1200 Oil Service?

£250 tops?

 

I had one two weeks ago. £160.

 

Me too £160 last year.

 

2011? Do it DIY if it's out of warranty. Shell oil and filter £48. An hour of your time, £0. £150 in the bank = Worth it.

 

Well, £102 in the bank anyway.

In agreement though. I do my oil changes on cars & bikes. Piece of piss and i usually have spare oil & filters for doing it when the mood takes me (by that I mean when the wife leaves me in peace on a weekend).

 

Mine is booked in with GT Motorcycles for next week; £178. Somewhat eye-watering, but I guess that's partly paying for the warranty. While it's in it's having a new fuel gauge sender...

Nik

 

If you have a center stand do the bottom aluminum guard mod at the same time , you can easily notch out the back bolts of the guard with tinsnips and sand smooth with sandpaper so they will pop over the rubber washers and front bolt for guard holds it in place , you'll never have to remove center stand again to access filter , drain bolt , and filter wire mesh screen , 10 minute mod.

 

Hmm, any link to this mod?

 

ducati.ms forum search "engine guard notch mod with center kickstand for easy oil changes " and read the 5 posts , one has a link with pics , he used a dremel I believe , much easier , quicker and more accurate with tin snips , I am a sheet metal journeyman and the 1/8" thick aluminum cuts very easy .

 

Collected mine from GT Motorcycles yesterday - was quoted £178 and they charged me £157. I wonder if they do that on purpose so you feel better about it?!

Good service from them - they replaced the fuel sensor while it was in, plus did a few other checks, and cleaned it too, which is handy! They gave me a Honda NC750 loan bike - it's an automatic! That was weird, but quite fun. Very happy to have my MTS back though.

 

Id still rather be raped by John 'Big Cock' Smith than pay that sort of money for a bit of oil.

 

' they charged me £157. '


Thats about $314 Canadian , for an oil change that uses 3.6 liters , complete rip off .

 

Couldn't agree more, but if I want to maintain the factory warranty then I have to get it serviced. You can complain about it, but I prefer to think that since buying the bike in July I've done nearly 5000 miles and it's been brilliant in that time. I've been all over Spain and the UK, sometimes fully loaded with luggage and two-up. It's been massive fun, and I think it's a phenomenal bike. It deserves looking after, so that doesn't seem like an especially high cost off ownership to me. Especially as the dealer replaced the fuel sensor at the same time, and did a whole load of other checks that I asked to be carried out, all at no extra charge.

If you have your own garage or workshop, and the time, expertise, and willingness to do your own servicing then that's great. I don't have a garage, and choose to have the bike maintained so as to preserve it's warranty. That's my choice, and it works for me.

 

The first 1000 km check is required for warranty , oil changes at dealer after that are NOT required to maintain warranty , receipts for oil, filter and logging of oil changes is all that is required after that as far as oil changes affecting warranty are required . " Loads of other checks" besides connecting for any software updates are strictly visual checks . " deserves looking after " is always done better by a knowledgeable owner rather then a dealer , however If your not mechanically inclined dealers are a useful option .

 

I'm a mechanical engineer, and have owned many ducatis over the last 15 years or more, which have all been extensively maintained by me. But in my current situation I don't have a garage, at least not one I can use as a workshop.

We're all different. This works for me, but I can appreciate it's not for everyone. How boring it would be if we were all the same.

 

SCO, you may be correct but which would you rather buy, a Ducati with a full dealer service history or one which has been serviced by a guy down his shed with a notebook in his own handwriting saying he'd changed the oil and filter ?

 

'a notebook in his own handwriting saying he'd changed the oil and filter ?' if he has receipts showing purchase of the correct oil and filters , no problem , oil and filter changes require the knowledge and skill level of a 15 year old

Lets talk about full dealer history , I have had my bike in to the dealer 3 times , first service , and 1 factory recall ,and the wheels in once to get new tires mounted and balanced
- after the first service which is supposed to have all major bolts gone over to check for tightness ,the back brake caliper bolts , 1was hand tight and other had almost come out of all threads
- different Ducati dealer for the recall for the throttle cable new part had both bolts hand tight ( this dealer was already aware of the loose brake caliper bolts from a different dealer )
- wheels in to get new PP3,s mounted and balanced didn't have any balancing weights on the rear wheel which I noticed immediately at pick up and they took wheel back into shop at that time to balance ( by a different dealer from the first 2 who sells several brands of bikes )

I have bought filters , rad fluid , new pannier rubbers after they fell off ,from the first dealer and had several Ducati day rides with them , so I know them and support them as much as I can but am not convinced just because they have a dealership that they are competent .


As an HVAC and Building Safety Codes Officer inspector for the City of Calgary I check over 100 large buildings every year before they are occupied by people , these are designed and built by professional people , yet I write literally hundreds of infractions every year . Obviously these are different then motorbikes, but I point this out that just because products are designed , built , and worked on by professionals in that field does not mean there are still not major mistakes made .

 

I would actually look favourably on a home serviced machine, but I do ask to see their garage/workshop. If he points to a hammer and that's the extent of his tools... walk away.

If the guy has a bench, radio, all the gear and bike posters all over the shop then you can bet he probably spent the time on the bike, quite happy doing his own thing.

If I get the sense that he's like me and (when he finds the time) will stand and stare at the bike and always find something he just has to do, then buy from him. It can only be a good thing when his missus comes out with the line "oh he spends days out there in that she'd fiddling with his bike".