There is a third alternative for people who don’t want to get their bike serviced by a dealer or do it themselves at home.
We’ve covered DIY here and looked at going to a non-dealer here.
But you can also find some home mechanics who have all the tools and know-how and will charge you a small fee to let you use their facilities to do your own servicing.
In Brisbane, Phil of HiSide Leathers offers this service. Check out his Facebook page.
As the name suggests, he also sells and repair leathers, gloves, boots and other garage gear and accessories.
Phil has also been servicing and restoring bikes for decades and for the past 10 years has offered the facilities of his well-equipped garage to customers who want to do their own servicing.
It’s all done “by arrangement” and you have to be a loyal and trusted customer before Phil will let you loose in his garage.
Just look at the fun, but serious, list of “Phil’s Golden Rules” on his garage wall that reads:
- This is a private workshop or a dictatorship.
- Phil is the dictator.
- It is not covered by work care, health care, care bears, I don’t care.
- If you injure yourself in my shed, an ambulance will pick you up from the Acacia Ridge Hotel.
- If these rules offend, get your own shed.
- There will be more rules depending on my mood.”
Phil also conducts free classes for clubs and is on hand to help prevent you getting it all wrong.
“I’m happy to teach people to do minor servicing, but I don’t encourage people to open up their motors,” he says. “You won’t ever have to if you service your bike regularly and properly.”
There are guys like Phil in every city and town.
They have the smarts and the right tools and can help get you sorted so you can eventually do the work in your own man cave.
But please read my other stories on servicing first before you decide what to do with your own bike.
Probably the smartest plan of action is to go to a dealer until the warranty runs out, then find a good mechanic you can trust, maybe invest in some time at a garage like Phil’s, then start doing it yourself.
There is nothing more rewarding than servicing your own bike.
Screwing off the sump cap and feeling that dirty, warm oil run out over your hands is one of those great visceral moments in a bike owner’s life.