Scooter News The Scooter Linc - Part 4 This week Linc tackles the question of service versus repair and the difference between the two.
Linc Biggins 
Service or Repair?
This fortnight a common misunderstanding that I've touched on in earlier ScootaCo blogs: Service or Repair?
A regular phone call we receive runs more or less along the following lines: “I'd like to book my scooter in for a service please ”. To which the standard reply is, “That’s no problem. What type of scooter do you have and is that a routine book service?” We then find the tone changes, “Ummm, well it’s actually not running properly”. “So really you need a repair.”
A ‘service’ by definition is to maintain and adjust, to compensate for the wear and tear that manufacturers have researched and tested for. Or in other words, how long your scooter will last and operate efficiently for during its life.
The manufacturers will always supply from new (a nice luxury for certain models - a necessity when buying used) the familiar service record book and if not one and the same, an owner’s manual, which will have a chart that gives the service intervals and routine operations to be performed.
These routine scheduled operations are supposed to be adhered to under two different criteria: a kilometre interval , or for less travelled units a time frame, usually annually or bi-annually. The first one is more common to regular commuters whereas the second is more likely applicable to the low use sometimes luxury/ lifestyle or touring scooters.
Either way, if they don’t receive the routine and scheduled attention, then both use and time will cause component failure and inevitably may leave you stranded, or worse still (crashes included) should that failure occur at an inopportune moment.
For fairly obvious reasons regularly used units will require wear & tear items to be replaced at different times: tyres, brake pads, drive belts, oil, filters etc. Let any of these items wear past their service limit and major componentry also becomes collateral damage.
Now the Dark Horses: Even a bike that sees very little or no use requires regular attention. The reason behind this is not immediately obvious but rubber and particularly fluids do not age well. Rubber perishes and fluids either go off or in the case of brake fluid attract water (Hygroscopic for the fussy) when left unchecked. This deterioration can be damaging and costly to repair than a regularly used bike of the same type and model.
There are times when bikes will fall across both categories and here in Cairns this happens often with fair weather riders (May to December dry season). These are people who use their scooter regularly during the dry season, then with the onset of monsoonal weather, the scooter/bike gets parked in the garage for four months. Double edged sword!
A repair is generally anything that falls outside of the service schedule. Therefore, if it's making nasty noises or not starting or running properly , then it's a repair. Chances are that ‘just a service’ (or two) has been missed along the way.
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published 26/07/2011 |