First bike, first service, please advise :)

PlayerA

Hi everyone,

I am brand new on the forum (actually,my very first forum ever!) and a newbie on the road with the bike. I have just bought my first 600cc bike (Honda CBR f 2001) and I would like to have it serviced as the previous owner did the service himself and I am not sure what has been done.

I have few question as I am a total newbie and don't know much about mechanic at the moment. I rode it twice, it seems ok but i would like to have everything checked by someone who knows better (breaks, chains, sprocket etc.)

I am living in Dublin city center, any recommendation in Dublin?

Thanks a lot in advance for your reply

FatherLen

A couple of things you can do yourself without bringing it to a garage or with much mechanical experience would be checking and replacing spark plugs, greasing and tightening the chain and checking/replacing the oil.

I have only ever brought bikes to two garages in the city, jp motorcycles on pearse street or lm oreillys on dorset street. both were very friendly and did a great job.

Wossack

mototechnic in kimmage get pretty rave reviews - have a few bits Im going to get them to do also, once I get a chance

PlayerA

hehe thanks a lot lads, yes I need to buy few tools to tighten the chain i suppose, also I would like to find the manual of the bike somewhere, could be nice.
Anyway, I will go to JP motor to have a quick chat as it is not far from my place.

Alkers

Buy a Haynes manual for starters. Did the previous owner give you a list of when he did what? He may have just been doing the oil & air filters etc and neglected things like valve clearances.

PlayerA

I brought it to JP motorcycles, nice lads there. The man at the desk asked me if I wanted him to have a walk around the bike or leave it at the workshop for an hour or two.. I chose the workshop ( i needed to be reassured that the bike is safe to drive). The bike is fine just needed to tighten the chain and grease the front brake and put some fluid, all the rest is good to go and can wait until next service (rear brake pads and maybe cables).

I paid 45 euros (workshop fee) but at least i know that i can drive it and the bike is all clean

Thank you Simona, the Haynes manual is actually a good idea. I previously looked on the internet for a manual and found a very (too) detailed manual of 500 technical pages about the CBR, it just scared me. Last owner didn't really tell me much, just said that he serviced it few months ago.. (I didn't really know what too ask except oil, fluids and chain).

Any idea where to buy basic tools not too expensive and good enough?

Peanut2011

PlayerA wrote: »

Any idea where to buy basic tools not too expensive and good enough?

I would suggest to have a look at these sites but also have a look at the second hand stuff likes on adverts or donedeal.

http://www.experttools.ie/tool-kits-tool-sets/
http://www.iedepot.ie/automotive_car_tools_sale_ireland-page-5/

Star Lord

Sorry to piggy-back on here, but need to get my bike looked at, primarily the front forks, as one is leaking (previous owner said he thinks it's not sealed right) and to give it a quick once-over to check if it needs anything else done. I'm based in West Dublin. Any suggestions of where to go?

(Do Cotters do services, or just tyres?)

Peanut2011

DamoElDiablo wrote: »

Sorry to piggy-back on here, but need to get my bike looked at, primarily the front forks, as one is leaking (previous owner said he thinks it's not sealed right) and to give it a quick once-over to check if it needs anything else done. I'm based in West Dublin. Any suggestions of where to go?

(Do Cotters do services, or just tyres?)

Yeah I would recommend Cotter. Had my bike there for number of things and they always looked after me.