Yeah - I know - I don't even own one yet - never even ridden a motorcycle before, and ALREADY I'm trying to figure out if I should consider doing my own maintenance. Well why not.
I figure this year I'll mainly concentrate on learning to ride the bike as is. But if that goes well, I'll need to occupy my time this winter getting ready for next year's ride.
I currently do not have a garage or carport. My tools are limited to a little black & decker portable work bench, a Craftsman socket set, a cordless drill, and a few screw drivers.
I've successfully changed a starter, battery, spark plugs, oil, oil filter, brake cylinders (with help), u-joint (with help), and distributor cap on a car. I can't really say I enjoyed doing any of those things. In some cases, I goofed up enough and had to re-do it enough that it actually cost me MORE to do it myself than go to a mechanic.
. Of course, in those cases I was working on my only ride, so when I goofed up, I got SERIOUSLY distressed thinking about the fact that I couldn't get to work, and how would I get to the hardware store to buy the tools/parts I needed THIS time
So I'm reading all these posts about white spacers, pulling a brass plug to get to a mixture screw, soft carb screws that strip easily, and all the troubles people have reassembling their carburetors, and I'm thinkin' "Do I have a chance in hell of successfully making any of these mods, much less doing them without it costing me an arm and a leg? Will I kill my cool Savage if I even try to do these things?"
Insecurities aside, how tricky/hard is this stuff? How much time do you guys invest in each of these popular mods? What kind of specialized tools do you have?
Tim