So...I thought it would be about 100 bucks for an oil change with inflation. NOPE. three hundo. Then they wanted 99.00 to check my sprockets and chain...you know...like, hey can you just put your mechanic eyes on my chain and sprocket and tell me if they are good to go for my 3000 mile trip I have coming up? Yeah...sure, we can do that for another 99.00 bro. The dealer is in Lynwood wa. The one with a 911 turbo sitting out front that is most likely the owners ride.
BTW. Glad to be back on the forum. I am now on my 3rd zx14. My 2022 h2 sx se is being held hostage by my soon to be ex in her garage, so I said F it, and bought a beautiful 2012 with 7000 miles on it in Cali. Bike is sooooo clean. Had it dyno'd and added some bits for touring as well. Color is blue. I already logged 5k miles in 3 months....won't be clean for long!

I saw the $300 oil change and thought someone was talking about a Can-Am.

Jeez, imagine what it would cost to change tires! If it was expensive oil, maybe that would amount to a hundred bucks on its own but still...

Apparently, these shops nowadays charge a minimum rate of $200.00 per hour. They said labor for oil change is 1 hour plus materials and tax. I also changed my rear tire at one of the non dealership shops and they charged me 175.00 (minimum rate of 1 hour) plus the Michelin 6 tire, plus tax = about 500.00.

Oil changes on the 14 are easy. I just do it myself. Along with most other maintenance

Mad

I called my closet Kawasaki motorcycle shop about mounting new tires and I would bring in my wheels. $67.50 per tire with a spin balance.
Hell with that!
I ordered Motion Pro levers and did the front tire. I added 2 oz of balance beads. It was a fight, now the back tire.
I am by myself now. I did find a tiny shop closer to me that will charge $30 for 1 wheel/tire and I am going there.
Old age has caught up with me.

I am not giving up my NoMar even iffens it hardly ever gets used anymore

I purchased the rabaconda tire change kit. Yes pretty damn expensive. But I live on Whidbey island. Most shops what you to drop the tires/bike off and come back. That is killing two days for me. Plus it is a min $75 per tire, plus the cost of dealer price tire. That is 150 + 40 for ferry + gas = 200. Between me and my friends we have over 6 bikes. I have already done to sets. Man oh man it make changing a tire fun. Two more sets and I break even. Plus I can sell it and get back a good chuck. You should look into it. The only issues is the balance.

Yeah LOL $300 for an oil change on a ZX-14? There's probably $40-60 for oil and $15 for a filter, and I guess an hour minimum charge isn't beyond ridiculous....although I'd say any decent mechanic would at least be able to include a chain inspection/adjustment in that hour.

I've changed I don't know how many tires on my 14 myself, maybe 10 sets, different brands, different makes, different sizes (190s/195s). I've ONLY used basic bar balancing and NEVER have had to even move the original, factory weights installed on the rims. I've followed the (usually) red or yellow dots (I think maybe one tire had a white dot) and recommendation of where to place the dot on the rim, usually in correlation to the valve stem. No vibrations, EVER, at any speed.

So just keep that in mind if you decide to mount your own tires. I mean, worst case scenario, if you did end up with a vibration, is taking them in anyway (or rebalancing them yourselves).

My brand new 14R has the dots aligned with the valve stems so that clears the mystery up for me. It has no wheel weights on it. I must say though, changing tires has been a rough job for me. It takes a whole day and I have done some very minor cosmetic damage to my wheels as careful as I try to be. Changing tires with tire irons is a really hard job and even kind of risky to your safety. I've done it maybe four times and I'll keep doing it but it's worth a couple hundred to have a shop do it if you trust them. Vic, if you have changed 10 sets of tires, maybe you got the technique down but for me, there's huge tension in the tire by the time I get to the last couple bights. LOL the dot usually isn't aligned to the valve stem by the time I get done either.

