Why? I do it all by myself and keep all receipt’s - oil, belts, filters, shim’s etc - and never had any trouble with selling it, it comes with complete history on a word document with date / miles and maintenance performed. My bikes are all immaculate. The service light - yes it’s on, i don’t care, easy to reset by the dealer for a few £
I mean if you can find buyers happy to not care about the service light and a dealer prepared to ‘sign off’ work they haven’t done and reset the service light then congratulations.
I guess the OP may not looking to sell. I know I'm keeping mine. The service indicator dissapears after a while anyway.
The more concerning factor for me is trusting the dealer has done a good job. I bought a bike with no warranty, spent £1,500 on an 18k desmo, new chain, sprockets and a faulty fuel sender. Will it be ok - no idea! The repeatedly shocking dealer experience with current day Ducati means I'll only buy new, if at all, next time I decide to swap.
A decent and recommended independant mechanic with Ducati experience, if not expertise, is the way to go in the longer term. That's unless you're able and prepared to do the work yourself. If the latter is the case then buying a plugin fault-finding, code reading, service indicator reseting device is also a good investment. My 1260 Mutley is a keeper and is almost at end of its extended warranty. From now on Tim at Moto-Vation Racing here in Cheltenham will be looking after it. I'm also intending to buy an OBDStar diagnostics tablet.
Yes, agree with all that, but in the current climate, the wait times even for independents are bonkers. It does make you understand why so many by the GS. I'll run mine now and adhere to all self maintenance and service intervals until it gives up the ghost.
Unless something goes wrong with the bike, it’s easy enough to work out the mileage you’ll be doing and calculate roughly when work will need to be done, and book in, in advance.
In a perfect world, maybe, but it's far from that and not the fault of Ducati. Personally, I've found the dealer support weak at best. Will likely be my last Ducati bike, which is a shame.
If you've got a van/trailer then doing the donkey work yourself like stripping the panels/tank etc should save you on their labour?
I've saved a few quid on the desmo in the past, bought the parts at a discount from the dealer, stripped the bike of panels & tank and delivered it to the dealer in a van the n put it back together in my own time. Local duke dealer does reduced labour rates in the winter so I get it done then.
Wondering how much I can strip off of my 1260 Mutley and still ride it the mile across town to the mechanic prior to my 18,000 mile service. Is there anything to prevent me taking off the fairing side panels, both inner and outer as well as the tank shroud and still be able to ride it?
Very important for newer machines yes. I've tended to buy and keep bikes until they get old and everyone expects them to fall outside the dealer, or even indie garages when being sold anyway. You see loads of adds for old bikes with no paperwork or owners books... long lost. I've always sold my bikes/cars easily when the buyer see's the condition and the big stack of receipts for the work I've done and parts I've bought over the years. Service light, yep mines on but I don't even notice it anymore !
I don't see why not, as long as it's still got the essentials (sensors perhaps), etc connected. Modern bodywork panels are mostly cosmetic, surely...
Will see what I can do, not only the prospect of saving a bit of money on an already expensive job but also the panels will remain safely in my garage.
It puzzles me why anyone would buy a high end machine like a Ducati, and then, not get it looked after by a Ducati dealer, or moan at the prices they charge. How could you not know what you were letting yourselves in for? The info is everywhere. There are updates often performed on a dealer service that the guys at home likely have no clue about. Unless you have the diagnostics, you cant do that. There is a warranty on any parts fitted and any work done by an authorised dealer - not so easy with home servicing. I would never EVER buy a bike or a car with service lights on..I would also tend to disbelieve any home created records too. Its hardly hard to forge is it? Yes, I have skipped my annual service this year ...but the bike has covered only 487 miles since Nelly at Cornerspeed serviced it last year. That is in the service book and on Ducati's records. Next year it will go back in, no matter how little mileage I manage. I knew all the costs when I bought a Ducati, I always check out costs and certainly before I buy Italian kit...I would expect similar if I bought a Rolls or high end Italian/German sports cars. The alternative to having a high status Italian stallion is to ride around on a Honda, or other universal japanese machine .. and be boring like all the other japanese bike riders maybe I wonder if Ferrari or Lambo owners moan about servicing?
To be fair, I agree with everything you say. The issue for me, is the poor service levels from main dealers and the massive wait times from independents. The key is simply booking annual service work in well in advance, but for the odd one off issue, it is a massive pain and pushing more owners to tinker and self service.
Mate, you’ve done less than 500 miles in a year, is there much point in owning it? I presume you have other bikes to ride? My bike will be 10 years old next year, I’ll keep it another 2 year by which time it’ll have around 70,000 miles and be pretty much worthless, by servicing it myself I’ll have saved around £4500 in dealer fees.
