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The Importance of Working on Your Motorcycle, by Kevin Cameron

Started by Pat Conlon, December 01, 2020, 01:06:18 PM

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Pat Conlon

We FJ riders understand this, however, with today's complex bikes, many motorcyclists do not....

Here is a reprint from a 11/30/2020 article by Kevin Cameron:

The Importance of Working on Your Motorcycle.

I've written about this before but it's a message that bears repeating.

We live in a time of marvelous, highly capable motorcycles in every category, but the old tradition of at-home maintenance has grown thin, that of dads who on certain Saturdays confidently changed the oil in the family car's engine, or replaced noisy wiper blades, or replaced a fan belt. More than one woman has told me, with a certain ironic look, that "Today's guys know mainly two things: How to do whatever it is they do at work, and how to watch sports on TV."

When, during the 1970s and '80s, I modified cylinders or machined heads for more compression for club racers, I wasn't asked for carburetor jetting specs. When I'd offer, riders would say, "I'll handle it." During the '90s that changed, and so did the population of people going racing. The older "man in a van with a plan" was being replaced by box trucks filled with bikes that were increasingly professionally prepared. People picking up custom pipes or altered cylinders from me wanted carb jetting specs, and they wanted to be guaranteed their engines would never, ever seize. Eventually I stopped doing that work because a day was clearly coming when I would need something like doctors' malpractice insurance.

Yes, there's fear, because things are unfamiliar at first.
How do you become comfortable with machinery? More people used to grow up on farms, where if you couldn't fix broken equipment yourself, you did without. More people had manufacturing jobs at which they worked with machines; manufacturing is now down to 8 percent of the US GNP. The armed services were great places to become familiar with tools and equipment, but increasingly, service is now performed by manufacturer's reps. My middle son, asked by his officer to round up a working mine roller, was told hands off—the maker's reps were the only ones authorized to touch that equipment. When he bypassed the hydraulics and got one working, he was nearly in big trouble. Fortunately his officer showed up.

The spoken or unspoken message today: If you're not an expert with documents to prove it, don't dare touch equipment. You might wreck it! I don't like to hear that, because there has never been a better time to take an interest in mechanical work. I've listed the reasons before. Here they are again:

1) Huge numbers of used bikes, engines, parts, and sub-assemblies are easily available, cheap, on the internet. So cheap!
2) Tool sets in fitted plastic carrying cases are also cheap and can be at your door tomorrow.
3) Illustrated service manuals exist and are for sale, also arriving tomorrow.
4) If you get stuck, you have hundreds or thousands of potential online colleagues on brand-and-model forums who have hit the same problem you have, and they have uploaded their solutions, often with video.

Yes, you need a place to work with decent lighting and heat. A work surface. Containers for parts. A drain pan for oil. People do good work in all sorts of improvised work areas.

You can start with easy stuff like an oil change (the spec for oil and filter is in your owner's book). Or you can adjust hand and foot controls to suit yourself. Ever get a cramp in your ankle from trying to keep from pressing a brake pedal that's set too high? Annoyed by excessive slack in a throttle or clutch cable? Fixing these things is common sense.

Yes, there's fear, because things are unfamiliar at first. When I was seven, my mother had a worn-out car engine brought to the unused side of our two-car garage. It took me considerable staring time to get over how strange it was, up close. And it was filthy with leaked oil and caked-on road grit. Gradually I got used to it, as I would also to clocks and watches. Lots of just staring until the sense began to emerge. Finally I began to unbolt things and stare at them, too. I was in new territory. Teachers don't teach so much as they create situations in which people can't help but learn. Teaching yourself teaches best, because the knowledge gained is all yours.

Twenty years later I found myself still staring at parts when new race bikes arrived in the spring. I'd walk up and down with a cylinder or piston in my hands, staring, trying to see what was new, trying to make sense of it. I'd make bad instant coffee and walk and stare some more, sipping.

Two years ago Cycle World wanted some videos made of what's inside a late-model sportbike engine. The not-exactly-princely sum of $150 summoned a 26,000-mile CBR600 engine from the teeming parts marketplace. Lots of people think nothing of laying out similar money to put a framed art print on their wall or go out to a nice dinner for two. Buy a used engine and treat yourself to the instructive experience of taking the thing apart, tracing out its systems, and getting familiar with all the parts and how they look. Your hands will become familiar with the forces involved in loosening fasteners (this is the origin of "common sense" in such matters). More staring, plus reference to a service book, brings everything within the range of human understanding.



1) Free Owners Manual download: https://tinyurl.com/fmsz7hk9
2) Don't store your FJ with E10 fuel https://tinyurl.com/3cjrfct5
3) Replace your old stock rubber brake lines.
4) Important items for the '84-87 FJ's:
Safety wire: https://tinyurl.com/99zp8ufh
Fuel line: https://tinyurl.com/bdff9bf3

red

Cheers,
Red

P.S. Life is too short, and health is too valuable, to ride on cheap parade-duty tires.

