In the course of moving The Kneeslider into new surroundings, I had to pack up the entire research library and then unpack it, box by box, carefully examining the contents of each and putting things where I’ll have at least some chance of finding what I need, when I recall that one bit of info I know exists, buried somewhere deep in the pages of an old magazine or manual. It’s obvious, it’s a process with no chance of being completed for some time. What’s fascinating is how much you discover during the relocation, something I’ll be sharing with all of you as time permits. You can probably imagine how easy it is to get sidetracked looking at these new discoveries, things not floating around the Internet anywhere, but right there in front of me as fresh as the day they were written.
Much of this old material shows how far we’ve come, the kinds of maintenance expected of owners of old motorcycles, or any other antique vehicle, is so far beyond the now common “fill it with gas and forget it” routine, most of today’s riders and drivers would be completely lost. Now it’s possible for everyone to ride with hardly a thought of the vehicle itself and, though many might disagree, I think we’ve lost something in the process.
Ease of maintenance and longer maintenance intervals, had a lot to do with motorcycles like the Honda CB750 pushing the old British and American bikes to the side as they took over the market. Who would ever want to spend time cleaning and adjusting instead of just riding? Well, there’s a point where maintenance can be overwhelming, but the now normal lack of almost any need to touch anything produces riders dependent on the appliance motorcycle to get them anywhere. It changes what it means to be a motorcycle owner, opening the experience to everyone, reducing the exclusivity, it’s no longer special.
Learning all about the mechanical needs of your new ride meant you respected it and took care of it, it wasn’t a throwaway. If you put it to hard use, you had to clean, repair and adjust things so you could use it again. If you had to fix it, you might be less apt to blow it up, abuse it or crash it.
There are probably more riders who prefer the current state of affairs because riding is what they’re after, not working with their hands, and in that case, I guess we’ve progressed, but the attitude of treating your motorcycle like a throwaway appliance is common to so many other things now, it seems all pervasive. Why take care of anything? Just toss it, get another, but sooner or later, you lose all of the skills, the self reliance, the feeling of satisfaction of doing the work and knowing you can. I think you also lose a lot more than the ability to maintain your bike, I think it changes the way you look at everything. You lose self confidence and the pride that comes from a job well done and those are things lots of folks might want to feel again or more often. Isn’t it funny how something as mundane as motorcycle maintenance can affect us in so many ways?
todd says
It’s ironic how the stuff that needs to be maintained more outlasts the stuff that doesn’t. I guess motorcycle companies wouldn’t sell enough motorcycles if you only bought one and kept it up. Too bad manufacturers think they need to sell thousands of bikes a year (or month) just to be successful.
-todd
SteveD says
Oddly enough, I’m rereading “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” and, of course, Pirsig would resonate well with your comments. One problem is that we have essentially broken the links where people learned how to do things from their parents. It is just too frustrating for most people to try to fix something, usually a lawn mower, and just break it further. At some point, you need to mow the lawn 😉 What would help would be classes or even just a club/support group where folks could get reacquainted with their mechanical sides.
bob wark says
I completely agree. In fact i would suggest the advent of the foot shift began this downhill slide. The invention of the electric starter then meant anyone could ride. Before these things one had to be mechanically inclined and highly motivated to ride a motorcycle, as it should be! Motorcycling as a fashion statement or an opportunity to play dress up has always struck me as very shallow. Guess i wouldn’t care if i wasn’t so passionate about bikes. It should be about the ride not the ‘look’. Just another grumpy old man i suppose! ha ha!
richard says
hmmm…. you could write a book. How about calling it ” Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” 🙂 . Good article.
knotlinks says
@bob wark
I completely agree about the “dress up” and “should be about the ride” sentiments. I shuttle between a bunch of different rides and riding styles, and it’s very interesting to see the types of people each style attracts. I am of the philosophy that if the bike looks good, feels good, and is mechanically sound, ride it. If you are buying a bike just to be part of a group of some sort, you may need to rethink what that group truly is.
Jesse says
I have a new bike that works all the damn time; I miss working on bikes but I don’t miss not being able to ride. I’ve decided when this bike is paid off I will go out and buy a project bike so I can have something to tinker with. I think everyone needs to have two bikes, the one that always works and the one that doesn’t.
richard says
dayum.. sumone beat me to it!
