Naked scooter or not?

Hi All:

My motorcycle repair shop charges $96 an hour plus parts. A few weeks ago I paid an arm and a leg for a $15 coolant hose. $208 for labor. For next time, what are your guys thoughts if I removed all the panels prior to the bringing the Swing to the repair shop. And yes, i would ride it up there. This would save me a few bucks.

- Denis

Deno070 wrote:

Hi All:

  My motorcycle repair shop charges $96 an hour plus parts. A few weeks ago I paid an arm and a leg for a $15 coolant hose. $208 for labor. For next time, what are your guys thoughts if I removed all the panels prior to the bringing the Swing to the repair shop. And yes, i would ride it up there. This would save me a few bucks.

- Denis

Three years ago I got my first SWing and my first repair at the service shop was replacing a $5 part - the bill was $100. So, my SWing has never seen the inside of a service dealer since - bought the tools, the manuals, etc and do all my service work (so far) myself (except for tire mounting/balancing which costs me $20 a wheel). IMHO, when doing the normal maintenance, the hardest part is often getting the plastic off (and getting it back on without breaking a tab somewhere). If you wish to save money, then DIY - as IMHO you are not going to save much overall if you remove the panels and letting the dealer deal with getting them back fitting properly would be worth it. I would be concerned about riding my SWing 'naked' with some panels removed as other panels may be over-stressed as they are meant to function as an integral interconnected unit.

My guess (only a guess) would be that the dealer would charge by the book. What I mean by that is they look in their estimate book and it tells them how many hours a job takes and then add the price of parts and that's the price charge you. If that's how they do it I doubt you would get credit for your work. I would buy a service manual and do your own work. If you're willing to remove the plastics I'd think you could do your own work.

I suspect the panels are also used to channel air flow through the radiator. So I'd definitely watch temperatures if you ride it without panels - you'll probably be fine, but I'd watch the temps.

I ride without panels.no harm except more drag and less mpg.

I also think your savings will likely be zero unless you've got a VIP customer relationship with your dealer. Service departments, car and bike both, have a rate book that says for job abc that's x.x hours and they charge you that much regardless of how quickly (and supposedly also how slowly) they get it done.

model28a wrote:

If you're willing to remove the plastics I'd think you could do your own work.    

I agree, taking the plastics off and reinstalling is the HARD part. Changing a hose is easy in most cases!

Gentlemen,

Thanks for all the feedback. I really should learn how to do my own repairs. Very intimidating since I’m not mechanically inclined and really don’t have a spot to actually take it apart. Moving soon and will have a garage to lay out parts. I really need to get a service manual as well. Thank you all and ride safe!!

The hardest part of working on the SW is the CAREFUL removal of the tupperware. I can see a mechanic being extra cautious about the plastic. It all adds to their time for mechanical work that takes minutes to do.

When the ex wife and me were looking to buy our house I insisted on a garage and she insisted on a pool and big back yard. We bought a house with a big back yard a good size pool and a small garage. After we divorced I got rid of the pool, built a two car garage, moved everything from the little garage into the new garage and built another two car garage joined next to the other one and then added to the length of the two of them. Now I have a garage bigger than my house and a small back yard(less grass to cut) and I'm one happy man.