etc.
Just straigt up metal contact with the paint of the fender? No thank you!

 

[richard-phx]

My dealer in AZ wants over $300 for first service. They said they check everything, cables, chain, fluids, etc including valves and a test ride. I'm calling a different one!

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[richard-phx]

2nd dealer wants $128.50 and claims valve check adj not required

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[Lyoko]

2nd dealer wants $128.50 and claims valve check adj not required

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Would not shrug off the first one so fast.. They should inspect the whole bike, as there can be things wrong with it from production, since it's a brand new bike.
But, the valves isn't really necessary on today's bikes. Not until many many miles later at least.

 

[richard-phx]

Would not shrug off the first one so fast.. They should inspect the whole bike, as there can be things wrong with it from production, since it's a brand new bike.
But, the valves isn't really necessary on today's bikes. Not until many many miles later at least.

Cool. They are both doing full inspection; cables, fluids, clean and lube chain, the list was longer, if the actually do it all. I'm going for the $128.50 and after the tech rides it I'll see what they say if anything. Btw, I raised the shifter pedal for my boots and I'm loving this thing. Something happened at 500 miles or so and everything is starting to mesh real nice.

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[Lyoko]

Cool. They are both doing full inspection; cables, fluids, clean and lube chain, the list was longer, if the actually do it all. I'm going for the $128.50 and after the tech rides it I'll see what they say if anything. Btw, I raised the shifter pedal for my boots and I'm loving this thing. Something happened at 500 miles or so and everything is starting to mesh real nice.

Ah, didn't realize that both would do a full check on the bike.
Just get them to fill out a check list of what they've actually checked/done and not. That way, should something happen in the near future, that they crossed off and should have checked but didn't, they will have to answer for it.
It's always tempting to choose the cheaper option, but sadly you don't always get your moneys worth even then.
The Rebel is a great bike however, and it should be pretty darn reliable.