6,000 miles service cost is ridiculous!

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I'm at Burbank, CA BMW shop where I bought my R18 FE. Took about 20 minutes to get a quote. For the 6k miles service A little over $900. With a military discount.

I feel like shark bait. A little over 6k miles in and one year of ownership. They got nice shop and waiting area with TV and Netflix...😞. It's a blood bath and I'm pushing through this. I'm concerned my noisey 1800CC sewing machine motor may fail and I want to have a good dealership for reference in case of warranty repair. Next service I will shop around. I got a good deal on it when I bought it here.

Hope this shop can stay in business. Living costs are sky rocketing in this area.
i'm near by your area.... check out Brown's BMW near Pomona.... call the service dept and ask their shop rates, and also ask for a quote for a 6 k service. Also exactly what they do, and what parts are needed.
 
I cannot imagine any need to check your valves and if they should need adjustment at such a low mileage, what is BMW selling us ????
Not sure, but you'd think by now, hydraulic self adjusting followers on the cam would be standard on all motor construction. of HD has had them for quite a while now, at least in the Milwaukee 8 that came out in 2017, what with their celebration of building bikes for 120 Years. And now BMW is celebrating their 100 year Anniversary building motorcycles. Reminds of my college days and my 1967 Volkswagen Beetle and having to crawl under there to do the oil and adjust the valves every 3000 miles. Pain in the butt. Once I got out of school and started working mega amounts of overtime, I just didn't have the time to adjust the valves. I bought something with hydraulic lifters.
 
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Nice chart.
I guess I didnt need to change the bevel gear oil at 600 miles. No biggie it took 20 mins.
I guess I should have looked at my owners manual.
 
I've had my cars parked in a garage here in Southern California,, and the brake fluid gets tested for moisture and so far after 7 years has come back in spec and not saturated with moisture. My suggestion would be you could double or triple the intervals for brake fluid if you don't ride in the rain ( fair weather rider) and keep your motorcycle garaged at all times when not riding.

Some of BMW's service recommendations are based on motorcycles parked outside 365 days a year, regardless of the weather. If yours is a pleasure motorcycle ridden in nice weather, and kept garaged, some of the annual service interval recommendations can be stretched. I ride 4 to 8000 miles a year. I'm not going to do annual oil changes, mainly because here in Southern California, the weather is such that I ride year round. Exercise some common sense. A garaged bike doesn't require the maintenance a bike stored outdoors does.
 
Not sure, but you'd think by now, hydraulic self adjusting followers on the cam would be standard on all motor construction. of HD has had them for quite a while now, at least in the Milwaukee 8 that came out in 2017, what with their celebration of building bikes for 120 Years. And now BMW is celebrating their 100 year Anniversary building motorcycles. Reminds of my college days and my 1967 Volkswagen Beetle and having to crawl under there to do the oil and adjust the valves every 3000 miles. Pain in the butt. Once I got out of school and started working mega amounts of overtime, I just didn't have the time to adjust the valves. I bought something with hydraulic lifters.
HD had them long before the Milwaukee 8 my wife has a 2003 100th anniversary Superglide with a Twin Cam 88 and it has hydraulic lifters already has 60,000 km on it and never needed valve maintenance yet. I don’t understand why BMW didn’t go that route with the R18
 
HD had them long before the Milwaukee 8 my wife has a 2003 100th anniversary Superglide with a Twin Cam 88 and it has hydraulic lifters already has 60,000 km on it and never needed valve maintenance yet. I don’t understand why BMW didn’t go that route with the R18
Ohhh you can go a lot further back than that ... early shovelheads had hydros as well ... and Harley compensated for the 'power loss' that BMW claims with '*H' grind cams that just have a littler earlier and a tad longer duration .... my 2¢ ... sorry, these solid cam-followers is something that extremely bugs me on this engine design ... I really like the rest .. but that one bugs me ... unfortunately it will be a lot more difficult to equip (retrofit) these engines with a modified cam and hydro lifters, that retrofitting a (even) 'Slabside' shovel ... too bad ;)
 
We have a saying over here BMW stands for bring more wonga !!!!! servicing costs are the same over here in the UK so if i cannot do some work i go to an independent BMW technician and its a lot cheaper .
 
I just did the annual service on my 2021 Classic FE, it was cruised out of the lot in 2022 so it is only really 1 year old. 6625 kms on her. The oil change, tire pressure, brake wear checks and a few other sundry checks had me departing with two rows of "green" boxes ticked, (the other two are amber and red, duh). I live out of town and have to drive 90 minutes to the dealer. I was identified as a "wait" customer by my request. I waited 4 hours and the bike was not washed upon return. I asked for it to be washed, which was explained by a policy that they do not wash "wait" machines. $406.CAD I think this is ridiculous. 4 hours and 15 minutes? I shall be seeking an opportunity to address this with the dealer.
 
I just did the annual service on my 2021 Classic FE, it was cruised out of the lot in 2022 so it is only really 1 year old. 6625 kms on her. The oil change, tire pressure, brake wear checks and a few other sundry checks had me departing with two rows of "green" boxes ticked, (the other two are amber and red, duh). I live out of town and have to drive 90 minutes to the dealer. I was identified as a "wait" customer by my request. I waited 4 hours and the bike was not washed upon return. I asked for it to be washed, which was explained by a policy that they do not wash "wait" machines. $406.CAD I think this is ridiculous. 4 hours and 15 minutes? I shall be seeking an opportunity to address this with the dealer.
Or DIY ;)
 
In most countries (like Australia).... you can't service yourself and keep the warrantry.... so for the first two years or so you are sort of forced to pay someone to do it.... $400 canadian or aussie is about what I would expect (not including valve check or brake bleed).... and when booking a morning service and waiting most of the time the bike doesn't get looked at for an hour or two...... it is very annoying. I'll be servicing both my BMW bikes after their 2nd year service... which will see them through to the end of thier 3rd year of warranty...
 
Purchased the 5yr 50,000klm Service Inclusive plan when I picked up the bike. Together with the new 5yr unlimited klm warranty, makes it a good package. Great first service experience. Arrived at the booking time of 8.30am, bike was whisked away. Meanwhile I kept myself busy the dealer’s customer lounge doing some work and enjoying great coffee and pastries while they performed the checks and changed the oils and filter. Bike was ready, clean and serviced at 10.15am.
Service inclusive is more than just oils and filters. (AUD$2,311)
  • Engine oil service
  • Oil filter change
  • First-check (1,000km)
  • Valve clearance check
  • Fork oil change
  • Gearbox oil change
  • Spark plug replacement
  • Brake fluid
  • Air filter change
  • Fuel filter change
 
Purchased the 5yr 50,000klm Service Inclusive plan when I picked up the bike. Together with the new 5yr unlimited klm warranty, makes it a good package. Great first service experience. Arrived at the booking time of 8.30am, bike was whisked away. Meanwhile I kept myself busy the dealer’s customer lounge doing some work and enjoying great coffee and pastries while they performed the checks and changed the oils and filter. Bike was ready, clean and serviced at 10.15am.
Service inclusive is more than just oils and filters. (AUD$2,311)
  • Engine oil service
  • Oil filter change
  • First-check (1,000km)
  • Valve clearance check
  • Fork oil change
  • Gearbox oil change
  • Spark plug replacement
  • Brake fluid
  • Air filter change
  • Fuel filter change
I would like to know what’s included in a fork oil check? Do they do a cursory glance at the fork to see if a seal is leaking?
Because you would literally have to remove the fork from the bike to check the fork oil.
 
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