| Nelly has mentioned the thing that occured to me, that you are tied to the full service regime while you are in the warranty period. If you bitch about the cost of this, what on earth are you doing buying a new bike? If you don't like the cost, service it on the cheap but don't go crying about things not going your way if a warranty claim issue arises.
After the warranty period expires, you are perhaps a little more free to shop around for cheaper service, but you are still running the risk of
a.) not having your bike properly serviced
b.) getting a bill larger than the one quoted because the quote didn't all items that may need attention during the service.
If you can do some of the work yourself, more power to your elbow, well done. However, the service criteria for Ducatis are set by Ducati, and dealers are obliged to follow them. If you're worried about greedy grasping people, address your comments to DUK, not the dealers who have to play by DUK's rules. Bear in mind though that Ducati superbikes are highly strung, highly tuned machines - with only two cylinders, competing in a world of Jap IL4's, they have to be.
I don't enjoy service time for my 999, but I bought the bike with everything that it requires to run it. It's a package. If I was worried about servicing above all else, I would have got myself an MZ or something.
For the record, I don't have money to burn, every penny counts in my household. And as for hero-worship, like most people, I gave that up when I hit adolescence. I was astonished to read a reference to it in a grown-up forum like DSC, I thought I was back on Usenet for second.  |