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2 days for a service?


Wedgepilot

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Guest Nc750matt
1 hour ago, Tex said:

 

No. Thankfully Honda saw fit to fit screw and locknut adjustment. Easier by far than shims, but need lots more attention.

Makes me wonder if they know what they are talking about then. Doesn’t bode well. 

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I thank you for your correction and apologise for my lack of eloquence. I intended to refer to anyone employed by a dealership who either described or found the process of adjusting the NC valve

Talking about 'tricky' valves..   Donkey's years ago I worked for a Ducati dealer (some poor bugger had to..) and shimming the desmodromic valve gear on those (bevel gear) models wasn't that

Valves need to be cold otherwise false readings  - I like to do the biggie service  over a couple of days but I do a lot more then the dealer  

45 minutes ago, Nc750matt said:

Makes me wonder if they know what they are talking about then. Doesn’t bode well. 

 

The mechanics will know. The guy in the office might, or might not? Doesn’t matter as long as the guys with dirty hands do it right. :) 

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larryblag
On 07/11/2017 at 23:47, Rocker66 said:

I think it a bit unfair to refer to anyone who doesn’t know how to do the valve clearances as “ rock apes” as they may have extremely good skills at something that you don’t

I can shell peas at midnight whilst standing on my head :ahappy:

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larryblag

This business about being less of a biker if you don't do your own stuff is a bit silly. What does that say about the average car driver then?

I have done my own servicing for many years and consider myself competent to do so. Only now I choose not to - mainly cos I've been swapping bikes so often but also due to the amount of specialist tools now required. Thoughtfully the NC range have easy adjustment for V/Cs but that's probably a hangover from it's car-derived motor? That said most cars have hydraulic "tappets " these days. Thankfully the HD does too.

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Spindizzy

I don't try to fly the aeroplane's I fix and pilots don't try to fix the planes they fly. That way we don't get smoking holes in the ground. 

 

Yes people dabble across trades, but its daft to say they have to. 

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Guest GeoffThai

Should come to Thailand, the mechanics here are used to Falang (foreigners) watching them closely. The Honda shop I take my NC for service is very good, they take pleasure in showing me they have the correct tools etc and like me to ask questions. Labour is so cheap it is much more convenient to take a run out to their shop than mess with hot oil. If the man does well, I always tip him 100 THB (2 pounds).

The Mitsubishi I take the Pajero for service has a glass wall so you can watch the mechanics or will happily put a chair by you car for you to watch.

And we always get the old oil & filters back, someone somewhere will use them in their old farm truck.

 

There are downsides of course, neither garage has a tyre pressure gauge and all compressors in Thailand seem to be set to 50 psi, the accepted method to check tyres is for the oldest mechanic to bounce a hammer off the sidewall and say "dee mark" (very good). So I carry at least one gauge in each vehicle.

 

Geoff

(still 30+ C lunchtime, waiting for the cooler weather so we can ride all day)

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larryblag

At the Robin Hood Harley the technician doing the job introduces himself to you, asks about anything else that concerns you. Then you can watch the whole thing through the glass partition. They do a video walk round at the end and this is emailed with all the required docs. Very professional, if expensive. But a premium service for a premium brand - refreshing after the poor BMW experience. 

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Spindizzy
4 hours ago, larryblag said:

At the Robin Hood Harley the technician doing the job introduces himself to you, asks about anything else that concerns you. Then you can watch the whole thing through the glass partition. They do a video walk round at the end and this is emailed with all the required docs. Very professional, if expensive. But a premium service for a premium brand - refreshing after the poor BMW experience. 

They sound like merry men, is one a friar?

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12 minutes ago, Spindizzy said:

They sound like merry men, is one a friar?

 

I bet there’s a big bloke called ‘Little John’.. 

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Spindizzy
5 minutes ago, Tex said:

 

I bet there’s a big bloke called ‘Little John’.. 

Of course there is, its a Harley Dealership 

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3 minutes ago, Spindizzy said:

Of course there is, its a Harley Dealership 

 

Ah, yes, he’s the bearded fella with all the tattoos? 

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Marvincon

I always wondered why a 6' 6" bloke was called "little".......😬

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larryblag

Cos "Little Todger" is socially less acceptable? 

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On 11/7/2017 at 21:13, MikeBike said:

At 16k Mine needed every valve adjusting and new pads. It had 8 hours labour booked which they kindly reduced to 6 as a goodwill gesture. £560

£560 eek! 10 services = nearly new low miles bike, I hadn't realised I was saving myself so much money by carrying out my own servicing.

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Cost me £90 for 3 hours work, valves and flushing coolant + topping up with new coolant. All sorted now. Running nicely as ever.

