Du-Rron

I work on my bike and my friends bikes. I HAVE seen two damaged swingarms, both made out of aluminum, with oblong bearing mounts. Both bikes were not anywhere near new and could almost be considered "beaters". "Warranty" was never a consideration here. One swingarm was so bad the bearing cage was cracked and the rollers fell out both sides when the swing arm was removed. Both bikes were belt drive. Both bikes had needle bearings and roller bearings on the drive belt side to help with the additional tension of the belt. One swingarm had enough meat left on it to sleeve with a steel insert. The other swingarm had to be replaced with a used aftermarket part. A new swingarm was way too cost prohibtive. Anyway, it does happen. On my Yamaha's so far the factory has been chincy with putting grease on them when building them. I do practice what I preach. I can tell you, that if you look at my previous posts on here, that when I bought my RSV brand new, I had it apart several times in different areas, front to rear, fixing dificiencies from the factory, from dealer setup, and enhancing it, replacing the clutch, excetera, all with less than 5K miles on it. I can tell ya that it rides a whole lot better now than when it left the dealership door on the day I got it. And... I ENJOYED DOING IT. This is my hobby and my mechanical release. There is a fancy new bike in town from Yamaha that costs a whole lot of money. I would like to see it survive for as many production years as my RSV did. I don't want to see early failures and then folks blame the beast for their lack of attention. I have been on here long enough to see folks get into "fight to the death battles" over which was the best oil to use in their bikes for the absolute best maintenance. Now, I am having a hard time believing the needle has swung the other direction in "how long can I go without doing a thing to it".

Awh hell no.... you don't need another stinking switch. Jus wire it in with your brake lite switch. That way, you not in neutral but you have the brakes on and the starter don't move the bike... no. Simple... OR, wire the neutral switch in with the high beam switch, that way they see you comng when you rolling with the starter in 3rd gear and hit the lights... ..ell me an youse we got this covered.

Shinko 777 is what you want... (Wanna buy a watch?)

If you click the link in post number one above the current month list will pop up. January's list is now showing.

To @bucfan11 and [MENTION=20576]RonK Here is the Yamaha USA Warranty Here is the Yamaha Canada warranty I am not a corporation, so if Yamaha cannot show you the light I do not stand a chance. By the way, I do not work for, or have anything to do with Yamaha, other than spend my money with them like you do. I understand you want to save a dollar, but if you cannot do the work yourself, the price of admission to this hobby is a little more costly if you have someone else do the work. By all that is written from the manufacturer, the work must be done. If you want to play Las Vegas odds with your machine, and your life, by NOT performing maintenance, for whatever reason you dream up, that is YOUR business. I am amazed that one would spend the initial amount of money on a brand new bike like yall have, only to somehow rationalize NOT spending any more money on it in the form of required maintenance. Oh and @vzuden, just like yours, my bearings only had two drops of grease on them from the factory as well.

I thought I would give you some time to cool off. In my everyday life I am a professional (I actually get paid to do this stuff) mechanic. I work on some really neat stuff (not motorcycles for a living though) and I have been at this most all my life. Anyway, to let you know just how fastidiously anal I really am... I even change out the brake fluid on my cars every two years. Even some of my co-workers don't do that and they work beside me daily.

Giggle.....

Let me get this straight. Your mechanic, that has been employed at the dealership for the past twenty years, and that I suppose has worked on your bike for the past thirteen years, told you that, "... it would be pointless to check the swingarm bearings on your THIRTEEN YEAR OLD BIKE that has 60 thousand miles on it, ( that has, I suppose, never had the swingarm serviced up to this point at all, by this or any other mechanic ) ... unless you are/have been/or have decided to start riding in -dusty conditions- ." Do I have that all correct?

Ok, starting on page 9-3 through 9-8 of the owners manual lists everything that is supposed to be serviced. The big time consuming items, (on any bike not just this one) is the valves, swingarm, and neck-bearings because they take the most time. At 16,000 miles or 2 years (whichever comes 1st) on this particular bike, these items need a servicing by the book. I bet the dealership is pricing you $1,600 pretty close for just those three things. Those three things take the most time because you have to take all the plastic off the bike and the bike must be supported by a lift since it is missing one or more wheels at the same time. All the other items on pages 9-3 through 9-8 take no time at all (cept maybe for the throttle body synch... just a few minutes). What is their posted hourly labor rate. My dealers posted hourly labor rate is $130.00 per hour. If this were my dealer they would be looking to charge you 12 hours labor, or 1 and a half days. The only person here I know of that has had all the plastic on and off is @Freebird. Maybe he can jump in here and enlighten us as to what it takes to get that done. Now, keep in mind, just taking the plastic on and off does not include getting the front end off to clean/inspect/grease the bearings - new seals, or get the swingarm off to clean/inspect/grease the bearings and yup for sure NEW seals. No way a dealer should reuse old seals no matter how new they are when the are charging book pricing. Or, getting the lids off to check the valves, and yes, even here, unless speced by Yamaha as reusable, new valve cover gaskets. You might want to ask them to reconsider their pricing to see if you can get a lower price from them. As for you doing the work, only you know you best. If you are mechanically sharp and can set aside three times the amount of time it would normally take and be prepared to take it really slowly and carefully you will be fine. Do you have the space, decent hand tools, and a means to safely raise at least one end of the bike completely off the ground several inches without damaging anything on the bike or you? Have you invested in a Service Manual. There is a free one floating around here somewhere. We are all about the exchange of information here. The work you would be performing I have not done on this particular bike before, but I, and others like me, have done this kind of thing on similar bikes and most probably would be able to help talk you out of situation should you get into a bind. The answer to your question is yes. I would recommend to have the valves, swingarm, and neck serviced either by you or the dealer if you have 16,000 miles on your bike. If your going to get the dealership to do it, make it a part of the deal that they do all listed 16,000 mile checks as listed in the owners manual starting on page 9-3 through 9-8 FOR FREE since they have all the plastic off and are in there anyway.

