New Owner questions…

[FitzAnywhere]

2013 R3T (18.5k miles) — I’m going To leave the motor and exhaust alone this year. When I give it to the mechanic for storage this winter, I have a few questions:

What maintenance should I expect for my age bike, assuming all is running smoothly? I wanna make sure I can keep this for a long time!

What mods or elective work are reasonable to ask them about? While I want to keep it a long time, I also wanna make sure it runs efficiently and fun for those years.

 

[Tripps]

#1, grease the spline regularly, every tire change, high molybendum if you can find it. TuneECU is a program that you can download for about $20 I think ( it used to be free)
You'll need a Lonelech cable to connect to your smartphone, also about $20 I believe. Don't know a lot about how it works now, I still have the freeware from 10 or 12 years ago on my laptop. But you can download a tune that restores all the power that was detuned out of the Touring
Check the date codes on the tires make sure they're not old.

 

[FitzAnywhere]

#1, grease the spline regularly, every tire change, high molybendum if you can find it. TuneECU is a program that you can download for about $20 I think ( it used to be free)
You'll need a Lonelech cable to connect to your smartphone, also about $20 I believe. Don't know a lot about how it works now, I still have the freeware from 10 or 12 years ago on my laptop. But you can download a tune that restores all the power that was detuned out of the Touring
Check the date codes on the tires make sure they're not old.

Okay! Great start! The tires are newer (2 yrs) but I’ll double check them for sure. I know the previous owner handled fluids regularly and put on those tires but don’t know anything else.

How do I know what ECU tune is “proper”? Does the software guide me at all?

 

[Tripps]

There's a forum section here with different tunes, with descriptions, and last I looked, TuneECU's site also has descriptions of the various tunes, at least they used to.
Like Stock Touring, Aftermarket Exhaust, Aftermarket Exhaust and Intake, etc. Some provide horsepower figures. At least they used to, it's been years since I used it.
If you're a real maniac, (me), Carpenter Racing in NJ has 200, 240, and 270 hp packages, ride in, ride out, and bring lots of money.
If you're a good mechanic, or know one, @Neville Lush makes do it yourself kits, shipped from Australia.

 

[Junior]

There's a forum section here with different tunes, with descriptions, and last I looked, TuneECU's site also has descriptions of the various tunes, at least they used to.
Like Stock Touring, Aftermarket Exhaust, Aftermarket Exhaust and Intake, etc. Some provide horsepower figures. At least they used to, it's been years since I used it.
If you're a real maniac, (me), Carpenter Racing in NJ has 200, 240, and 270 hp packages, ride in, ride out, and bring lots of money.
If you're a good mechanic, or know one, @Neville Lush makes do it yourself kits, shipped from Australia.

I can vouch for the Power-Tripp (Wayne's) tune still being on TuneECU. You can download it there, or people here will share the .hex file if you ask. I have it and would share. I can also say that the process works well with the Android version of TuneECU. I just did the thing myself a couple weeks ago. I will also say that it is worthwhile. It increased the fun factor on my R3T enough I don't even feel I have to do anything more.

Let me know if you need help Fitz. I lost count of how many hours I studied the "Derestricting" thread so that I could be sure I was doing it right. You fall in love with the bike as soon as you buy it... so it is nerve wracking, the thought you might scramble the bike's brain if you screw something up. I could probably save you some time studying, it's really not hard once you figure out the step-by-step and are sure you have the right file to load.

 

[Junior]

2013 R3T (18.5k miles) — I’m going To leave the motor and exhaust alone this year. When I give it to the mechanic for storage this winter, I have a few questions:

What maintenance should I expect for my age bike, assuming all is running smoothly? I wanna make sure I can keep this for a long time!

What mods or elective work are reasonable to ask them about? While I want to keep it a long time, I also wanna make sure it runs efficiently and fun for those years.

There are a couple scheduled maintenances you'll want to keep in mind.
-Valve check / adjust
-Throttle bodies. Cleaned, new seals, and balanced.

 

[FitzAnywhere]

I can vouch for the Power-Tripp (Wayne's) tune still being on TuneECU. You can download it there, or people here will share the .hex file if you ask. I have it and would share. I can also say that the process works well with the Android version of TuneECU. I just did the thing myself a couple weeks ago. I will also say that it is worthwhile. It increased the fun factor on my R3T enough I don't even feel I have to do anything more.

Let me know if you need help Fitz. I lost count of how many hours I studied the "Derestricting" thread so that I could be sure I was doing it right. You fall in love with the bike as soon as you buy it... so it is nerve wracking, the thought you might scramble the bike's brain if you screw something up. I could probably save you some time studying, it's really not hard once you figure out the step-by-step and are sure you have the right file to load.

There are a couple scheduled maintenances you'll want to keep in mind.
-Valve check / adjust
-Throttle bodies. Cleaned, new seals, and balanced.

Ballpark on what the dealer should charge?

 

[Junior]

Yeah, I got one estimate and it was 7 or 8 hundred bucks apiece. Sorry.
You can use TuneECU to check on your throttle body balance. If it's in tolerance you can put it off for a while. Then maybe learn to do it yourself. That's what I'm going to do.
I don't think I trust myself to do the valve adjustment, but there's plenty of people here who do. Just depends on your competence with motorcycle maintenance.

 

[FitzAnywhere]

Yeah, I got one estimate and it was 7 or 8 hundred bucks apiece. Sorry.
You can use TuneECU to check on your throttle body balance. If it's in tolerance you can put it off for a while. Then maybe learn to do it yourself. That's what I'm going to do.
I don't think I trust myself to do the valve adjustment, but there's plenty of people here who do. Just depends on your competence with motorcycle maintenance.

I’m super new at maintaining the bike. So I may wait till the dealer gets it. If they get everything to a clean slate (so to speak) I can learn from there.

 

[Journeyman]

Download the manual from the Resources heading (top of this page). As far as doing your own maintenance, it's a matter of getting into it gradually. I was a complete noob when I first got back into riding and now do all my own maintenance, including a Lush component rebuild of my earlier Roadster.

With the manual, YouTubes, and great help from members, it's like following a recipe- just go step-by-step, slowly carefully.
Start with engine oil and final drive fluid changes. Easy.
If not done already, remove the stock air system and replace with K&N, or similar- then you'll have easy access to the plugs, valves, etc.
Use TuneEcu to load a new tune based on the custom air and whatever exhaust system you may have.
Learn to pull the wheels for tire changes (you can even do that yourself too, but few here do) and with the rear off lube the splines (ala @Tripps ).
Throttle body clean and adjust (ala @FitzAnywhere ).
Change spark plugs and check valve clearances, then go on to actual valve adjustments. This one is the most intimidating, at first, but totally doable- step-by-step.
You can do it all and there are many of us here who will be of help if you ever get stuck.

Enjoy your new ride!