I've been thinking (which is rare)

[psychopaulgtr]

i've been looking through all the documents for my zxr especially the mot's n stuff. now i bought the bike at the end of august 2005 its a

1997 Preg
it had 12100 miles on the clock at the time i bought it
6previous owners
and a service history until 2001

i've been thinking that over the last 9 years the bike hasnt been ridden much. in fact most of its life its been tucked away in a garage only ridden on sunny days i bet it had never seen a drop of rain.


but now its ridden everyday to get me to work through rain, snow, salt and shite. and now there is just over 16000 miles on the clock. im punishing my zxr

9 years is a long time in the life of a motor vehicle. but for 9years of occasional riding on dry days only then to be introduced to harsh weather and everyday riding cant be doing the engine any good also the cam chain tensioner has gone along with other little problems. no service history since 2001 worries me. even though the last owner said he did everything, i'll never know.

so..............

would a big expensive kawasaki service be a good idea to get the zxr up to scratch? coz the bike might not have had a decent service for 5 years

thanks

[richie400ss]

jesus christ, don't do it. if you want a service, find a little back street dealer who knows his onions. main dealers always talk sh1t and don't do what they put on the sheet. they'll also tell you to get things you don't need.

[RedexRobB]

A service is supposed to be done with respect to the miles its done and not how old it is.

My old ZXR went 5000 miles without a service, when they did a major service on it, it felt liek a brand new bike afterwards. That was becuase everything slowly deteriorated and i didnt notice the change so much. so when everything was how it should be, it felt really good.

Also on that service they checked the clearances and they were spot on, "its obviously a good motor having gone that long without a service and the valves still be in check" the guy said

[psychopaulgtr]

yeah i know a little place nearby which i highly reccomended for services, mots and little jobs. and the last time i went to the kawasaki dealer i forget what was getting done but after they gve me some bullshit about the ride height looking low due to one of the last owners been a shortarse they said it needed doing to suit my height but i handle the bike fine and im cofortable on it so theres no problem

but more important is the cam chain tensioner i've been told how to sort this out by a few ppl but i dont have the confidence to do it myself. reason why is if i balls it up i cant get to work doing shifts an all. one of the guys who told me how to fix it is one of the zxr400 breakers (so he will know his stuff) might be a good idea to ask him to do it.

if not how much would this cost at a garage and how much for a service?

[RedexRobB]

The price for a service varies from place to place. A full everything done service for me was about 400 quid including labour. It also depends what you get done, the service manual tells you what needs doing at certain mileages.