[pauljo]

abm,

That is more than double what most dealers charge. I just had my 7500 mile service done and the bill was slightly under $200.

 

[pauljo]

Most of the labour on these scoots (I gather, don't have mine yet), is removing and replacing all the plastic parts)

This is often overstated. Yes, removing a body panel or two is an extra step. But then you still have to do the same maintenance work that you'd be doing on any other bike.

Although the body panels on a scooter are larger, many motorcycles also have body parts that have to come off for service. My Suzuki V-Strom does. My Kawasaki Concours before it did. Most sport, sport touring, and touring bikes do have body panels. Although the body panels on my V-Strom are smaller, they are no easier or harder to remove and reinstall. Heck, to get at the air filter on the V-Strom you have to remove the gas tank! And to remove the gas tank, you first have to remove a body trim panel, and remove screws from two other body panels to loosen them. In comparison, getting at the air filter on my Burgman 650 is a piece of cake! Any dealer personnel who go "blah blah blah bodywork" when you start talking routine maintenance on your scooter, are either ignorant, inept, or setting you up for a maintenance ripoff. Removing the lower leg shield on a Burgman 650 (a panel that needs to come off for routine maintenance) is, at most, a 5 minute job. Another 5 minutes tops to replace it. And quite often, that is the only body panel that has to come off. It is just not as big of a deal as it is made out to be.

 

[pauljo]

Yep. The only tough thing about removing the lower leg shield is getting back up off of the garage floor when I'm done.