What do I need to know...?
 

Hi all,

I'm one of the people on this forum who read with fascination and not a little confusion the various threads about drilling out / tweaking / 'quickly' replacing various parts of my bike. The problem is that I'm not entirely sure where most of these parts are, have no idea how to do these things and am entirely fearful that in trying to do so, I'll permanently damage my bike.

I've tried to find some motorbike maintenance courses and asked at local motorbike garages re. helping out, but have had no joy, so it's become apparent to me that the only route available is to get an old bike and work on that.

So...getting to the question...on the basis that on the road I'll be quite content if I can get my bike to a garage (if serious work is required), what do I need to know how to do? :)

And secondly, can anyone recommend a suitable model of bike that's simple enough to teach me this stuff but not...too simple. :)

Thanks,

Alex.

Almost impossible because the bits you know how to fix, won't break.

I would say minimum I would be happy to be equipped and able to do would be..

Fix punctures

Repair a broken chain

Sort a fuel blockage

Bypass ignition / kill-switch

Jump-start and bump-start

Repair a cracked engine case

Splint a broken frame, luggage rack, handlebars etc.

Bypass holed radiator

Repair / replace a coolant, oil or fuel pipe.

Repair / replace throttle or clutch cable (or hose)

Replace gear, brake, clutch lever

Those are the main things that have stopped me in the past. Anything else get a tow or lift to somewhere or someone to sort it out.

Not an exhaustive list but I hope that gives you some ideas.

As to which bike to use to learn, the obvious would be the bike you will travel with.

If you are starting out with zero knowledge and no bike, then I would recommend getting the bike you plan on using for your trip asap (Honda XL or XR or Yamaha trailies are simple and bulletproof ....)

Go for older bikes as you can work on them. Newer machine have everything controlled by computer and the only thing that you can do with them yourself is to ship them to the dealer!

Start doing stuff on your bike like services and general maintenance. You can get great DIY manuals from Haynes or Clymer that tell you (with lots of pictures) how to do anything and everything with your bike.

Once you understand the basics of the internal combustion engine,then it's all down to how much time you spend getting dirty with your machine.

The sooner you have a bike the better. I would also recommend getting riding training too especially off-road training.

Enjoy
W!

Thanks for the quick replies - I've got a bike already (a Yahama XT660Z) and I've done some small stuff like changing the oil, etc and have put some mods on but I'm wary of doing anything else at present in case I start poking around in the wrong place, resulting in the bike collapsing in comedy fashion. :)

I've also picked up various manuals from the net, I just need something simple which I can rip apart without too many concerns and for which spare parts will be cheap.

Thanks for the good advice re. the off-road, I've recently said hello to the local East Midlands Trail Riders Fellowship and will be going on some ride-outs with them so that's a good starting point. :)

Cheap old bike to learn spannering on? I'd say get a Honda, as they're the easiest to get parts for (dave silver). Get something like an aircooled single which will be fairly simple to understand, and be light enough to take the engine out and strip it down. CB125/250/CB250RS - Something aircooled and SOHC.

Just my opinion. Strip the motor down and put it back together again. It will teach you a things like "how tight is tight", how to deal with damaged fasteners, and what's actually going on inside a motor.


The only thing that I'd say's essential to learn though, is tyre changing. Nothing's more demoralising than replacing a punctured tube only to find it wont inflate because you nipped it. If you can do it, and carry the gear, then punctures are a minor annoyance. If you can't, then they can be major hurdles to deal with. Keep practising till you can replace normal thickness tubes (not the extra thick motox ones) everytime without nipping them.

Get used to short tyre levers, carrying big long heavy ones is just daft - So many people do it and refuse to accept that they don't need to. I started off with 12" levers, (and used to struggle when I first started) but switched to 6.5" ones after a German bloke almost three times my age helped me with a puncture using levers less than 6"!

I've learnt through trial and error over the years, and I'm still pretty hopeless in the grand scheme of things.

Either way, I find resources like the one here helpful to get my head round how stuff works. Not a miracle answer, but does make things a bit clearer if I'm about to attack a particular job!!

Hope this helps.

Motorcycle Repair Course