Matt says
In the same vein as “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”, I just read “Shop Class as Soulcraft” which delves into the same sentiments about how we’ve lost touch with working with our hands and maintaining our machines. The author speaks from his experience in starting up a motorcycle repair shop in Richmond VA. Pretty decent read as well.
Jay Allen says
You’ll probably shoot me down for my ‘negative’ comment
I think we need to keep a certain amount of hands-on maintenance a part of motorcycling. If we make it too simple, those of less capability will take it over. How many people do you know that can’t drive a standard tranny, but they can friggin text 80 wpm at 60 mph
Henry Ford should have never taken the spark advance control off the letter series cars : )
ELJeffe says
I have been building a bike for 10 years and Im glad I can ride my Valkyrie anytime I think every one should have at least one bike and every one who already has one should have another. If you are not proactive at preventative maintenance you are the king of crisis management!
oldtimer says
Yeah…….What he said!…..?…?..Paul, Are you secretly tapping into the jumbled, random, sometimes coherent, mostly unfathomable thought processes going on in my feeble gray matter and turning them into readable and entertaining articles??
WHO SAID THAT! I AM NOT PARANOID……
AlwaysOnTwo says
Someone might point out that the disconnect between functional/operational knowledge and the ability to “own and forget” applies equally well to automobiles, lawnmowers and computers, ad infinitum. Long ago (1902) there was a book written by Thorstein Veblen, “The Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study of Institutions” in which the first use of “conspicuous consumption” is defined. The point being that this is a human trait to enjoy, without appreciation or knowledge of even the most basic nature, any object that fulfills a mass need or desire.
Within any group of consumers, users, owners, there will remain a few dedicated enthusiasts that delve into the nature of the beast both for a depth of knowledge and even the sheer pleasure of pride in ownership or perhaps the desperation of attempting a repair that is financially exhorbitant to be done by a “professional”. It is not so much that it is a dying breed, but that the “other” segment of society, those with more discretionary income than personal depth, continues to grow and is part of the global economy of mass marketing. The same is true of population growth, in that the less educated peoples breed and reproduce at higher rates than the more educated.
Don’t bemoan it, just get your hands dirty and grin if you’re one of those that has actually held a titanium valve retainer and is sitting next to a Walter Mitty at the stop light or bar conversation. And if you the chance, pass it along…I think the modern cliche~ is “pay it forward”…and don’t wait or complain that there is no shop course or other avenue for the neophyte. Be that source, or at least point them in the right direction.
kim says
Don’t worry too much about the future; there are so many motorcycles out there today, that if even just 10% of those riding new bikes actually wrench on them (typically by tuning or custom building), there will be plenty of tech know-how around to pass on to the next generation.
When I started riding we bought cheap old bikes like BSA B33s and rebuilt them from ground up. I hated it (still do), and would much rather ride. It took about the same amount of time that some kids today spend replacing a clucth & rebuilding the carbs on the cheap 80’s Jap four beaters they’d rather own than buy a new bike.
My point is that today you have a choice, unlike until 40 years ago, when tech knowledge most often was required to really enjoy motorcycle.
FREEMAN says
I respectfully disagree. I, for one, cannot afford to pay somebody to work on any vehicle I own, nor would I if I could, let alone replace them with new ones or have multiple extra vehicles. Although I enjoy working with my hands all day at work and at home after work, I much rather hop on my bike and get some miles on it without too much fuss in-between rides. Of course all things mechanical need maintenance, but I will always pick low maintenance (usually the simpler the vehicle the better) over high.
Chris says
rider + not doing their own maintenance = poseur
Either keep your motorcycle with maintenance costs that far exceed existing bikes worth or sell the bike and buy a newer bike that doesn’t need to be fixed for the same cost…..
I think the issue of maintenance versus throwaway bikes for me is the expense. I’m not rich, but I like to ride. Every bike needs special tools, and parts that are usually astronomically priced. I’m looking at my bike that needs, new suspension, new steering stem bearings, new tires, new wheel bearings, new brake lines, master cylinder rebuids, valve adjustment, throttlebodies adjustment, etc, that would cost me over $2,500 in parts and tools to complete. The bike is only worth $2,500 as is….now if I sell my bike, and buy another for $5,000, (a low mileage used bike), I’d probably only have to change the tires and fluids, which I do anyway, and come away with a newer bike.
