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Learning mechanic basics on a pocket bike ? Learning mechanic basics on a pocket bike ?
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  #1  
Old 16 Jul 2010
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Another option & possible cheaper, is to buy a wrecked single cylinder four stroke engine, prerefably SOHC or DOHC.

Remove a few engine covers & rotate the crank to see what happens, especially the valve gear. Check out the valve adjustment, clutch & primary driver operation etc. Hands on experience is the only real way to learn.

By using a wrecked engine, it should be cheap & you won't need to worry about requiring special tools to remove rotors etc or making a mistake & damaging a component.
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Old 18 Jul 2010
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Motorcycle maintenance courses?
Hi guys,

I'm in a similar situation to Th3G33k, in that I'm about to take possession of my first bike but don't have a CLUE about how motorcycles work. Given my intention to ride across Africa at some point (!), I really need to get to grips with all things bike so I can troubleshoot problems on the road.

Rather than buying a guinea-pig bike or engine and experimenting on it, though, I was wondering if there's such a thing as motorcycle maintenance courses that you can go on? Or else some other means whereby someone can show you hands-on where everything is and what to do with it! I've bought Alan Seeley's The Motorcycle Book (Haynes, second edition) to get me started, but I feel like I still need expert/real-person guidance to make sense of it all...

Jeanie
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  #3  
Old 18 Jul 2010
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If you've got a local motorcycle group, in my area we've got a sportbkes club, sometimes they will have whats known as a "tech day" which basically is a day to service bikes and learn how to do stuff.

tech days are an excellent place to learn stuff about the bike, and its mysterious inner workings.

once you understand how it works, and how to fix it, it all seems VERY unintimidating, and quite easy.
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Old 18 Jul 2010
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Buy a cheap and simple machine and then get a comprehensive repair manual for it. (Haynes, Clymer etc).

Start off with doing the routine maintenace from the manual.


The money you can save by having the knowledge and skills to work on your own bike is infinite !
Although, tools don't come cheap and are addictive to collect


Another method is do a part-time course in Motorcycle Mechanics. There are a few around the country.
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Old 18 Jul 2010
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Thanks guys for the info & advice it is very appreciated!! Its good to know 2stroke and 4stroke are very different, gotta start the learning process with the very basics uh hehehe

Jeanie, I've looked around a bit and found some interesting and very basic classes like this one:
St George & Sutherland Community College - Motor Cycle Maintenance

Feel free to comment on it guys! It looks custom made for noobs like us, plus you get to learn the basics on your own bike which is pretty cool!!

Anyways, if you have any recommendation about books, websites, etc don't be shy!
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  #6  
Old 25 Jul 2010
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Try this one:

Haynes Motorcycle Book

Also try googling for a download of the Honda Common Service Manual. Maybe not as easy to digest as the Haynes books which are specifically written for the DIY market, but it's free.

Ted is right though. No book can substitute experience so try to get hold of a Honda Cub, CG125, etc and just play with it

Obviously, XT Girl is trying to put together a weekend basics course in the UK. I really do hope it happens and I've already offered my support. However, it's something we've been considering running from our own workshop (northeast England) for a while now, particularly over winter. No fixed dates or minimum numbers, just stick your name in the diary and turn up. Bring your own parts or we'll supply at a discount.
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Old 25 Jul 2010
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This is a great read for ANYONE....

Motorcycle Repair Course
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