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Ducati v.s Aprilia v.s MV Agusta v.s Japanese bikes Maintenance Costs
- Thread starter ldyblucpl
- Start date
You come on here and call me an antagonistic SOB and you fail to see the irony.
The 4V bikes tend to be ridden harder and if they are constantly bouncing off the rev limiter they will need more frequent adjustment. The 2V heads place greater loads on the valve train and given the same mileage and type of use they will see more frequent adjustments.
Any bike Ducati or Japanese will run like crap when the valves are out of adjustment.
No, I tend to neglect the chain but they are cheap to replace. I don't recommend skipping procedures that could cause piston to hit a valve.
Yamaha has longer intervals than the rest of the Japanese bikes, if you were to compare a Suzuki the maintenance would be double. Does that mean that all Japanese bikes other than Yamaha are crap?
The cost for service should be comparable unless your dealer is ripping you off. I pay about $340 for a service on my 4V Ducati.
As far as not being able to hit 26K miles before wadding up your bike, that sounds like a personal problem to me.
The labor is roughly the same for the Japanese bike and the MV. The only difference is whether your dealer is ripping you off or not and that can happen with any brand.
The 4V bikes tend to be ridden harder and if they are constantly bouncing off the rev limiter they will need more frequent adjustment. The 2V heads place greater loads on the valve train and given the same mileage and type of use they will see more frequent adjustments.
Any bike Ducati or Japanese will run like crap when the valves are out of adjustment.
No, I tend to neglect the chain but they are cheap to replace. I don't recommend skipping procedures that could cause piston to hit a valve.
Yamaha has longer intervals than the rest of the Japanese bikes, if you were to compare a Suzuki the maintenance would be double. Does that mean that all Japanese bikes other than Yamaha are crap?
The cost for service should be comparable unless your dealer is ripping you off. I pay about $340 for a service on my 4V Ducati.
As far as not being able to hit 26K miles before wadding up your bike, that sounds like a personal problem to me.
The labor is roughly the same for the Japanese bike and the MV. The only difference is whether your dealer is ripping you off or not and that can happen with any brand.
Ducati's always respond well to regular servicing and keeping your valve clearances within spec is one way of keeping that crisp 'new' feel to the motor. I've even heard that some people remove the heads at belt change time and decarbonise them just to keep that crispy feeling.
As the exhaust closing clearances get sloppier, it is generally accompanied by a reduction in slow speed running and in some cases become hard to start because the exhaust valve doesn't provide a good combustion chamber seal. They introduced a stronger hairpin spring in the 996 just to improve little things like this for example.
From the old bevels and onwards, Ducati have gradually increased their clearances through their engine designs to the point where they now boast 'half the service costs' on all 2008 models. I believe this has come about for a number of reasons like - production processes and desing have improved over time, metallurgical quality is much better and the advancements in oil quality.
As the exhaust closing clearances get sloppier, it is generally accompanied by a reduction in slow speed running and in some cases become hard to start because the exhaust valve doesn't provide a good combustion chamber seal. They introduced a stronger hairpin spring in the 996 just to improve little things like this for example.
From the old bevels and onwards, Ducati have gradually increased their clearances through their engine designs to the point where they now boast 'half the service costs' on all 2008 models. I believe this has come about for a number of reasons like - production processes and desing have improved over time, metallurgical quality is much better and the advancements in oil quality.
▲▼ßððĝiз▼▲
New member
Okay, took the time to make a few calls around the area and check to see some variables. Here's what I got:
MV Agusta: all 3 dealers said that the valves are supposed to be checked at the 600 mile service -according to MV- and every 7,500 miles thereafter. The procedure is 5 hours of labor to check plus additional labor to "fix" if necessary.
Two of the dealers said that they don't recommend the valve service at 600 miles as it is uneccesary. The cheapest find I could have for this service was about 600 bucks with the valve check or a couple hundred without. So, that's 600 bucks every 7,500 miles and maybe 600 bucks when you get the bike. There's a larger charge for the rest of the service, this is just valves.
I called two places re: suzuki. I don't have my manual to my gixxer thousand, so I was running off the Yamaha manual.
The dealers said the service was at around 14,000 miles (much less than Yamaha) and that it was around 300 bucks but they recommended only doing it with an overall larger service of around 450.
So here's the numbers I've been given, whoever thinks I'm "being screwed" can find some better numbers. If you do MV's service and Suzuki's service as recommended by the manufacturer:
MV: 600 per 7,500 miles
Suzuki: 450 per 14,500 miles.