If I was truely in love with my existing bike, I’d reconsider and spend the money on tools and parts…but I have to say that I’m not really attached to any singular motorcyle; it’s the riding that I’m attached to…..I’m not a fan of being wasteful, and I like to wrench, but if it means I’ll save a few bucks in my relatively low budget for fun stuff and stay riding, then that is what I’ll do.
nortley says
There are a 93 BMW and a 54 Velocette in my garage,so I guess both extemes of this question are covered. I do all the work on both, you can probably guess what pecentage of time there is a metric wrench or a whitworth spanner in hand. While it outperforms the Velo in any quantifiable area, the Beemer is about as exciting as lukewarm oatmeal – maybe not a bad thing as the ride itself can outweigh the motorcyle’s presence. The Velo never leaves me in one moment’s doubt that it must be worked with, it is not just some old nag to be jumped on and ridden away. It does give a fine ride, just don’t expect speed. So, depending on which side of my head is in charge on any given day, there’s a bike to make it smile.
Oldyeller8 says
As an instructor to riders I see all the “Different” style of riders. Fortunately, most of them at some point in their riding career get hooked.
I also offer a basic maintenance course for those that want to learn. I like to teach them that with a bike you don’t just hop on and ride – There are some things you HAVE to maintain. Then they eyes roll and they puff a little sigh.
Most of them are eager to learn something – but I know in the long term they’ll get lazy. I think it is a by-product of our consumable society. I try to emphasize that you need not be a mechanic – and that the more you work on your bike the better you will understand and (maybe) respect / appreciate the ride. But that thought goes for everything.
SteveD says
Hey Chris, I agree with everything except your first line. It seems you defend buying a low maintenance bike for most of your post, so how much maintenance do you have to do to not be a poseur?
jim says
My ride is a ’72 BSA B50 that I bought well-used from a guy named Grub in ’74 and I’ve kept it, sometimes running, sometimes not, ever since. During the intervening years I also had a ’75 Yamaha XS 650. The Yamaha was 98% reliable while the B50 was 25%, but I no longer have the XS. During the past 20 years, through several teardowns and one total rebuild I’ve learned nearly everything I need to know about keeping the Beeza running, but it still teaches me new tricks on occasion. Yes, I miss jumping on the XS, pushing the button and riding anywhere, but I also enjoy coaxing more reliability out of the B50. I believe every rider should have an old bike that needs TLC, if for no other reason than a person needs some knowledge of how things work. As technology advances and our machines become ultra-reliable, we need to understand what confronted those who went before us. They deserve a great deal of respect. Imagine riding cross-country on a 1925 Indian — they did!
NextVoiceUHear says
In the coming political/social Armageddon, there is potentially life-saving value in having an older on/off road motorcycle – one old enough NOT to have an Engine management computer, Fuel Injection, etc etc. Simple points and coil for ignition and a venturi carb for fuel/air mix. When all infrastructure and society have devolved back to their feudal roots all the post-1989, hi-tech, cars & cycles will be unsustainable.
NVUH
Mule says
Damn! Armageddon coming and I’ve got nothing clean to wear! Ok, so we’ve become a throw away society and young people would rather play video motocross than actually go outside and ride. I don’t give a crap what they do, whether or not they can work on their own stuff, or if they want to take a class so that somebody will “Teach” them what they don’t want to learn on their own. I love working on stuff because it makes me feel good. Since I like to feel good, I work on stuff all the time. It’s my job and my hobby. I spend more time working on bikes than I do riding. Ten times more. This doesn’t bother me at all. It’s not completely about riding. Riding to me is only a portion of the motorcycle experience. No, I don’t like break-downs and working on British junk by the side of the road or doing it frantically in the pits at a race. I like to spend time, effort and money on making stuff better, more reliable or more competitive. Doing maintenance on bikes neglected by riders who couldn’t be bothered to do it, gets old after a number of years. Thats why you don’t see a lot of “older” motorcycle mechanics at the local Import shop. They’re at home building cool stuff most likely.
I’ve attempted to train/teach a few young types and lose interest pretty quick. It’s not near as much fun as texting their friends or the latest video games.
dan says
as a guy who is about to finish restoring a 75 kawasaki i can appreciate the aspects of wrenching, however i also understand how bad it sucks when you want to ride and your one bike is in three different places around the garage or something crucial is not working right. I totally agree with the kneeslider on this one, but i think its important to have a balance between doing your own maintenance and actually being able to considering how much tech some bikes have in them. I dont think that is a bad thing it just makes them hard to work with as far as do it yourself type things.