I was planning to buy a Cycle Hill tire changer but if anyone wants to see how it's done on a budget...

http://zx14ninjaforum.com/messages.cfm?threadid=FDACE357-1372-66AE-3B9B1255DBA00FD7

* Last updated by: Rook on 7/1/2024 @ 12:45 AM *

No special techniques. I built a small wood stand, have 3 irons, 4 rim protectors..and a yellow thumb gripper thing. Yes I have nicked my rims a few times. I definitely found the more often I changed tires, the easier and faster I was able to do it, and less scratches. The scratches I've had are no more than normal operating scratches...you know from rocks or whatever might get kicked up and scratch the rims a little. Nothing a little touch up paint doesn't fix. I've only ever used soapy water for lube too.

Now, I have OE wheels. If I had aftermarket wheels, I most definitely wouldn't be doing this the same way I am. Maybe, MAYBE if I had a good enough changer that there was NO chance of scratching or damage.

Indeed that last bit can be a pain, for me it's just taking small bites at that point. And that yellow thumb thing I have helped a lot too since it eliminated needing to try to keep the first start of the tire in place myself and chasing it all over hell round n round.

A bench vice to break the bead, a 25gal oil drum with a rubber hose around the opening of the barrel, a.k.a., the garage garbage can. Black nail polish if I nick the rims. Tire changing is old school with long/short spoons.

Always use a magic marker to time the link to the tooth sprocket or I ran a new wear pattern. Waa-Waa sing me the high and low you can hear me coming...NOT!

Vic I was going to order that yellow thumb thing if I got the Cycle Hill tire changer. I think they just call it the "Yellow Thing!" I have the NoMar seaweed tire lube and it is excellent, even better than dish soap. The tire changing stand fits to a trailer hitch receiver on a pickup truck so that thing is staying put no matter how hard you lever on it. There is a special NoMar bar too. I've heard the videos make using the bar look a lot easier than it is in real life but it couldn't be harder than using tire irons. The big delrin wheel locking clamps are what really sold me on it. I will get one someday. If it works well, I'd buy carbon fiber wheels and change the tires myself. IDK if you saw Kruz's post about a professional tire shop he used for 10 years busting the air pressure sensor on his BMW's CF rim. He ended up paying to replace that himself for the most part. No thanks, if I get expensive stuff, I take the time to learn how to care for it. Shops need to make a buck.

Hub I always follow your tip about marking the chain link to the sprocket tooth. Others think I'm crazy when I bring it up but all I have to do is explain it and I think everyone has to agree there's some logic there. It's easy to do, why not spend a minute to be extra thorough because it might just make a difference after all.

* Last updated by: Rook on 7/1/2024 @ 5:32 PM *

Yeah there's a lot of great options, and by no means would I say my technique and equipment are the best. I'd say passable on both, but nearly bear minimum. I have seen people change tires on the ground so i guess someone might even be able to get away with less. My stuff is designed around small foot print when not in use, and trying to prevent scratches/nicks to the rim. With that definitely makes the manual part a little tougher. But my (homemade) tire stand works pretty good, probably not as well as something commercial but then it takes up about a square foot when not in use (>99%) of the time.

If I was changing tires more frequently, several times a year maybe I'd consider doing something else. Even the year I did the 10k, miles I think I went through 3 sets of tires this setup worked. Also one "luxury" I do have is 2 sets of rims. So that makes it a lot easier since I can take my time and ready the next set to just bolt on and not necessarily have to do everything at the same time.

One of my neighbors recently had a garage addition done to their house. I'm thinking about it.

LOL yeah I've put a damn tire on the wrong direction a couple times now...I always think "screw it..not gonna matter anyway" then fixing it anyway.

Yeah, storage space. It makes a lot of sense to not use up more than is required. For CF rims though, that would be a part of the cost of owning them.

Yes, with the cost of storage units now, it makes sense to build your own. An outbuilding with a nonpermanent floor is an option I'm considering in the future. That won't increase taxes. I have a large deck 10 feet off the ground. It's about ready to be replaced. I might enclose the space underneath it for storage if I can figure out a way to make the deck/ceiling watertight.

Sorry for highjacking your thread birdman. LOL Yeah, $300 is steep for an oil change. We all have to find ways to to keep these costs in check or else we can't afford to own anything! It's really crazy what average ordinary folks owned in my parents day. Those days are gone.