... it points out for sure that the vehicle has not been serviced according to manufacturers recommendations. If the vehicle were serviced according to specs then dry bearings could have been caught either by you or the dealer and that little snafu solved before it turned nasty and did damage. Everything that happens after the fact is just posturing trying to obscure the facts that nobody did the work and somebody is trying to justify not doing the work, not spending the time, or not spending the money, for their own reasons. I am not trying to be a butthole here. But Yamaha publishes a maintenance schedule for a variety of reasons. One of the reasons is to catch little things before they turn into big things. Also, this is the 1st Yamaha with a 1 year warranty and a 4 year service policy, which is, legally, much different than a 5 year warranty and I would advise to tread lightly in that arena. You have just dropped 25 large on a hobby knowing full well there are ongoing costs involved to continue. @RonK asked, "What do you think?" to which my reply is, At Least For The ENTIRE First Year, Or At Least Until All Major Systems Have Been Serviced Through At Least The The Very First Service Of That PARTICULAR Component or The Second Year if Less Than 20,000 Miles has Accrued By The End Of The Second Year, I Would ADHERE VERY CLOSELY To The Yamaha Scheduled Maintenance Guide. If You Are Qualified To Perform The Work, Then By All Means DO SO, Otherwise Plan On Paying To Have The Work Done.

... the Tech finds nothing but rusty frozen bearings in egged-out mountings, then I bet all "warranty" will be shot out the door and you will be paying for the whole thing yourself.

If this is your 2007 RSV and you haven't rebuilt/replaced clutch hydraulic components yet or ever, now is the time to start sourcing parts. 1. Slave cylinder. (lots of folks just buy em new and save the rebuild hassle) 2. New hydraulic lines. (I believe someone here can even hook you up with some nice stainless steel braids) 3. Master Cylinder rebuild kit. Be brave... think about doing the brakes at this time too.

The big items here @ 16K miles are Valve adjustment checks, swingarm relube, & neck-bearings relube. There are maint items and there is politics. If this were a Harley and you did not get maint done on time, or prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you did it yourself, then any future warranty claim in that particular area would be history. That is for two years on a current model year and one year on prior model years. So, in other words, if this were a Harley and you had problems with your Valves, swingarm, or front-end you would get to eat all future repairs yourself. My RSV had 2 drops of grease placed on the neck bearings when built and was a little wobbly from the factory requiring a tightning down (like everybody else's that has one) as soon as I got it home new. Same story with lack of factory lubrication on the swingarm bearings as well. Yes, I did all the work myself because I can... and also, I took pictures to prove my work -if- ever the need comes up. My RSV is still in warranty today. If any "Factory" Technician searches the innards of my bike in an attempt to disqualify a warranty claim for "lack of maintenance" they will fail. Now Yamaha... with the new Venture/Eluder has a 1 year warranty and a 4 Year Service Contract. I dunno how a NEW Venture is put together but I am sure that if you make a claim for a frozen swingarm TWO years down the road, but have never had the swingarm serviced, cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you have serviced the swingarm yourself, and upon inspection the Tech finds nothing but rusty frozen bearings in egged-out mountings, then I bet all "warranty" will be shot out the door and you will be paying for the whole thing yourself.

Depends on what you are working on. The "no tools necessary", "sliding rocker-arm" Kawasaki vn900, is one of the quickest and easiest valve adjustments you will ever do. Adjustment intervals are at 16K miles as well and hold much longer.

It is on page 3-5 of the Service Manual.

We just know the difference.

All Bourbons are Whiskey but not all Whiskeys are Bourbon. Jack Daniels is not bourbon. Take one and call me in the morning.

If you click the link in post number one above the current month list will pop up. December's list is now showing.

Done

Some are "factory activated" some are "fresh pak". I'd ruther have the fresh pak. http://www.yuasabatteries.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Catalog-2018-Final.x78244.pdf

:clap2::clap2:

OMG Puc I went to that site and I read that stuff. I am always amazed at folks that can look at the same things I do but see the same thing 180 degrees back asswards. I would forget about those folks Puc. They are negative energy. Keep on Keeping On!

You write so well!!! I can taste the expensive stuff the Ioniq likes. You have to imagine the hilariousness manner I am thinking (I am winter shut in) in that one buys a used $1000 motorcycle... runs the cheapest swill obtainable through it...probably changing oil once a month... replaces tires on it countless times costing more than the purchase price of the motorcycle itself... and rides it a couple hundred thousand miles like this. WORRY FREE!!! We can learn a lot from you Puc! Thank You!

I get from 26 to 40 mpg depending on my driving, load, wind, etc... Some brands of tires, like Dunlop 404's, will sing, moan, to you in the curves and turning corners. Everybody usually puts a HD exhaust on (not me) and there are several articles on here about it.