Clueless bike owners

I love working on my bike but call it quits when it comes to removing heads and doing valves etc.

Is it just me or do the people who love tinkering just carn't be bothered cleaning there bike after :P

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[fastdruid]

Originally Posted by Alpinestarhero

Druid,after the faff I had with my rear brake, when i get my new bike...the first thing will be to treat it with greases and lubricants. Itrs easier to do at 5 miles than at 25,000 miles!

Exactly! I'm not a big user of the back brake and when I decided to swap the pads (mostly because they'd got a bit grotty and I had got a set of new ones for a pound at the Carnell stock sell off) at about 25k I found the pins were one with the caliper. Ended up needing a new caliper (easier than drilling the pins). Now OK part of that is crap design of caliper (IMO Honda calipers are *far* superier for lots of milage) but a touch of copperslip would have made all the difference.

Druid

[fastdruid]

Originally Posted by vardypeeps

Is it just me or do the people who love tinkering just carn't be bothered cleaning there bike after :P

I'd rather ride it than clean it.

Druid

Originally Posted by fizzwheel

Does it make me less of a "biker" because I choose not to do this stuff, IMHO does it feck...

+1 to that sir.

Being a biker for me is riding my bike.

Originally Posted by Stu

It scares me that I now know what work is not being done to my bike

+1

Having previously had no where to do any work to the bike (plus no clue) I built the garage and first thing was to get to a all round service. Did that and found a world of things which I had been told were carried out but clearly had not been depressing and scary.

Originally Posted by fizzwheel

Does it make me less of a "biker" because I choose not to do this stuff, IMHO does it feck...

But you have the knowledge which is what counts.
I think it's more those that are willfully ignorant of even the basics about their machines that are worrying.

My GF is just starting to bike and she's already asking lots of questions and learning...true this is mainly on account of it being an ancient 125 that is constantly breaking down...but that's beside the point

[appollo1]

i am in no way mechincally minded and with my car I always thought that if i attempted to do any work on it myself and messed it up then it would cost me a lot more money to get it fixed. mechanics at garages are supposed to be the professionals and if in doubt they are the people to carry out any repairs.

Then I got married and my father in law who worked for the RAC for over 30 years used to have a go at me for wasting money. He has shown me basic maintenance that i can do myself oil, filters, etc. He has also shown me how to change the brake pads but if i am honest i doubt i will as it is such an important feature that if it went wrong could have disastrous consequences.

With my bike i think the same. I know how to change the oil and check the tyre pressures, lube the chain etc.

I wouldn't attempt anything else myself just incase.

Thankfully i have a few friends that live nearby that are far more mechanically trained than me and their hourly rates are far better than a garage. Also they let me look over their shoulder to see what they are doing.

I know i should learn more but there will always be that niggling doubt in the back of my mind.

I look at a Haynes manual and can honestly say that it doesn't make sense to me.

[Sid Squid]

Originally Posted by fastdruid

Is it just me that sees 'no user servicable parts' as a challenge?

Druid

No, it's most emphatically not just you .