It's Easy To Forget..
 

I was just reading my service manual to decide if I want to do my own valve clearance adjustment or have the stealership do it. It's amazing when you actually look at it and realize how much maintenance you're supposed to do to these bikes. Bleeding the air from the cooling system,clutch adjustments, cable lube and adj,etc. I'm sure that 90% of bikes don't get 20% of this stuff done! BTW if anyone can tell me how,I'll send you a copy of the manual. I have it on my computer and on cd. I know from owning an '01 and an '03 GSXR that they aren't very different and you wouldn't be able to use all of the torque figures but some of the info should be helpful.

do it yourself unless its free or you dont know what you're doing.

if you dont know what you're doing-tell em you're gonna watch em when they do it. that way u can do it next time

true... but in some cases you dont' have anywhere to do it... like say an apartment that doesn't allow working on vehicles... my place in california fined me $50 for change'n the oil in their parking lot. yeah I moved a week later

always get a place on the 1st floor-roll the bike in the apt, closer to the beer lol


good point tho...ive torn down a car engine in my apt parking garage, never had a prob, but i did a brake job on my friends bike at his apt-manager bitched like crazy. wasnt making noise, hadnt spilled any fluid yet, wasnt even a ritzy upscale place, and we werent visible, we were in the back, around a corner, in his designated parking spot. wtf?

also make sure you got the right tools 4the job-a ten min check up turns into 2hrs of rage simply because you dont have the right tool and you're tryin to rig something.
:dthumb:

Here's my POV on doing things yourself and I'm a person of always doing it myself on my bike.

1. nobody cares for your bike more than you
2. why pay somebody else to fuck up your bike when you can do it for free
3. a service manual, some mechanical skill, some tools, and time is all you need

I totally agree! My only misgiving is not having a proper place to do this kind of work and yea,I wish I would have gone first floor. Everyone else who owns a bike here keeps it in the house!!! Not to mention running the puppy up and down the stairs 7-10 times a day!

All I need is the feeler gage and a set of shims and I'm sure I could do it. I'll call and order the parts today! I'll need the o-rings,seals,shims,etc. Ofcourse that's the other "fear" that I'll miss something that the stealership normally does. Kinda like the guy who changes his own oil on his car but never lubes the chassis or checks the other fluids.

No guarantee the dealer does that either.

I was in the dorms at the AF in Utah. Clutch master cylinder was shot on my truck. Wouldn't do anything at all, so I couldn't drive it. Manager bitched at me for changing it out in the parking lot. Luckily, the base auto shop was across the street, so I told him, "fine, but you have to help me push it over there." He did, so I finished it there. That's one thing I really miss about the Air Force, lifts for $2.50/hour or a bay for $1.50 an hour and every tool you'll ever need for free.
Although, prices are probably higher now.

actually they're not... not really... but there are a lot of bases that are doing away with them... don't know why... they're always PACKED when I go there... but yeah... fuck'n awesome benifit

This writeup isn't for your specific bike, but the method is exactly the same. It's a tricky job, but doable:

http://www.r6messagenet.com/forums/s...rget=%22_blank

And yes, personally, I'm with you and GM. I'll figure it out myself, and if I really get stuck, ask a buddy. No way I'm paying a dealership.