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Tales from the crib - What is the worst maintenance items you've encountered with your bike?

ScottRNelson said:
On the KTM 990 Adventure you need to spend about an hour taking off bodywork before you can even get to the valves, or even the stuff you need to access for an oil change. I let the dealer do that stuff, even though it was rather expensive. I have no idea how difficult the 1090 R is, but oil change intervals are like 9000 miles.

Ducati ST2 also had difficult bodywork to remove but fortunately you could do an oil change on it without removing much. Most owners that did their own work modified the bodywork with Dzus fasteners and a few special brackets that made it much easier. Why don't the designers seem to think of how easy or difficult it will be to get to things inside a motorcycle???
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FWIW, before I take the bike to the shop, I remove almost all the fairings myself - anything I can do in advance to reduce labor costs is worth it, and my time is effectively free. Even 15 mins less time required by them is $$$ back in my pocket...
 
senpai71 said:
FWIW, before I take the bike to the shop, I remove almost all the fairings myself - anything I can do in advance to reduce labor costs is worth it, and my time is effectively free. Even 15 mins less time required by them is $$$ back in my pocket...
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Have you done this on a KTM, or just whatever other motorcycles you might have?

I've done it before on my Ducati ST2, but the KTM is in a different league.
 
R3DS!X said:
Tuning carbs on my F3. Bitch to get to,remove, fiddle, balance, test, reinstall, re fucking move again, fiddle, repeat. Fuck more than two carbs!
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^^^ this ^^^

carbs x4 are not fun if they been sitting/gummed-up/crapola...

The only thing worse I've done is blowed up a couple racing engines thus they needed entire engine rebuilds. Otherwise wearing out some shift-forks via sloppy or hurried shifting (racing.)

Requires splitting of the cases regardless in most bikes...
 
GPzPop said:
new to me 1980 xl250s
rear axle corrosion welded itself to wheel bearings, had to cut it off get it pressed out. and get new- old-stock replacement
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You got another one of these?
 
ScottRNelson said:
On the KTM 990 Adventure you need to spend about an hour taking off bodywork before you can even get to the valves, or even the stuff you need to access for an oil change. I let the dealer do that stuff, even though it was rather expensive. I have no idea how difficult the 1090 R is, but oil change intervals are like 9000 miles.

Ducati ST2 also had difficult bodywork to remove but fortunately you could do an oil change on it without removing much. Most owners that did their own work modified the bodywork with Dzus fasteners and a few special brackets that made it much easier. Why don't the designers seem to think of how easy or difficult it will be to get to things inside a motorcycle???
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Just one of the reasons I like naked bikes
 
The battery and air filter on an R1100S. You have to remove body panels (with hidden fasteners) and the gas tank. Wrong time to try lithium batteries.
 
The fairings on my gsxr are held on with allen head screws. I find using a mounted bit and a cordless screwdriver makes the work much faster. Well worth buying a cordless (some are less than 20 bucksl)
 
My old '84 Ninja 600 valve cover gasket, 4 hours. Well the job was quick and simple, but my dumb ass prematurely pulled the spark plugs first and of course the locator pin dropped perfectly down #2 hole! I cannibalized Mom's fridge magnet, taped it to a piece of Romex wire and spent the next few hours fishing it out. Good times.
 
senpai71 said:
...anything I can do in advance to reduce labor costs is worth it, and my time is effectively free. Even 15 mins less time required by them is $$$ back in my pocket...
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Mechanic gets paid per the job's book hours not by the hours it takes him to do it. You wont save any money but your mechanic will be your buddy.
 
russ69 said:
Mechanic gets paid per the job's book hours not by the hours it takes him to do it. You wont save any money but your mechanic will be your buddy.
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These days, in the motorcycle world at least, it depends on the shop.
 
I don't like that the first step in changing the oil on my 85 Interceptor is draining the coolant and removing the exhaust pipes...
 
Not a tinker.

"What is the worst maintenance items you've encountered with your bike?"
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All of it. Any of it. I even hate to check the tire pressure.

I can fix it, but I want to ride my bike. Maintenance and repair is something someone else does when I am not riding it.

Like the old joke, "Chief know HOW, Chief want some."
 
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Haket said:
Wait what?, that's crazy !.
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Well, I was being a little dramatic, but, the oil filter is BEHIND the lower "chin" radiator and between the front exhaust pipes...

So, yeah. With my lack of extra hands (I was only born with two), it made more room to work.

Plus, I flush and fill the cooling system at the same time. :)
 
GPzPop said:
nope, the one you got from me

how is it doing these days?
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I grenaded it, and sold it. Fun little bike, but I ended up not having the time to rebuild. I did a light restore on it and it was really nice. The front brake was/is a complete hazard though. Lol
 
Sharky said:
I grenaded it, and sold it. Fun little bike, but I ended up not having the time to rebuild. I did a light restore on it and it was really nice. The front brake was/is a complete hazard though. Lol
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oops, yeah ,what front brake ? had to plan ahead, WAY ahead ha hs
 
The clutch on an R1200GS oil cooled. You only have to split the bike in half :wow

Entoptic said:
MV Agusta sprag clutch. Until they figured out the issue it was dying every 4k miles and it's a 4 hours job to replace.
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I'll be doing that very same thing on a Ducati 907IE
 
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