Art says
I had hoped that by purchasing an ’06 FI model bike, I could have one “just ride it bike” and avoid all the maintenance that the other 25+ year-old bikes I own required for regular riding. Unfortunately, I’ve had to take back even the most mundane chores like oil/filter changes (4 liters in a 3.6 liter capacity crankcase), coolant top-up (anti-freeze in a fully-wire-locked street/track bike) as the shops just don’t seem to be able to do it right. My 65 year old friend had her chain so overtightened, it wore out in a few thousand kms and they never checked the rear wheel spokes or steering head bearings, both so loose as to be dangerous…
Even at $100/hr shop rate. Sigh…
jp says
Some of us appreciate the ecosystem created by the motorcycle-as-appliance set. One of the larger benefits is a decent number of repairable bikes on the market, which can then be customized into whatever the tinkerer desires (reference the dandy little bike based on the Suzuki S40), or fixed and placed into appliance use again, probably as economical daily transportation.
Tinkerers will tinker, regardless of the underlying reliability (or lack thereof) of their chosen project. Witness the supercharged VFR800, or any number of projects based around a CB750. Pick a bike you like, and make it what you want, if your tastes aren’t quite in line with the manufacturer’s.
MacKenzie says
Hah! Leave it to Mule to get the right “tone”! And, in the coming Armageddon, not only will we have nothing clean to wear, we won’t have that corner fueling station either. But we’ll sure need those skills, if only to maintain our MadMaxian tanker trucks as we speed across the wasteland delivering gas to our fellow motorcyclists………..
Mike
Chris says
SteveD….my equation was basically outlining the article; at least that was what I gathered.
And following it, was my personal defense behind not wrenching….I’m not afraid of wrenching, but I do like to keep a bike that is cheap on my wallet.
todd says
I second the notion of having more than one bike. I have 9 bikes at the moment. All of them require some level of tinkering. The great thing about multiples is that, even if they are all fixers, chances are at least one of them will be ride-able at any given moment.
I disagree with what Chris says above. I’ve never had to have anything more than regular mechanics tools to work on my bikes. Need to change wheel bearings? That takes a torch and a drift. Steering stem bearings? Same tools. I did buy a special tool once; now that I have some bikes with hydraulic brakes I bought a $30 mighty vac to help bleed the lines. Sure it’s more pain than adjusting or replacing a cable but as new bikes get older the types of tools it takes to fix them won’t change much. I did have to send out a crank to have a rod changed but the $60 charge to do that was much cheaper than buying all the equipment to do it myself. Keeping old bikes around is VERY inexpensive.
-todd
DWolvin says
OK, I might be about to start something, but so be it.
I would love to have the time to tinker with my bike, but I sold my car while in the military, and it’s my commuter. Between that and the constant overtime and night school, there is no time for a project. Please don’t tell me that I should get rid of my bike, and also don’t tell me that I should tinker on the day off I have each week. I would much rather ride in the hills of San Diego (group optional) than do my valve maintainance. Don’t get me wrong, the bike is maintained, but I don’t have the time right now to be the wrench. Love to, but not now.
Enjoy the ride, learn the skills, be good to each other.
sean says
I too really admire the folks who rode in the bad old days, when you needed
to really know your machine to get the best out of it. I participated in the tail end
of that era when i was young, doing routine maintenance on a CB350 and later
a KZ550.
But life was simpler in many ways back then, and i think people had more time for it. Just some examples – I have a phone bill from the late 40’s, and it is simply a postcard with the amount you owe printed on it. Compare that with the phone bill you get today.
Or consider taxes – how many of us have two tax seasons – one in March for our tiny corporation that exists solely so that we can protect ourselves from the legal jungle, and the second tax season in April for our personal tax returns? I’m guessing that’s a lot more of us than fifty years ago. How many have a spouse who also works full-time?
So yeah, today’s machines do demand less of us, but there are new demands
on both our time, and our “gumption” as Pirsig put it.
Scott S says
I grew up racing and wrenching on dirt-bikes and I have always had older bikes. Many bikes have come and gone but the one that I have always had for the road is a /2 BMW that my dad bought new. While I enjoy the older bikes there came a time to move into the current century. This became apparent to me when my two sons got their bike licences and started riding. They would stop by and say” lets go” and my rides would be waiting for new floats or whatever…So the solution was an 04 F650GS. Punch the button and go. Now I get ride with the kids, which is a blast, and I also get to learn about bleeding ABS brakes. You either like to tinker and learn or you don’t. One of my sons makes his living out of a tool box @ Gulfstream and is under his 66 GTO all the time while the other one does not have the desire to do much on his bike past changing the oil. But they both love to ride.
