We need a 12/16K service done on Cathy's bike. Shop is pricing everything at ~$1,100.

This includes plugs, all fluids, new belt, ...

They say the 16K is worth around $7-900 alone..can't remember right now as my brain glazed over at the price...

Comments?

Probably too high---but 16,000 belt change, rollers? Valve adj probably 3 or 4 hours shop time.

Sometimes they will use flat rate book and charge you twice for taking off plastic.

And then do you need tires, anything else worn.


At this amount I would trade, look for another bike.


Learn to do yourself, but even then there is a lot of diddle time. These scooter are not cheap to buy or keep----I owned a new and a used Miata for a lot less---got rid of old when 60,000 miles timing belt came up-----new one had more modern engine.

John Grinsel

Tell the shop to skip the valve adjustment. Unless they're totally reputable, they may charge you for it and not even bother doing it. Why? Because the Swing engine won't need a valve adjustment that early. They never do. You will likely need a new timing chain and timing chain tensioner before you need a valve adjustment. Plugs, coolant, brake fluid, air filter, and drive belt should run no more than $500 including labor. If you are at all mechanically inclined, you can do all this yourself with the shop manual. Your cost will be under $200 for parts and you'll have the satisfaction of knowing it's done properly. If you can't or don't want to do it, go to an independent shop. Labor will be half of a Honda shop and it will likely be done better. Just because your Swing says "Honda" on it does not mean that the technician has ever even done a valve adjustment or pulled the tupperware off a Swing. I've seen some pretty nasty work done on a Swing by a Honda tech. Can you trust this Honda dealership and service dep't?

I'm not mechanically inclined, but using JeffR's pictorials and the help of Cosmic Jumper, DennisB and Honda_Silver and many others on this site, I've been able to change my plugs, belt, and rollers by myself. Oil and filter change too though that's relatively easy. You might need some tools to do all the work yourself. I say do what you can by yourself, and then go to a shop you trust for what you can't. Don't forget to check your tires and brake pads too. Good luck...

I do not plan valve adj @ 16,000----my Citroen BX TRD with shim type engine, Quaker State Fleet 15-40 oil went well over 250,000 miles with no valve adj. So Bigbird is right.

Dealers often screw up more than they fix---I don't like a jet ski mech on my bike.

I bought my scooter in July. Its a 2004 model and had 10K miles on it. The rear tire went flat on me. I didn't have any history on this thing, so I took it to the dealer, Rick Case. In addition to motorcycles they sell several brands of cars as well and have a very good reputation. I told the service manager my story. He suggested that we do the 12/16 service. He changed all the fluids, replaced the drive belt, put on 2 tires, checked the valves (didn't need adj.) and charged me $700.

This being my very first motoranything, I didn't know if this was a good deal or not; based on what you said I guess it was. I've been toying with the idea of bring it back to them and letting them repair my crash damage. I still have a few more weeks on crutches and really can't work on it myself to easily. If I give it to them, it should be ready by the time I get rid of the crutches. The weather here has just changed this week, so its going to be nice riding weather until at least April. After reading your post, I'm now thinking that these guys are not going to rip me off.

Bill

I think that's more than a little too much for the amount of service that needs to be done.

In all likelihood, they won't be adjusting the valves anyay, only checking them, IF they even actually do that part. That's the only step that requires any plastic removal (other than the belt case, which takes all of 10 minutes).

I would shop the work around to some other shops, any shop that works on metric bikes should be able to do what is needed, although I'd shy away from having the valve work even done, unless you've seen issues w/performance.

My $.02