First off all I can totally recommend doing these services yourself. You don’t need that much tools to be able to and you’ll save a lot of costs. Plus you learn so much about the bike what helps when you are in trouble. You can find all the info you need in workplace manuals, either a hard copy like this one or just a PDF from some online source. Not to be confused with the owners manual, this is the technical info needed to maintain your bike and take it completely apart if needed.
What follows is the bare minimum of service to be executed based on distance traveled (ODO) or time. Cause some of these things are required because the used products don’t stay in good quality when used longer. Don’t ignore these, you don’t want to crash because of some expiration date.
First Service at 1.000 km
For a new bike you are often required to go in for a first service at 1.000 km. That way everything can be looked over and often this is also the moment where engine oil and oil filter are replaced to prevent small particles due to the manufacturing process don’t stay in the engine causing damaging. That said modern fabrication techniques are executed at such a high precision level that this is often no longer needed.
This first service is also part of the run in procedure. The official recommendations (per manual) from Yamaha are to avoid riding at a constant rpm of more than 5.000 from 0 to 1.000 km. And from 1.000 to 1.500 km not to keep it above 6.000 rpm longer than really needed. Highway riding at 120 kph is possible in 6th gear at around 5.000 rpm.
- Engine oil replacement including filter so 2,7L of 10W40 oil to be added after draining
Small Service at every 10.000 km (ODO 10.000, 30.000, 50.000, 70.000, 90.000… km)
Mostly swapping engine oil and checking everything for good operation and replace only if visual check indicates a replacement is needed.
- Engine oil replacement (keep oil filter, so 2,4L of 10W40 oil to be added)
- Check spark plugs
- Check fuel lines
- Check brake pads and hoses
- Check bearings (wheels, swingarm, head)
- Check side stand switch
- Check and Lubricate cables
- Check Throttle bodies sync
Big Service at every 20.000 km (ODO 20.000, 40.000, 60.000, 80.000, 100.000… km)
Everything from the 10.000 km service but do the 2 items listed below different. Since you also replace the oil filter you’ll need to add more oil back into the system.
- Engine oil replacement including filter so 2,7L of 10W40 oil to be added after draining
- Replace spark plugs
Every 40.000 km
Note that this is only true for the official paper filters from Yamaha. If you have an oiled filter like K&N sells you only need to service the filter, no need to replace it.
- Check valve clearance
- Replace air filter
Every 2 years
This is because brake fluid goes bad after about 2 years.
- Replace brake fluid
Every 3 years
Same story as for the brake fluid, the coolant has an expiration date. Also important to flush the system.
- Replace coolant
Every 4 years
This can be fixed by adding metal brake hoses. The default ones installed need not just periodical checks but full on replacement every 4 years.
- Replace brake hoses
Conclusion and total costs
And that’s about it. I’ll add some prices for parts in order to put an estimated cost on this. Then we can also compare with the parts needed for my electric motorcycle. Brake pads and fluids, tyres, chain drive and even coolant won’t be much different. What my ICE powered motorcycle needs and my electric doesn’t (or in way smaller amounts)
- 2,4-2,7L 10W40 engine oil at ~35EUR/4L => ~8L every 30.000 km => 2*35/3 = 23,33 EUR/10.000 km
- Oil filter at ~12 EUR => one needed every 20.000 km => 6 EUR/10k
- 3 spark plugs 3*~5 EUR => needed every 20.000 km => 8 EUR/10k
- brake fluid 250 ml ~5 EUR => needed every 2 years => 2,5 EUR/year (also for electric, not counting)
- coolant 3L capacity at ~12 EUR/5L => needed every 3 years => 4 EUR/year (also for electric, less though)
- air filter ~20 EUR => needed every 40.000 km => 5 EUR/10k
Total cost then is ~ 43 EUR in consumables like engine oil and filter, spark plugs and air filter for every 10.000 km and another 4 EUR every year in coolant.
To get an idea on the huge difference in cost compared to having a premium bike serviced by dealership you can check my previous post. The fuel price comparison with electric in that article still stands, this bike uses around 5L/100km so not that much less than the BMW R1200 GS compared there.