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There's never been a time when someone else performed my motorcycle service work...Having always purchased "pre-owned" bikes, more than a dozen of them over the last half-century, there's never been a warranty requirement for taking a cycle "back to the dealer"... 
 
Of course, I strongly support OEM tech training and service work performed to factory specs at the dealership. For those who do not want to work on their own cycle, I recommend factory-trained techs and tooling. OEM parts are always a plus, I'm a frequent customer for genuine Honda and other brand parts...
 
I enjoy several things about motorcycle work. Since I like to spin wrenches, and many of us do, motorcycles are a great place to build and retain skills. Motorcycle work is far less cumbersome than automotive and truck work, although I'm well schooled and trained at both. At home, our neighbors are way more comfortable watching me tune a dirt motorcycle than dropping and rebuilding an automatic transmission from a 4x4 truck...So much for suburbia, anyway...
 
The additional benefits of working on your own cycle, especially a dirt bike headed to remote places, are self-sufficiency and acquiring troubleshooting skills. You know your way around the motorcycle and can quickly become oriented for repairs or emergency fixes in the field.
 
My earliest sense of motorized accomplishment was the restoration of a 1955 Cushman/Allstate scooter. The $8 "discovery", with a loudly knocking motor, tossed its connecting rod on my first ride—the loose rod snapped the camshaft in half and destroyed the iron block casting. 

 

The incentive for bringing that scooter back was to ride on Nevada's streets and highways, legally, at the age of 14. That Cushman scooter launched my lifelong interest in motorcycle, automotive and truck service work and technology.
 
Fifty years later, I vividly recall passing my written license exam and the satisfaction I had with the engine and other work to get—and keep—that Cushman running. I still enjoy motorcycle work, and to celebrate my 50th year of riding and working on road and dirt motorcycles, I invested in a Harbor Freight 1000# motorcycle lift...Check out the forum post at:

 

http://www.4wdmechanix.com/forums/index.php/topic/83-harbor-freight-1000-motorcycle-lift—best-buy-on-the-planet/

 

Moses

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