Old Rider

Great article ! i remember i read an article about tuning carburetors by him  it was very good explained..
Not so many years ago i remember people was wrenching on their cars and motorcycles at deserted parking places or in DIY workshops including myself.
Now a days there are none DIY workshops left here in Oslo and most people don't even know how to put on their winterwheels on cars. when i change the oil on my car or change wheels people look
at me with a suspicious mine thinking if they should call the police  some times the police have shoved up asking what I'm doing :biggrin:

Troyskie

1984 FJ1100 Ms Effie brand new :)
1984 FJ1100 Pearlie, stock as.
1985 FJ1100 Mr Effie 647,000K and still running hard.
1985 FJ1200 'Yummy' takes a licking & keeps on ticking
After all is said and done, more is said than done :)
2013 Trumpy Tiger 800, let's do a lap of Oz

Motofun

Learn by doing.  Even though my Dad went to vo-tech for auto mechanics and was his planes mechanic when in the Army air corp, he never seemed to care about machines.  He was into electronics and could fix old TVs and such much better than me.  Funny thing is the electronics gene must skip a generation as my son is a wizard but doesn't understand basic mechanics.  I'm pretty much self taught.  Always figured if some high school dropout could figure it out, so could I!  Figured the price of learning was compensated by ending up with cool tools.  My son is not interested in the weird ass tools so I guess they're going to my Son in Law who is an outstanding mechanic.  I will admit that I forgot how to set points, had to google it.   :biggrin:
'69 Honda Trail 90
'75 Honda CB400F
'85 Yamaha RZ350
'85 Yamaha FJ1100
'89 Yamaha FJ1200
'09 Yamaha 125 Zuma
'09 Kawasaki KZ110 (grand kids)
'13 Suzuki GSXR 750 (track)
'14 Yamaha FZ-09
'18 Suzuki GSXR 1000R (track)
'23 Yamaha Tenere 7
SOLD: CBX,RZ500,Ninja 650,CB400F,V45 Sabre,CB700SC,R1

FJ Flyer

As usual, KC imparts wisdom and makes it entertaining.  Love his column. 

My friend and I smoked my go-cart engine when I was a kid.  His grandfather had another briggs rusting in his back yard.  But it was a different HP and the pulley was stuck on the crank.  Hacksawed the crank, ground down the piston skirt, and made one engine out of the two.  We had no clue what we were doing. And it worked a good while before we smoked that one, too.  Over riding the governor doesn't make for a long lasting engine.  Moved on to a car at 15.  Eventually bikes.

I have a Honda tiller that fried the gearbox.  I think I'll get the kids out to the garage during xmas break and have them tear down the motor.
Chris P.
'16 FJR1300ES
'87 FJ1200
'76 DT250

Wear your gear.


ZOA NOM

Rick

Current:
2010 Honda VFR1200 DCT (Full Auto!)
1993 FJ/GSXR 1200 (-ABS)
1987 Porsche 911 Carrera (Race)
1988 Porsche Carrera (Street)
Previous:
1993 FJ1200 (FIREBALL)
1993 FJ1200ABS (RIP my collar bone)
1986 FZ750
1984 FJ600
1982 Seca

Pat Conlon

You've gotta love German engineering, look at those beefy tostada journals...what's the plan Rick?
1) Free Owners Manual download: https://tinyurl.com/fmsz7hk9
2) Don't store your FJ with E10 fuel https://tinyurl.com/3cjrfct5
3) Replace your old stock rubber brake lines.
4) Important items for the '84-87 FJ's:
Safety wire: https://tinyurl.com/99zp8ufh
Fuel line: https://tinyurl.com/bdff9bf3

ZOA NOM

Quote from: Pat Conlon on December 04, 2020, 04:04:46 PM
You've gotta love German engineering, look at those beefy tostada journals...what's the plan Rick?

Well, it's going back on the road as a weekender and foul weather commuter so I don't have to ride the FJ in the rain. I have some fancy bits from the race car that I'll install to give it a little oomph, but nothing crazy. Rod bolts are the weak link on these Carreras, so I have a set of ARP racing rod bolts. I have a set of 10.3/1 Euro pistons made by CE Engineering down your way, that I'll shim up a little to reduce that to 9.8/1 so I can use pump gas.

LOTS of cleaning, and then some detailed cleaning. It's easy to turn into a "while you're in there", but I really want to just drive it, so I'm gonna get it cleaned up and put together. I'll spend some money on new leather and carpets, and probably some quality time with a tangled mess of wiring.

Did I mention I GAVE this car to one of my kids to drive for a couple years, and then BOUGHT it back from him so he could get something else when this one failed smog?

