Do You Repair Your Bike Your Self?

Whatever I can do myself, I will. As far as motors go the most elaborate thing I have personally done is check the valve clearances and replace the valve shims on my FZR600. For more complicated motor work I have a guy for that, whom charges very reasonable prices.

Other than motor work, I will do just about everything myself. Oil, other fluids, chain, sprockets, etc. I even recently did a rear wheel conversion on my FZR. Swapped in a 17" 1990 TZR250 rear wheel in place of my stock 18" rear wheel. There was plenty of measuring and a little fabrication involved but overall not that hard and it turned out excellently!
 
I do nearly all work on my motorcycles. I haven't had a suitable garage in a while, so I have to make due.
In this picture I was fixing an oil leak in the driveway of my friend's parent's summer home. It rained.
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Yes, I prefer to do it myself. It helps that I grew up in a garage and my father is a mechanic but for cars.
The only thing I don't do is suspension work. I leave that to the pros. I do take the forks/shock off but I send that stuff out to be maintained.
 
99% of the time I do it!, Just had a carb problem and needed the bike the next morning for work, Bike came inside, fully striped it off in my living room and removed the carb, I got strange looks from my dog!
 
I do it all myself...unfortunately. Old bikes require as much, if not more, wrenching than the riding you get. 6 previous owners on my ugly bike, kinda explains the external condition.
 
I do as much as I can on my own. There is a learning curve with the Ducati as I tend to be heavy handed and last time I replaced the starter I cracked the left case. Thanks god for eBay. On the bright side, I learned how to change the stator and water pump since I had to put them on the new case cover lol. I'm not a mechanic and like most of you, it comes down often to how much for the tools vs. how much for the parts and labor at a shop.
 
I e been saved so many times by people who have the courage to put up a how-to video on YouTube. It's amazing the confidence level increases when you've seen it done a time or two. If you are mechanically gifted, do the how-to videos. We have tons of new riders every year who give up riding because of the expense...like my first break in action of 1 year saving up for a valve adjustment, how stupid! With the fairing off my old katana it was an easy, straight forward job that took 2 hours but the dealer wanted $600! Now I'm like, "honey, I'll be right there...just gotta split the cases and change out 2nd!"
 
I've rebuilt my fully adjustable WP forks with new seals and bushings. The fork oil was rank and the rebound needle had jammed. The hardest part was the springs...had to use ratching straps. BUT I did all of this with the WP/KTM workshop manual...makes a massive difference. Bolt torquing specs being most important when you put stuff back together!
 
i sometimes do when its easy stuff but for safety stuff and things i dont wanna fuck up i get the garage to do it
 
I own a Yamaha so it never needs repair. General servicing and modifications I do all myself though.
 
I leave internal engine work and tire changes to the pros. The rest I tackle myself. It's part of ownership IMO and fairly easy to do when you compare it to something like a car. Bolts turn nice and easy on these things and nothing is heavy.
 
I took mine to the dealership a day after I bought it. No way I was going to trust what the other guy had done... And trust myself with a bike that I have no owners manual for. I want a clean slate, and that's what I got back. Clean bill of health.

I'll probably do oil changes and the like down the line, but the heavier stuff is going to be dealership work I am sure.
 
I have learned this past year that bikes are pretty easy to work on. Course being a former mechanic doesnt hirt that either lol
 
I do all my own maintenance, I cant trust anyone else, someone before I bought my bandit rattle gunned my front sprocket up above its torque spec and I had to use a 5 foot bar to take it off. Plus it helps when I'm a qualified bike mech :D
 
I do all the basic stuff like changing the oil and brake fluid, but luckily one of my friends is a bike mechanic so I just pay him to do everything outside of work. He makes more money that way and I get to learn how to do everything.
 
I changed my chain and sprockets (for the third time i think) last week. That was the easy bit. The heart breaker was when the chain adjustment bolt on one side seized and snapped level with the swingarm. Had to bicycle to the hardware store to buy more tools and then gingerly DRILL INTO my aluminum swingarm! !! I was NOT happy about that!!!

All fixed now though. And ordered a scottoiler cos i ain't changing that shizz again! !!
 
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