Tim says
and all God’s people said, “Amen.”
Working on your own stuff and taking care of it is the antithesis of our consumer culture. In one aspect, DIY is, in this culture, another way the motorcyclist can create a counter culture. However, you do have to be willing to break-as-you-learn.
Mule says
I clearly remember a day sitting on top of Mt Palomar, back when 6-8 people on the mountain was a crowd. Now it’s like “Rude Dog Raceway”! Anyway, there were 4 of us. I had my tricked out 1982 750 Seca, my friend Chuck had his 1982 GPZ750, Payen Johanssen (who had wrenched for 10 World MX Chapions in Europe including Joel Robert) had just moved here from Sweden and had a bright red 1982 Honda Sabre. The 4th rider was Kevin Stafford (6th in the Daytona 200 that year) on an RD400. Chuck commented looking at the 4 bikes, that motorcycles had gotten so good that you could get yourself in way over your head and the bikes would just take care of you. Pull you through any situation to safety!
Prior to that I came to the realization that to be a really good rider, you had to be sharp with bike set-up. You had to be able to pick the right fork oil wt, brace the frame in the right places, select not just any shocks and/or springs, but the right ones! Tire pressure made a giant difference and each performance part you threw at the engine made it just that much faster than your buddies bike. If you couldn’t set-up a bike properly, you hung on for dear life, got hurt or just didn’t dare push your luck. Tinkering didn’t just separated the men from the boys, it separated the winners from the losers.
Fast forward to today with nine thousand available suspension sttings and chances are you’ll make it worse, not better. Without a dyno, I don’t recommend you do any speed tuning lest you “De-tune” your ride. If you’re a Pro racer, you need the latest and greatest thing available and you should pay whatever it costs. For the rest of road riders, old bikes that are realistic to work on and tinker with will do the job just fine. And may be much more rewarding to own. With money left over for Sushi and Sake’.
BADDAD says
AMEN BROTHER, AMEN.
shaas says
I add my voice to the choir.
My 96 Beemer is a daily driver. I use it to service clients and do 400 mile days on it. In the 6 season I’ve had it, it has given me 62,000+ relatively hands off miles. I have a refreshed 77 XS650 street tracker completed and a pleasure to ride for fun. It always needs a little something. I have another XS in process and a Suzi TL1000R I built from a wreck in street fighter style. It too needs fiddling.
For me they all have their charms, but if I could only have one, the road horse wins.
FredS says
Liking to work on my own “stuff” got the 1200GS to ride, clean, and ride again. The 88 FXR to ride,modify and caress (my version of a 57 Chevy) and the 81 XT 500 to do a project. Oh, and the gift to myself a Mule XS 650 street tracker in the building process. Thanks Richard! Just like to putter with the toys and pretend I know what I’m doing. Doesn’t hurt too much when I find out I don’t!
SteveD says
OK, Chris, I got it now.
Of course, I stongly suspect that most folks who lived in the good old days would tade their ride for a modern bike in a heartbeat. Note the “most”, BTW.
SteveD says
“Shop Class as Soulcraft†is next on my list, Matt. I just heard about this last week.
joe says
Having rebuilt and worked on many,many bikes over the years,British,Italian,American and Japanees, including the first Honda 750s which did have mechanical problems,cam chain adjusters plus oil leaks from head gaskets.I now greatly enjoy riding my modern motorcycles that are ultra reliable and take me vast distances without the worry of what will leak or break on my travels.Having said that,I still get great satisfaction from being able to service and carry out any routine maintenance.The piece of mind knowing you have some hands on ability to tackle a mechanical problem is priceless. I am amazed at how few riders now have the ability to repair a simple puncture, replace a battery or throttle cable.To many have the attitude ,” If it breaks, I have my cell phone and credit card ” . That might work in the city, but out on the back roads and remote area’s that attitude totaly fails. I came accross a guy who was stranded with a puncture out in th middle of nowhere.He was totaly kitted out with the latest bike and riding gear but no tools and clueless as how to fix a flat tire. Also ,he was out of cell range.
Kai says
Watching one of those dishelved and bearded ‘old’ wizards – with wands and devices – seeing them take a dead machine and bring it to life again – it’s absolutely magic.