Don't ever have any kids... :Facepalm:
Rick

Current:
2010 Honda VFR1200 DCT (Full Auto!)
1993 FJ/GSXR 1200 (-ABS)
1987 Porsche 911 Carrera (Race)
1988 Porsche Carrera (Street)
Previous:
1993 FJ1200 (FIREBALL)
1993 FJ1200ABS (RIP my collar bone)
1986 FZ750
1984 FJ600
1982 Seca

Waiex191

Quote from: ZOA NOM on December 04, 2020, 04:31:42 PM
Don't ever have any kids...
My experience was a little different.  I got my oldest warmed up by having him build our VW based aircraft engine.




After that we rebuilt my '99 Saturn and he drives it.  He has put about 25,000 miles on it since the rebuild.  This also prepped him to tackle the motorcycle projects and a bunch of other stuff.

I had my younger son do a bunch of the work on the $200 Buick we bought for him, but he doesn't enjoy it as much.  My older son jumped in and did a lot of work on that car, including all the brake plumbing.  The younger son marches to a different drummer.  He is currently building a monowheel bicycle and I'm just glad he found the motivation to take on a crazy project and make progress on it.  Now he really has to learn to weld.

Kevin's article is very good.  Getting kids involved is a wholly different topic.  I can't tell you how many times I've died inside because they were doing something wrong, but it's not always about doing it right this time.  When you work with kids it's more important to do it.

First Saturn start:
https://youtu.be/yX5yG0dGw64

First Magna V30 start:
https://youtu.be/OOeXhZbCMlw
Bryan
1989 FJ1200
1981 Suzuki GN400
Poplar Grove, IL
 

ZOA NOM

Great stuff... That propeller is gonna need an edge and a twist...
Rick

Current:
2010 Honda VFR1200 DCT (Full Auto!)
1993 FJ/GSXR 1200 (-ABS)
1987 Porsche 911 Carrera (Race)
1988 Porsche Carrera (Street)
Previous:
1993 FJ1200 (FIREBALL)
1993 FJ1200ABS (RIP my collar bone)
1986 FZ750
1984 FJ600
1982 Seca

Waiex191

Bryan
1989 FJ1200
1981 Suzuki GN400
Poplar Grove, IL
 

ZOA NOM

Rick

Current:
2010 Honda VFR1200 DCT (Full Auto!)
1993 FJ/GSXR 1200 (-ABS)
1987 Porsche 911 Carrera (Race)
1988 Porsche Carrera (Street)
Previous:
1993 FJ1200 (FIREBALL)
1993 FJ1200ABS (RIP my collar bone)
1986 FZ750
1984 FJ600
1982 Seca

ribbert

Quote from: Waiex191 on December 04, 2020, 05:18:48 PM

 I got my oldest warmed up by having him build our VW based aircraft engine.....After that we rebuilt my '99 Saturn ....... prepped him to tackle the motorcycle projects and a bunch of other stuff.......I can't tell you how many times I've died inside because they were doing something wrong.



Taking into account the consequences of an engine failure, I think I'd be starting him out the other way round, first on something that doesn't leave the ground, then work his way up to aircraft engines   :biggrin:

I think it's a great thing to give the young'uns a grounding in mechanical know-how. If you start early enough, mechanical knowledge can become mechanical aptitude . My Son's career isn't mechanical but I constantly see examples of where his exposure to it benefits his job and many aspects of life in general.

There is a subtle yet important distinction between knowing what to do, and knowing why you're doing it.

Noel
"Tell a wise man something he doesn't know and he'll thank you, tell a fool something he doesn't know and he'll abuse you"

Waiex191

Quote from: ribbert on December 05, 2020, 07:54:42 AM
Taking into account the consequences of an engine failure, I think I'd be starting him out the other way round, first on something that doesn't leave the ground, then work his way up to aircraft engines   :biggrin:

I think it's a great thing to give the young'uns a grounding in mechanical know-how. If you start early enough, mechanical knowledge can become mechanical aptitude . My Son's career isn't mechanical but I constantly see examples of where his exposure to it benefits his job and many aspects of life in general.

There is a subtle yet important distinction between knowing what to do, and knowing why you're doing it.

Noel
He was pretty tightly supervised.  Except one time where he was bolting the cover over the unused distributor hole and stripped the magnesium threads.  Somebody had stopped by to talk to me.  Then he got to learn about helicoils, so it was all good.

I think the most important thing to teach is confidence and the mechanical skills come second.  Actually a lot of mechanical skills come by doing and screwing things up.  Anybody can do it right the first time but it takes real skill to fix a screwup.  The side effect is you make a lot less screwups, thanks to experience.
Bryan
1989 FJ1200
1981 Suzuki GN400
Poplar Grove, IL