No matter how much care you put into your bike or how careful you are with it, you'll eventually have to deal with a breakdown. It happens to everyone, even those who are extra careful. If you've had a major motorcycle issue, you have to make the decision: do I do my own repairs, or do I take my bike in to the shop? There are some pros and cons to either.
Before you even consider repairing your own bike, you need to take stock of the problem and figure out exactly what's wrong. If it's something really major, it may be beyond your ability to repair. You don't want to get in over your head and end up doing more damage to your bike. If you've worked on cars and bikes before, you should be able to get at least an idea of what's wrong. If you can't at least determine the problem, you're probably better off having someone else repair your motorcycle.
If you do have some knowledge of how to repair your bike, the good news is that by doing the work yourself, you can save some money. You may still need to buy the parts and maybe even a book on motorcycle repair if you need to fix something you haven't worked on before, but you won't pay a mechanic for labor. That can often save you a lot of money.
On the other hand, putting your bike in the hands of a professional may cost you more, but you know it will be repaired correctly. If it isn't, you can usually get further repairs done for free or get reimbursed.
The bottom line is that you shouldn't try to fix your bike yourself just to save money because you may end up making things worse.
