Service intervals - my experience

I never went back to the dealer where I bought my new bike as I never liked it there the way I was treated. So I have been having my bike serviced at my local workshop really close to home. I have always gone back when the bike needed a service following the maintenance schedule in the book but now by mistake I was a 1000 miles late. That is a total of 4,500 miles. Suzuki want you to have a service every 3,500 miles which is a bit much if you ask me but I just followed the maintenance chart as I thought that was important for warranty etc. But talking to friends and now having spoken to the owner of the workshop who serviced my bike I am going to go back every 6000 miles (or once a year if I haven't done those miles), he confirmed that there is no need to have your bike serviced this frequently, just keep an eye on things yourself and a service every 6000 miles is fine. They just want you back in the dealership that is what he said. And this is from a man whos livelyhood depends on servicing bikes. This was my second service this year! Much happier now and he convinced me again that my bike was a really nice and good bike, for some reason people don't want me on a Bandit as there was one parked next to mine and it was dismissed like everyone else does lol. Thought it was lower but he sat on both and says it wasn't.

[yorkie_chris]

I change the oil every 3500 on mine because I do a lot of cold, wet miles, and when it's not cold and wet I occasionally ride like a bit of a tw4t. If I did a lot of motorway/steady straight line shoite I would stretch it out a bit.

It's a matter of opinion, a lot of people say they can feel the difference in the gearbox when the oil is getting a bit old, and modern oil is surely good enough to last a fair while.

Bandits are alright if you stick a GSXR750 top-end on them, but meh.

If you want a low seat, and something a bit different, what about a cagiva raptor?

That's an idea, are they lower than those Cagiva's? Are they not v similar to the SV?

I have to add to my service interval experience that my riding style was taken into account while I was given this advice, I don't ride my bike like a loon.

[yorkie_chris]

The raptor thou carnivore has feels lower than a stock SV and that is the proper one.

Raptor 650 is SV650 engine but better running gear.