man this is discouraging for buyers who want to buy the FZ or R 1 5. Which service station is this? I think someone should write to Yamaha about this. Someone in the r 15 thread has mentioned about a similar experience with the factory showroom in malad, mumbai. The most common belief among people familiar with two wheeler market is that Yamaha service in India is bad and spares are not available. With such behavior the vendors are giving a bad name to themselves and proving the belief to be true. They have two good products on hand. I wonder why a company like this is having such a callous attitude towards the Indian consumer when Japanese are believed to be quite disciplined when they want to do business.

Is it possible to get it serviced from elsewhere?

I believe we should give them some time... the older dealers have had customers coming in and buying bikes after a real long time... the facilities need to improve... the newer dealers are still very new and mostly have barely adequate workshops...

there are just a few old ones ready to upgrade the service centers and in the similar way few new ones with good enough space and amenities for the service centers...

See, no one probably believed that Yamaha can do this kind of numbers even during early 2008. I guess, in another 6 months you'd have some good service centers to count on and would know (very important) where not to go!

See,I told ya.Where exactly did it happen? Mumbai or Bangalore?
If this is the state of servicing in metros imagine what it's for other cities.

agreed. But people who currently own either of the bikes are in for a gamble. I believe the first few services are important for the bike and this kind of haphazard way of dealing with servicing will have the current owners suffering.

With the kind of magnitude that they're seeing in terms of bookings, 6 months from now they will still give preference to people buying the bikes than those coming for service. This will set a chain reaction of poorly serviced machines which will b out for sale due to lack of after sales support and the company will be back to square one.

Yes and there's no second thought about it. But what I have observed is that there are two primary reasons for delays and service ppl not doing things in a professional manner...

1) the volumes of bikes coming for service is increasing... now they are hiring new mechanics, each one is being trained in two stages (so most of the times the SS is not having all the required ppl there) and also the facilities needing improvement (either in terms of space or amenities or even both)

2) Check any Yamaha SS and you'll see accident R15's. These bikes take a lot of their time. First, the bikes are new. how much ever a guy is trained, he cannot get the nitty gritty of the bike without doing things first hand. When there's a problem, most other guys want to peep around that to see what happened and how to get it done right. Add to this, the bikes are still pretty new and stock of spares are still not in order... so, after opening up a bike they realize they need a particular spare but that is not in stock... have to leave the bike aside and look out for another.


BTW, I am not supporting Yamaha ppl here. I am one among you who faced the burnt of the above situation and I had a chance to speak to different mechanics, supervisors, Yamaha Service Heads, ... and analyze the situation on my own. Yes, the current situation needs a serious improvement. I'd like it to happen in a flash but I understrand that no practical business process can happen like that and am glad that ppl are working towards it positively.

YAMAHA Namaha... hope they're listening. We got great bikes... but that's not enough. We need great service too. We believe that you guys are aware of how much business servicing and spares give you and that it overwhelms the sales.

I guess you're a R15 owner. Looking at the current situation, would you recommend me to buy an FZ regardless of the servicing fiasco? How do counter the servicing issue? What is the makeshift solution that you have adopted?

that is not expected from yamaha.
I got my bike serviced a few days back and i got a preety decent service.
They cleaned the chain with a MOTUL chain cleaner and then sprayed a MOTUL chain lubricant after washing the bike.
Got the bike serviced in an hour.And the charged me Rs280 for the servive(rs200 for service and rs 80 for MOTUL stuff).
overall a good service.

After every free service,take your bike to a good mechanic of you choice.
Invest in some necessities like Motul Chain Lube,engine oil,wax polish etc and take it with you to this mechanic.
I know,I am getting my friend's FZ serviced this way and it's working like clockwork.
Until Yamaha decides to better their service I guess we have to look for hope elsewhere.

well, I'd still say yes. but be ready to spend some time at the service center when you give your bike for servicing. All this would depend on the SS management. I have got a good place in Hyd - Pearl Yamaha but they too have some issues that they are addressing pretty well.

I'd suggest you to find the right Yamaha SS first and as such the FZ wouldn't need so much attention as the R15 does when it goes for a service. Also, almost all other brands are like this. It would be a particular service center that is good. Pick that SS and go for the bike you like.

Is the Motul Chain Lube and Motul Chain cleaner commonly available in spare part stores or stores dealing with motorcyle stuff? Also i believe the SS people use a flagship engine oil called Yamalube. Which brand do you use or recommend as a replacement if i was to take care of all these things via my mechanic? Yes i do have a good mechanic around to help me out

Yup,Motul's stuff should be available at a decent motorcycle store.(I dont know about Mumbai,but it was a big deal searching for it in Lucknow.)
For the present I am playing safe and using Yamahalube (I don't want to experiment as it's not my bike).

This yamalube would be the one that SS guys put? Or have you sourced it on your own from somewhere?

Yup.It's the same one in the SC.

bringing up my post..

what spray does Yamaha use for the chains what does it cost ? also what do they use to clean the chain first ?