12 K service on a 05 s2r 800lll

[Labbedds]

Ok, since there aren't many posts about the price of this kind of stuff I'm gonna lay it all out on the line.  First off, I live in the city and know of a couple really good shops here in the city.  I'm a student on a tight budget, how did I afford the duc in the first place?  Sold my car so it's my only form of transportation.  That said, when the 12K rolled around I needed to get it serviced and looked into doing some things myself but figured with my time/budget constraint I wanted it done professionally.  I guess it all comes down to what matters more to you, a shop in the city that can get the job done in a day (Desmoto) but you have to pay the premium, or go to the outskirts (Milpitas) and get it done for about half the price. 

Dropped it off last saturday at Nichol's in Milpitas for the 12K and they said they could have it done by wed!!! But couldn't get a ride down there during the week so decided to pick it up today.  Here's what was done.

Valves
All fluids
Changed a broken clip in the head by the valve?
Syncd throttle bodies
got rid of my intake and exhaust leak
oil change
belts changed.
Tire check
brake check
fork fluid check
blah blah blah.

Bike runs tits now and feels great

OTD $452.00!!!!!!!  Wow, that's what I'm talkin' bout.  And the guys there are really straight up and didn't try to upsell me on anything.  I'd go there again in a heartbeat.  If I had the money I would go to Desmoto but with the current economy had to do what the wallet could afford.  Hope this helps anyone who is looking for a good deal on a 2v service.

Ride safe  [moto]

Shameless plug:
http://www.nicholsmfg.com/service.html

[Spidey]

That's great.   

Did they give you synthetic oil or do you have to pay extra for that?  And--if you know--did they have to adjust any of your valves or did they measure and find that they were ok?  I don't know if shops charge different amounts if they actually have to change out the shims or whether it's a flat fee for the service. 

[somegirl]

Yay, glad it worked out for you!   Didja say hi to my bike while you were there?

[Labbedds]

I saw it up on the stands, poor thing looked like it was in the infermary with it all dissasembled.  Yeah they switched the shims out.  I was expecting to cringe at my OTD price but was relieved.  Nichol's rules  .  The slab drive home was boring but the bike feels much more responsive and seems like it has more pull, maybe it's just because they fixed the intake/exhaust leak and the air bleed screws.  They fixed the idle now and  when she's warm she purrs. As for the oil, I need to check if it is synthetic, couldn't tell ya off the bat.

[DarkStaR]

That's great.   

Did they give you synthetic oil or do you have to pay extra for that?  And--if you know--did they have to adjust any of your valves or did they measure and find that they were ok?  I don't know if shops charge different amounts if they actually have to change out the shims or whether it's a flat fee for the service. 

When I had my 6K valves done @ nichols, they were all to spec.  No price change for me.

[rockaduc]

What city??  That service price is amazing!

Ok, since there aren't many posts about the price of this kind of stuff I'm gonna lay it all out on the line.  First off, I live in the city and know of a couple really good shops here in the city.  I'm a student on a tight budget, how did I afford the duc in the first place?  Sold my car so it's my only form of transportation.  That said, when the 12K rolled around I needed to get it serviced and looked into doing some things myself but figured with my time/budget constraint I wanted it done professionally.  I guess it all comes down to what matters more to you, a shop in the city that can get the job done in a day (Desmoto) but you have to pay the premium, or go to the outskirts (Milpitas) and get it done for about half the price. 

Dropped it off last saturday at Nichol's in Milpitas for the 12K and they said they could have it done by wed!!! But couldn't get a ride down there during the week so decided to pick it up today.  Here's what was done.

Valves
All fluids
Changed a broken clip in the head by the valve?
Syncd throttle bodies
got rid of my intake and exhaust leak
oil change
belts changed.
Tire check
brake check
fork fluid check
blah blah blah.

Bike runs tits now and feels great

OTD $452.00!!!!!!!  Wow, that's what I'm talkin' bout.  And the guys there are really straight up and didn't try to upsell me on anything.  I'd go there again in a heartbeat.  If I had the money I would go to Desmoto but with the current economy had to do what the wallet could afford.  Hope this helps anyone who is looking for a good deal on a 2v service.

Ride safe  [moto]

Shameless plug:
http://www.nicholsmfg.com/service.html

[Spidey]

It's Milpitas in SF/bay area.

[desmoquattro]

What city??  That service price is amazing!

On this board, "The City" generally means San Francisco. We sometimes confuse people that way

[duqette]

Welcome to the cult, I mean club of Nichol's devotee's. My li'l duqette is down there right now gettin' her 12K service done, too, along with a couple other little fixes. I'm desperately hoping to get her back tomorrow, or I may just keel over from two wheeled withdrawal, the way the weather's been lately.

They've always put full synth in her, BTW.

[Labbedds]

Good to know, saw yer duc there too.  Really like the service I got from these guys.

[duqette]

I just picked up Duqette from her stay at the luxurious Nichol's Ducati Spa. 

In addition to all the usual 12 K stuff (belts, plugs, valves etc etc), they also fixed my tail light, which the previous owner had customized, and were able to re-do it in a way that will hopefully prevent it from falling off again. They did the same thing to the kickstand suicide switch, installing a bypass so that it works the way it should (cuts the engine only if the kickstand is down and the engine is in gear).

And, they noticed puddles of oil on the engine,  so they went ahead and replaced the "crappy stock" oil breather with their own bright and shiny unbreakable one. Hopefully this will help with my oil consumption issue... So, I didn't escape for a mere $450, but it was still mighty reasonable, given all the work done (and the fancy new part).   

I had to ask what an oil breather is. Sounds kind of scary, what kind of monster breathes oil?! Some sort of giant subterranean slug-like monster accidentally created at the Shell-Exxon-BP labs that they keep contained with giant underground electric fences. Fences that are controlled with one huge master circuit breaker, manned by a weak-willed and easily overwhelmed college dropout....   

[Labbedds]

Haha, mine's been holding it's breath for a while then cause I gots no oil leaks

[MendoDave]

Amazingly enough, I had the "Which city" conversation with a long time resident of Fremont.

Its probably time to just make it all "S.F.B.C." (San Francisco Bay City) except for that little gap of open field between Freemont & S.J. Its all one continuous city now anyway.

[Desmostro]

I just saw this post after reading this article
So i called around.
The 4 valve job is a little pricier but not that much more at Nichols. 


I called and found some impressive extremes:

Bend Oregon Ducati $250. + shims if needed.
5.5 hours labor, DNA says the same.

Ducatii Dealers in the Bay: Munroes & Hattar Motors, $850 - $900. ; $1000 for the 15k service 
7.5 hours labor + parts