There simply aren’t enough of the old geezers to go around us would-be apprentices – we end up like whooping monkeys, gangs of us breaking things and bending them and even occasionally learning something – learning something over a year we might have learned in day, peering through grimey windows, or crouched on a work-shop floor for hours – watching a feller at work.
That’s another kind of ‘ride’.
Conrad says
Interesting…
I’ve always considered myself a motorcycle rider, not a motorcycle owner… point proven! :O
Carbon-arc says
Wow, there are some wise words dandied around these comments. It must be gratifying that an article can drum up such banter. Kudos to you all.
The site is all the better for it
Chris Y. says
As a “resto-modder” of a couple of old bikes myself, I’m not sure if I agree with this statement. Most motorcycles are still simple enough that you can tune and maintain things yourself, and if you don’t… you’re a lost cause because most of it is quite simple (splitting cases and such… not so much). Bikes aren’t like your modern BMW where you have to take them to the dealership and they have to hook a laptop up to it to understand what’s going wrong.
I don’t know how anybody had any love for things like points ignition that left you stranded at random intervals, attempts to synch multiple carbs together, having to tear the engine head off for valve adjustments every month, etc? What about bikes that come pre-corroded from the dealership lot, and blow light bulbs and fuses if you so much as look at them funny? Did everybody already forget how terrifying it was trying to get home in the dark with a 6 volt dim ignition system, fearing for your life as the lights dimmed FURTHER as you idle the bike?
I like progress. Electronic ignition/fuel injection/spark timing, engines that are better built and don’t LEAK OIL ON THE REAR TIRE WHEN YOU ARE BRAKING, disc brakes and proper electronics are all godsends. It’s not like today’s motorcycles don’t allow the same degree of mechanical partnership that yesteryear’s bikes do; the difference is that they aren’t as fussy and swings the maintenance/ride ratio strictly in the latter’s favour, and isn’t riding the bike the point of having it in the first place?
I think this article by Jalopnik sums up my thoughts best: http://jalopnik.com/5551040/why-old-cars-suck
Steve says
Chris:
“rider + not doing their own maintenance = poseur”
HA-HA, ya’ gotta’ love it!
I have a riding buddy who ran one of his bikes all season with a weeping fork seal despite my repeated offers to get together with him at my place and rebuild both forks.
Apparently he figured ONLY a dealer had the expertise to do such work and didn’t want to spend the $$$ because he planned to buy a new bike.
Yes, I take satisfaction and pride in doing my own work and my own ‘thing’ as well… mod’s, embellishments, upgrades, etc.
I try to always do work that is OEM grade or better, frequently improve on factory standards of production and often make alterations I believe the designers should have thought of.
But it takes all kinds to make a world, and that includes the motorcycle world too.
Sportster Mike says
I sure miss that kick start on the old Sportsters
It was a man’s bike – if it didn’t break your leg every other time you rode it you were lucky!
Seriously though guys I’ve now got a 2009 model Sportster and yes electric start is fine but there is something missing.. I’ve always liked my kickstart bikes better – more of a mechanical affinity with them and yes like doing my own work on them
My newish Harley is still under warranty and the 1st year service was an eyewatering £245! Jeez – its simplicity itself, change the oil, clean the airfilter, change the plugs, check everything else – can’t wait for it to be out of warranty so I can do it myself – down to Lidl for the cheap oil (even non Harley people only charge £100 or so if I was lazy)
And, yes, one bike to ride and one to tinker with and work on sounds good to me
I will have to move house then as I only have a shed .. so £250000 later I’ll have the room to tinker..
Tinman says
The ability to fix things is not really lost, the ability is simply under represented on the internet. Garages all over the country are teeming with smart guys working on things, Many of them want nothing to do with computers and the Net. Many find the Net to be simular to a Bar, where everyone is an expert and BS counts for as much as actaully doing something. Much like many print publications that hire Journalism Majors to write about Bikes. Instead of training Bikers to Write, they train Writers to Ride and report while having little background in the field. Peter Egan being a notable exception.
Ed says
I read through almost all the posts and really there wasn’t mention of the complexity of newer bikes. I have a 04 Sportster that I bought because it was rubber mount and carbureted. Old with the new. But its been customized and is a chopper now, west coast tank, rake stretch, 2″ backbone and down tube. If I had a newer bike with fuel injection I don’t know that I could work on it as I do my current sporty. With the newer bikes things have gotten a lot more complicated, there’s more electrical issues and you have to deal with more advanced systems. So yea I can understand not wrenching on your own stuff if you have a complicated bike like the new BMWs or a busa or something like that.
