SERVICE INTERVALS

[rippers]

Hi All. I have had my GTR 1400 from new since March this year. I have toured Europe a couple of times and it has never missed a beat. My slight surprise with the bike was the service intervals. 3500 miles on a large tourer seems quite small an interval. Having said that, at the moment I am a hostage to fortune as it is in warranty. I have now covered 8000 miles in 7 months, and I am very pleased with the bike.

However, can anyone tell me if it is necessary (Once out of warranty) to have a service every 3500 miles or can you quite safely push this up to 5000 miles?

[Lonewolf]

Rippers, this old chestnut keeps raising it's head. It's horses for courses. My GTR is out of warranty and I intend to service it every 5-6000 miles. In between services I am a stickler for general maintenance, such as making sure everything is lubed up that needs to be, oil levels remain good, although I've never had to top it up between services and that sort of thing. I can't see what harm this will do to the bike or even to any future resale value

[rippers]

LoneWolf

Many thanks. One other question to you. What sort of high mileage are the early GTRs turning in. Has anyone got 70-80k yet.

[Lonewolf]

I think Boomer has pretty high mileage on his but I can't recall what exactly so I won't speculate but kwikasfuki, (gonna take some getting used to that) ;D has between 40+ and 50k on his 2008 model.

[Kwikasfuki]

Mine has just over 40k presently and is going strong. I did service every 4k miles but now do it every 6k.

Some of the GTR owners in the states have over 100k miles without issues

[rippers]

 ;) Thanks. I am pretty happy with the bike, and more so having spoken to owners such as you. Thankyou

[fred24]

I agree a 3750ml service interval is ludicrous on a tourer.

However you do not have to have the bike serviced by a dealer to mantain the warranty, I have this in writing from Kawasaki.

If something fails because it wasn't serviced correctly then they may refuse to cover it under warranty as the 3750ml service is only an inspection (primarily of the hydralics) you would have to be unlucky for it to be a problem.

My 2011 has done 6500mls now and will go to the dealer every 7500mls because that is when items are changed but as I inspect the bike every time I clean it then as far as I am concerned the 3750 service is done every 300-600mls.

[Rusty]

Rippers ... this is a modern bit of Japanese engineering .... you could ride for ages without going anywhere near a garage and the bike would be fine ! I know what you mean though, whilst in warranty mine goes every 4000 miles, then, like all my previous bikes, when out of warranty it will go every 7- 8000 miles, which for me is about every 8 months or so.  ;D

[rippers]

Hi L.R.

I agree this is a great bit of engineering. I think the 1400 GTR is a great tourer. I have however been slightly disappointed by Kawasaki having the service intervals they have in warranty, and do feel this is unecessary and frankly they are doing this to gain revenue, which is not good for customer loyalty. It may well cause me to use a non franchise garage, once the warranty has expired.

However, as you are I am a hostage to fortune as I want the cover. Thank you for the views really helpful, and as a newbie I am finding this site really helpful in answering all the stupid questions I have.