Service intervals

Hi can anyone help, I have had my sv 18 months and done about 14,000 miles, the service costs are ludicrous for a budget bike, last year when I drove to Portugal (3600 miles) it needed a service before and after! Anyone got experience of extending these intervals? My other bike is a Yamaha Diversion, which is serviced every 6K and at 53,000 miles all by me, runs perfectly.

[flymo]

Originally Posted by cookystheone1

Hi can anyone help, I have had my sv 18 months and done about 14,000 miles, the service costs are ludicrous for a budget bike, last year when I drove to Portugal (3600 miles) it needed a service before and after! Anyone got experience of extending these intervals? My other bike is a Yamaha Diversion, which is serviced every 6K and at 53,000 miles all by me, runs perfectly.

so why not just service the SV yourself?

Most complicated step is likely to be checking valve clearences and it seems that this very rarely goes out of adjustment anyway.

[Lissa]

Originally Posted by flymo_racer

so why not just service the SV yourself?

Most complicated step is likely to be checking valve clearences and it seems that this very rarely goes out of adjustment anyway.

+1

The services are really very simple. If Pete can do it, anyone can

The only one that we have done by the 'professionals' is the 15,000 k one.

[yorkie_chris]

If you can service a diversion then the SV isn't any more complicated, only thing is do you have a warranty to worry about?

The warranty runs out in July, problem is it was serviced last September and I am going to Mugello and Catalunya to watch the GPs (3500K) so that will take me to 17K or so, 2K over the valve service at 15K. Otherwise I have another service, go on holiday and have another service, it all gets a bit expensive. Unless anyone can tell me their valves have actually required shimming, I am tempted to leave it, my guess is they only need shimming after 40K plus.

Well you're gonna have to pay for a 15k service at sometime anyway. rather before the holiday than after I'd have thought, so the next service will only be a "cheap" one. However there was a thread on here discussing whether it was worth keeping the warranty against money saved on servicing if you can do your own. How many peeps claim anything on warranty these days, especially on an Sv?

[punyXpress]

Seem to remember an article in one of the comics whrer it was cheaper to take the bike to France & get it serviced there.
Has anyone tried this?

[yorkie_chris]

Originally Posted by petevtwin650

Well you're gonna have to pay for a 15k service at sometime anyway.

Why?



Personally I'd check the clearances, it's sods law that the one time you don't check, one of them will be tight and burn a valve. It's not hard to do either

[Red Herring]

I tend to do things as and when they appear to need attention, rather than wait until the book says I should check them. I've not had my SV long enough to have to do anything routine but given that when I got it the first thing I did was pull it all to pieces I had a good opportunity to see what lies in store. I can't see there is anything to complicated to looking after the SV. Oil, filters and plugs are all easy to get to and straightforward. The cooling system has a few more pipes and the thermostat is a bitch to get to but if whilst you have the radiator off to do the plugs you flush that through that will prevent any build up over the years. The front valves are really easy to get to and check, the rear ones slightly more awkward but as you have the tank up (or off, it's only an extra bolt and few pipes) it would be rude not to do them as well. If you do find a valve clearance out then it is a little more challenging, but at least if you then decide to take it to a dealer you know you will actually be paying for them to do something!

Brakes, suspension joints, cables, chains etc are all basic stuff and if you are lucky like me and have a pointy you won't have to worry about carb balancing.

As a general rule try and keep everything clean and lubricated on a routine basis and that will make working on the bike so much easier, it will also mean you spot something amis much earlier and hopefully before it becomes a problem. Just get on with enjoying riding it....

[yorkie_chris]

Originally Posted by Red Herring

and if you are lucky like me and have a pointy you won't have to worry about carb balancing.

Yup pointy owners are really lucky there


They have to do throttle body balancing instead hehe