The older bikes were simpler and I think were easier to work on. I have worked on old jap bikes and harleys and I gotta say everything (save for machining work that may need to be done for performance upgrades, boring the case/cylinders) is pretty simple. The troubleshooting steps aren’t a big deal you don’t need to communicate with the ECM. A socket set, allens, and some screw drivers will get to just about everything on the bike and you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to tune your bike.
I think you need a project and a daily driver. But I think we have lost something, the car culture/bike culture is dieing and people are just lazy or stupid I can’t figure out which. I just wish some of the old guard would have a little patience and pass on what they know.
Unfortunately where I live/work I am surrounded by Goldwing pilots (yea thats right pilots, flying the friendly skies from the safety of their windscreened, A/C blowing couches) that scoff at the idea of a rigid (like my bike) or working on their own bikes. Its the young guys that either don’t have the means or are just getting into bikes that are riding customs or older bikes but they are learning too. It’d be nice if the two camps could talk to each other and share experiences more. But my pipes are loud and annoying and their bikes are comfortable and practical. I guess we’ll never find that common ground.
Simple is better, wrenching is fun. Knowledge should be passed on.
Mule says
What Tinman said!!! I agree. The guys that work on stuff are probably just doing it and not concerned with talking baout it on internet forums and such.
DaveO says
Wait a minute, You’re telling me that I could buy a new bike and just ride all the time instead of spending my time in the garage, swap meets, on ebay, at shops, researching wiring diagrams, welding, machining and kicking, kicking, kicking?
Like there’s some kind of factory turning out brand new motorcycles you can just walk up and buy?
I honestly never considered that.
Bjorn says
I’m amused by people who want to define what makes you a motorcyclist (or a member any other group) and what makes you a poseur.
It all smacks of insecurity to me.
Having previously turned spanners in a shop, I’ve experienced most kinds of owners; from the bring it in for an oil change type, right through to buying parts and doing it themselves type. You know what? They were all motorcyclists; just with differing levels of engagement.
I love the ‘soul’ for want of a better description of older bikes. I love my old Ducati, it requires fettling and care, to run well. At the moment it’s under a sheet in the garage ’till there’s money to do what needs to be done.
Having gone back to study; I need to make the 120km round trip to uni each day, so I use a low maintenance Jap 4. It’s carburetted, so I can tune it in the shed and the early nineties tech makes it easy to solve any minor issues that may arise. I love the fact that it is reliable with only the minimum of input from me. I do my own work because i was raised to do things myself and I know it will be done correctly, rather than out of some misguided notion that it draws a line between myself and a rider who has a shop change their tyres.
If you enjoy riding you are a motorcyclist.
Wave says
If you still want to be doing huge amounts of regular maintenance then you can always ride motocross. A motocross bike which is used hard needs an oil and filter change every few races and sometimes a new piston as often as every 10 hours!
Random says
Two points novody seemed to mention:
1) No way to get a carburetted smokey two- or four-stroke pass modern emissions legislation. I´m just not sure if we are doing better – environmentally-wise – keeping the old bikes or wasting a lot of resources (energy, minerals, work) pumping out new ones at the actual rate. But electric bikes may change the scenario too. While the old pals were messing with carbs and filters and leaks guys my age were opening up their pc’s, changing hardware, installing software… Provided there’s a place to plug a USB young people could even maintain something! 🙂
2) My dad enjoys bikes too. But he’s passed the point he could lift it and put it in some bricks and check something. I’m glad his new bike need no maintenance, so he can keep riding it. I also think that if computers have stayed the same they were decades ago (DOS command prompt, executables with dozens of /s /r /t modes) my parents would have never get close to one. Is making motorcycling (as using computers) popular or at least more common a bad thing?
Cowpieapex says
Whether you want to tinker or only putt, an intimate knowledge of your ride will eventually be the only thing standing between you and oblivion. The penalty for being a poser is relative to what is being impersonated. Rockstar? OK, no biggie, your ego may get bruised but a little rest and some ice and you’ll be right back playing Guitar Hero. Motorcyclist? Please! study, look, touch and understand everything about the bike you ride. As a result you will experience cycling on a profound new level. Anything less trivializes the price you can pay to play.