May 2012 Newsletter

The importance of service intervals

SAC Raging Bull Customers
Hi all,

I sent out an SMS ± a week ago and promised an e-mail. Again I want to ask you to let us know if you don’t want to receive these news style e-mails – electronic newsletters. Valuable or not, some people don’t like receiving this type of mail, I certainly do. The only problem is it never happens.

Some very simple good advice regarding service, repairs and maintenance – I have seen over the past few years that often when bikes come in for a service, it has either done too little or too much mileage since the previous service. Some even as much as 12 000 kilometres – 4 000 too late.

Ladies and gentleman these bikes need clean fresh oil in their engines and at the very least a clean air filter and good plugs all the time. This is not where it ends. Most of our customers, now with bikes and in the past with their cars don’t really want to stick to the manufacturer’s specified service intervals and or specified service procedures. Not only is it expensive but also very often not really necessary. If you are one of these customers then at least insist on a general service every 8 000 kilometres and do all the repairs as and when they become necessary. Most important of all you also need to budget for some preventative maintenance every now and then.

Preventative maintenance is not always well received by most, simply because it becomes necessary to throw away a part or component that has not failed yet or is not ready for replacement on face value. The point is that these things have a tendency to catch you out when you least expect it or when you are on a long trip. Wheel bearings, fork seals, batteries, brake fluid, brake pads to mention only a few. You need to make the call or ask us for advice. I promise it will be good advice, I don’t like doing repairs that aren’t entirely necessary, all be it – preventative maintenance repairs.

During the winter you need to look after your bikes battery – don’t just park it for three or four months, ride it around the block once a week on a Sunday afternoon when its warm and the battery will live another year. If you don’t then you will replace the battery after the winter. If riding the bike once a week won’t be possible you can consider asking us to supply you with a winter charger and install the necessary components, they are not expensive. If you need to change the battery avoid the embarrassment of your bike not starting in front of your favourite coffee shop or pub, replace it with an original HD battery.

If you sms us your bikes current mileage, we can look back in our database and or history and together we can make some well informed decisions regarding service repairs and preventative maintenance. You may be planning a long trip which may or may not overlap some very necessary maintenance work – in this case it will be essential to make sure the trip is trouble free with the help of some careful planning.

On another note, our very special Akrapovic exhaust stock has arrived – check it out on our website.

They are the best exhaust systems available for your bike, for sure, and they are cost effective – in some cases cheaper than the alternatives.

Talking about our website, go there for good advice in all regards to HD. We update it regularly and will do so more in the future. It will soon not be necessary to send out these news letters because we are changing up a gear or two on the website, especially on the news pages.

Remember, the winter is a good time to plan those unwanted repairs and or those really exiting upgrades, performance as well as cosmetic – most don’t ride too often in the winter. If it is a colour change that you want, it takes a while, sometimes as much as three to four weeks. It’s always a better idea and much cheaper to do a make over on your existing bike instead of buying a new one, “A change is as good as a holiday”.

Phone and ask about our winter specials on engine upgrades and or tuning and while you are about it you might want to find out if our Blackline Project Bike is available for a test ride. Read about it on our website.

We are soon starting an even more exiting project and it should have at least ten kilowatt and twenty Newton meter more that the 103 Blackline. Imagine that!
Hope to hear from you all soon,

The SAC Holdings Team