Good God!

[docsherlock]

I have just read on another forum about a couple of bikers that take their bikes to the dealer to have the chain adjusted (not replaced, adjusted).

Fcuk me sideways - I've read it all now. Bikers ain't what they used to be.

In the unlikely event the culprits read this forum - GET A GRIP, BOYS!

[Warin]

Some bikes are company property ... on the expense account. Takes all kinds.

[Threewheelbonnie]

Odd this is in BMW tech, but could be F-series I guess.

The dealer adjusting chains will be going places. This is the exact business model all the large manufacturers want and BMW excel at. Get your bike renter back in the showroom every other day. Give him "free" coffee while the £80 an hour technician looks at the chain, confirms it is indeed still there and stamps the "safety" record and the salesman gets a go at convincing him his knackered old August-2013 200 mile bike isn't as good as last months upgrade which will only be another tenner a month so long as he doesn't go over the mileage limit.

How you get to this state of affairs is to copy what the IT providers do. Instil a fear of the device breaking. Fill the customers head with terrifying mumbo-jumbo and jargon. Be an utter **** if the thing goes wrong and the customers spending trend isn't in the top 20th percentile (again where BMW excel, claiming non-OEM petrol made the tyres go flat etc.).

The mobile phone model of pounds per month is way more profitable than the old vehicle builders who sold you something then had to compete for the maintenance.

Our problem is that as many here cannot fit the expected profile. I bet even if you could get your £199 a month/7p a mile over 100 a month bike connected to the diagnostic system in Ulan Bator, the computer system there wouldn't recognise your customer number.

The extremists of this business model, BMW and Triumph will either rise or fall on it's success. The Japanese big 4 can afford to hedge their bets. The consumer will choose, but it is the weekend riders who outnumber the long range travellers.

Andy

[pebble35]

A few years back I borrowed a 2003 Ducati Multistrada 1000 for a trip to Europe. It was all a t short notice and i was not familiar with the bike so the extent of the prep did not go much beyond making sure I had a copy of the bike manual and the toolkit on board - after all that should be all you need for any routine maintenance on the road shouldn't it .......................

Anyway after a thousand miles miles or so the chain was a little slack so I got the manual out to check how to adjust it - the Multistrada has one of those concentric hub adjusters.

And the manual said 'take it to a dealer'

The toolkit did not even contain the tools necessary to do the job !

[backofbeyond]

As an old school "biker" whose formative years were spent with oily fingernails and spanners in my pockets I too was initially amused by the thought of someone taking their bike to a dealer to have the chain adjusted, but thinking about it I'm not so sure I'm not the one off the normal spectrum these days.

Time was when bikes (and cars, but bikes more so) were hugely maintenance dependent and you were as likely to be changing a piston or a valve at the side of the road as you were adjusting the chain. Bit by bit the manufacturers have removed the weak spots to the point where there's not much the average owner is expected, or really needs to know about the mechanical side of things. I suspect many "weekend" low mileage bikes don't need their chains adjusting from one service to the next and, like much of the rest of the bits under the covers, can be ignored.

Part of the problem with the "no user maintainable parts inside" approach is the old Colin Chapman (founder of Lotus cars!) quote of "if I made it adjustable they'd adjust it wrong". Adjusting a chain does actually require a reasonable knowledge base as well as a number of tools to carry it out. You have to know that "as tight as possible" isn't the correct answer but if you're starting from scratch why would you assume that it has to be slack but just not as slack as it is. Years ago you could probably have picked up a copy of Motorcycle Mechanics magazine who would have walked you through the procedure step by step but they saw the writing on the wall years ago and reinvented themselves as Performance Bikes. Not much chain adjusting info in the last copy I read.

Of course it's an ill wind that doesn't blow anybody any good and reducing the knowledge base requires to ride a bike as a weekend hobby does give the dealers some chance to pull back an income stream lost when fitting new Norton crankshafts and fixing Triumph oil leaks were day to day jobs. If you can adjust your chain, rebuild your wheels or weld up a new frame think yourself lucky to be able to, but what else could you have been doing instead.

[docsherlock]

Originally Posted by Warin

Some bikes are company property ... on the expense account. Takes all kinds.

Nah - privately owned and expensed.

Originally Posted by backofbeyond

If you can adjust your chain, rebuild your wheels or weld up a new frame think yourself lucky to be able to, but what else could you have been doing instead.

Agree with all your points in your posts, but adjusting a chain ain't in the same ballpark as welding a frame or rebuilding a wheel (neither of which are in my skill set)!

The business models of BMW & Triumph (and the associated maintenance hassles) are why I ride a V-strom and Tenere.....

[craneguy]

I just picked up a 2010 KLR650. The headlight beam is too high so I checked the manual to see which way was up with the adjusters. Manual says "let the dealer do it"

Sheesh!

[docsherlock]

Originally Posted by craneguy

I just picked up a 2010 KLR650. The headlight beam is too high so I checked the manual to see which way was up with the adjusters. Manual says "let the dealer do it"

Sheesh!

Yeah, but did ya take it to the dealer??

[Walkabout]

Originally Posted by craneguy

I just picked up a 2010 KLR650. The headlight beam is too high so I checked the manual to see which way was up with the adjusters. Manual says "let the dealer do it"

Sheesh!

It wouldn't happen with a KTM; the manual even tells you how to change the light bulbs.

Of course, the solution is:-
"We have ridding from London to Everest Base Camp so far and with the Scottoiler on our F800GS we have not even adjusted the chain once. Can't fault the design and reliability. You can almost forget you have a chain on the bike. Through all the dirt, dust, mud and sand the Scottoiler has performed faultlessly"
Kevin Sanders – Co-Founder Globebusters
(taken straight out of the HUBB link -- http://www.scottoiler.com/uk/adventu...nlimited+Forum )

Isn't this the same guy who used to ride a shafty 1200GS?????

[backofbeyond]

Originally Posted by docsherlock

Agree with all your points in your posts, but adjusting a chain ain't in the same ballpark as welding a frame or rebuilding a wheel (neither of which are in my skill set)!

I agree, but the fact that you're able to make the distinction shows that you've traveled at least part of the way along the greasy fingernails highway. Have you noticed any reduction in your skill set over the years as replacement bikes have needed less doing to them? Nobody sets two stroke timing with a dial gauge any more (well I do but that's another matter) but it was almost a daily ritual years ago. Chain adjusting is just another step on that journey.

My wife doesn't ride but she does drive and has zero knowledge of car mechanics - to the point where she doesn't know where the bonnet release catch is. She doesn't need to as BMW have engineered out the need for her to lift the bonnet. Nothing has gone wrong in two cars over five years and the service intervals are a couple of hours in the dealers' every two years. I could easily see her taking the car to a dealer to fill the windscreen washer fluid (were I not around to do it) - and complaining about how hard it is to do.

Bikes are not quite at that stage yet but they need a lot less hands on intervention than they did and it's a trend that's only going to continue - even the Italians have had to raise their game! You're meant to enjoy them rather than enjoy repairing them.

[Walkabout]

Originally Posted by docsherlock

I have just read on another forum about a couple of bikers that take their bikes to the dealer to have the chain adjusted (not replaced, adjusted).

Anyway, back on topic, the dealers should point them toward this website.
It has contained the section linked below for quite some time (+, since this is a Beemer thread, it also has/had a write up about tuning Bing carburettors).
Chain Adjustment + Wheel Alignment | Horizons Unlimited