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SteveThackery
On 11/11/2017 at 11:16, Tex said:

 

No. Thankfully Honda saw fit to fit screw and locknut adjustment. Easier by far than shims, but need lots more attention.

 

I wonder why that is, and even if it's true.  If we compare like with like and keep the rocker arm (rather than direct acting buckets), I don't see why screw adjusters would need adjusting more often than shims.  

 

Does anyone know why shims require less attention than screw adjusters?

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Steve, my experience tells me I am right. But I never really thought of ‘why’? :) 

 

Screw and locknuts suffer from ‘human error’ a lot more than shims, I guess. People over tighten the nuts which cause threads to stretch and so on. It’s a pretty primitive system really. A throwback to the early days of internal combustion when manufacturing techniques left load of ‘slop’ in the system and screw adjustments were a convenient way of removing it. The higher the revs the more trouble they are, so it’s a perfectly good system for the NC. The old racing triples would need adjusting between races sometimes! 

 

And, because shims are so bloody hard, in a well designed system they’re almost ever lasting. Early DOHC Hondas would only need 2 or 3 shims (out of 16 or 24 depending on model) changing on a big service. Later ones are way better.

 

A friend has a ‘91 CBR600F with 102K miles on it still on the original shims (despite religious checks every 10K). It’s actually on it’s 3rd timing chain. :) 

 

SOHC Rovers had the first valve clearance check at about 90K if I recall.

 

The SH300 that Sean has just bought has shims, but (clever design) you simply slide the rocker to one side to replace them. 

 

My Triumph requires the rocker to be removed but the cam (and it’s timing) remains undisturbed. Yay. :D 

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Wedgepilot

As a footnote to this, they did turn it around in one day. Dropped it off first thing, got a message at 4pm to say it's ready. Just as well, I didn't fancy heading home down the M40 on the SH125 they loaned me! 

 

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I do find the argument that you aren't a biker if you don't service your own bikes rather odd. Wouldn't that invite potential warranty voiding if the bike was new? Also, I dare say many people simply don't have the time to sit on their back or arse underneath an oily motorcycle doing XYZ to it. I've changed the sparks, oil filter and battery on an ailing Cagiva. That's more than enough maintenance for me.

 

I quite like how some dealerships do servicing now. Family member gets a video of their service and repair work on their Dacia from Seward Renault in Portsmouth. I don't get anything like that with Citroen or Honda for my car or bike but they always clean them and Crescent Honda even ACF50 coated the perishable bits on my bike when it had the heated grips re-seated.

 

If you're willing to pay for it, keeps someone in a job eh?

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PoppetM

My Honda dealer do a video. my Vauxhal dealer also did it on the car (I cry, they both look so pathetic on the hoists)

my mechanic that usually services my car doesn’t. I happily trust all three.

Car only went to dealership because usual man was in hospital, and well... I need brake lights!! (They failed).

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fj_stuart

NC owners should think themselves lucky. A parallel twin poking out the front, single cam, rockers and screw adjustment? - it doesn't get much easier than that.

 

I'm psyching myself up to check the clearances on my SV650 I bought from a friend last year. Shim under bucket means the camshaft has to be removed to swap shims and there's four cams. It's the same arrangement as my CBF250 which I've done many times. The problem is access - I've never even seen the rear cylinder head! Well, it's small price to pay for the sublime SV engine.   

 

I miss two strokes sometimes!

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I need to do my SV650 as well, Stuart. I only use it as a Sunday toy and have been putting it off ....................

Also when I ran it up at the end of last month it transpired that the reg/rec had died (not unusual on them), so the MOSFET unit I have had sitting in the drawer waiting for an opportune moment will have to be dug out and fitted at last.

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fj_stuart
24 minutes ago, embee said:

I need to do my SV650 as well, Stuart. I only use it as a Sunday toy and have been putting it off ....................

Also when I ran it up at the end of last month it transpired that the reg/rec had died (not unusual on them), so the MOSFET unit I have had sitting in the drawer waiting for an opportune moment will have to be dug out and fitted at last.

 

I ride my CBF250 through the winter so the SV won't be used until next spring. So I can take my time checking the valves.

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22 hours ago, Ciaran1602 said:

I do find the argument that you aren't a biker if you don't service your own bikes rather odd.

I find it odd too. For me its never been about collecting the packet tops to be " biker". I fix/ service my own bike because if I fix/ service it , I know its really been done and its been done properly. Its also done when it is completely convenient for me and my bike is always ready to go when i need it. I am also interested in what makes things tick so electrical issues or mechanical issues aren't a problem. I don't class myself as a biker, I'm just a bloke who would rather spend his cash on something other than putting food on a motorcycle business persons table. The fact that I can fix and service my own modes of transport is something which I regard as a skill worth having whilst others choose to do other things like growing pansies which I regard as a waste of time.

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