Is that not almost three times the price by the time you've reached 15K miles? Or perhaps more if you did the full valves at 600 miles??
Now, opinion time, I'm not doing a valve service on an inline 4 unless it's reached a few years old and I'm deciding to keep it. And I'm sure as hell not doing it on a 2V ducati under 20K miles unless it's running rough, especially given the cost of replacement engines on crashed bikes.
I would probably do the 7,500 mile on the MV just because.
MV Agusta: all 3 dealers said that the valves are supposed to be checked at the 600 mile service -according to MV- and every 7,500 miles thereafter. The procedure is 5 hours of labor to check plus additional labor to "fix" if necessary.
Two of the dealers said that they don't recommend the valve service at 600 miles as it is uneccesary. The cheapest find I could have for this service was about 600 bucks with the valve check or a couple hundred without. So, that's 600 bucks every 7,500 miles and maybe 600 bucks when you get the bike. There's a larger charge for the rest of the service, this is just valves.
I called two places re: suzuki. I don't have my manual to my gixxer thousand, so I was running off the Yamaha manual.
The dealers said the service was at around 14,000 miles (much less than Yamaha) and that it was around 300 bucks but they recommended only doing it with an overall larger service of around 450.
So here's the numbers I've been given, whoever thinks I'm "being screwed" can find some better numbers. If you do MV's service and Suzuki's service as recommended by the manufacturer:
MV: 600 per 7,500 miles
Suzuki: 450 per 14,500 miles.
Is that not almost three times the price by the time you've reached 15K miles? Or perhaps more if you did the full valves at 600 miles??
Now, opinion time, I'm not doing a valve service on an inline 4 unless it's reached a few years old and I'm deciding to keep it. And I'm sure as hell not doing it on a 2V ducati under 20K miles unless it's running rough, especially given the cost of replacement engines on crashed bikes.
I would probably do the 7,500 mile on the MV just because.
Miss Coffee
New member
yeah the service milage on mv and ducati are about the same. 600 is probably about the norm on major service. my dealer is a little cheaper than most and the mechanic was on Fast by Ferracci ama race team so he knows what hes doing. he recommends only doing a major service every 10k miles. also said he has never had to do a valve adjustment on one that wasnt primarily a track bike. bottom line is if your not scared off by the 20k+ price tag then near double service bill is not going to change your mind on the bike. high end dealers have always and always will charge more for what they do because for the most part they know that there customers pockets arent nervous.
I agree with Morgan; my filosophy on this is that it is better to pay premium dollars for service as long as such service is done properly and safely. Let us all not forget that a simple mistake in servicing a bike could cost our lives. One day I was track riding at VIR North Course and all of a sudden right in front of me a guy started losing oil from the bellypan...a few seconds later his bike slided, he crashed, the bike caught on fire ...a ball of fire I should say and after a long interruption time we all learned that whomever serviced his bike right before the track day forgot to tighten the oil plug....so with the vibrations and after not even a mile riding the thing came lose and ....bang! on the ground he goes....fortunately he was ok but can you imagine if he was part of that ball of fire????
bobbybrown
New member
my last bike was a '98 katana...and i sold it after 59,000 miles with every inch of those miles put on by yours truly...i have a friend that put over 60K on his VFR...so even though my perspective is quite small, i would say that i could answer your question with a honest "two"...but i am more than certain that there are many many other stories out there with even greater milage...
and since this is my thread i want to ask another question (just out of curisoity, b/c i am in the market for a new bike rsv facotory or 1098...not sure but it WILL be ITALIAN!!)...how many miles are we getting on our itialian beasts?
peace
and since this is my thread i want to ask another question (just out of curisoity, b/c i am in the market for a new bike rsv facotory or 1098...not sure but it WILL be ITALIAN!!)...how many miles are we getting on our itialian beasts?
peace
wateripple
New member
i had a rsv with well over 20k before i sold it. the 1098 is to new for many ppl to have high milage but im sure it will have a good life if it is taken care of. the ape will problably give you more trouble free miles but thats just my opinion.
I raced a full season on my '04 RSV-R with no technical failures at all. No major mods were done and I'm sure that helps. However, you can bet that most of the miles were near the redline and that stands for something. I just changed the oil and filter as my preventative maintenance. No big secret. The Aprilia is similar to a Japanese bike in maintenance. Of course, all bikes can have problems and some other RSV owners did complain about little nagging problems. I just never really had any.