anastame, check out my gallery. i bought a 99 fe400e for $500 2 years ago just as you see the bike in the pics. not sure why the case was split but it had a fatal timing chain failure. long story short, the guy that was fixxing it went bankrupt. just from what you described the amount you were quoted seems like alot of money. It cost me $400 to get running mostly labor as I was lucky, new timing chain sprockets and chain were already bought. I am not sure myself but have heard new timing chain and sprokets were around $600. bearings I have no idea. might as well do both fork seals while she is down. Most likely the majority of the cost is labor. you mentioned your not inept mechanically. perhaps you can arrange with the mechanic for you to do some of the tear down and reassemble yourself. Let him do the things you aren't confident enough to do yourself, but do the things that you can do yourself. just thinking it might save you some cash. I like you and not a master mechanic, but do ok with a wrench in one hand and a beer in the other.....LOL. I ended up having to pull the motor apart after using a pencil to find TDC of piston when said pencil broke in half in the cylinder. tore it down fri. nite and was running by noon on sat. Just be sure to know the torque values when reassembling. I was amazed at how easy it was, now the only thing that i would be hesitant to do myself would be mess with the transmission. as far as routine maintenance goes, make sure you adjust the valves at recommended intervals use a good synthetic oil. I use amsoil full syn 10-40, seems to work well, in fact running it in my caddy and my lightning now. i usually change between 10 and 15 hrs of ride time. trail tech makes an onboard puter that will give you everything you need as far as water temp. resettable hour meter, speedo and tach.. Haven't sat on the bike in awhile (winter in Ohio) but i think its called a vapor. its worth the $120 or so it cost. Whatever you decide to do you will find plenty of help here at this site. everyone has been very helpful to me. I came off a yz490 to the berg. I have only ridden the 490 twice since buying the berg. I love a 2 stroke, but here in single track country i'll take my berg everytime. Don't be alarmed at the noise of the motor as a berg motor is noisy, and as you know they vibrate a lot, just don't tell your wife or gf.............LOL. sounds like your opting to fix her........good luck and don't be a stranger here. like i said any problem you have can probably be solved right here at this site.
