Shoot me down if this is in the wrong place but I just wanted to ask the question.... All the people that self service / mod their bikes, where did you pick the skills/ know how from? I have the tools just lacking the know how
There's plenty of guides lying around on the internet to educate yourself on the basics. I'll pretty much do all the minor services on my bikes, but for the major ones, I'll leave to the professionals. A lot of the people we have on here are pretty knowledgeable and are willing to help, should you need assistance. I believe some where offering a "learn how to do it yourself" day. Hopefully get something like that sorted in the summer.
yeah you will get loads of tips on here few lads have or have had the ER6 so im sure they will help what is it you want to actually modify ?
Cheers yeah me too but would like to get to know my bike on a personal level so that "learn how to do it yourself" sounds great hopefully, i don't want to mod anything as yet but its all down to you dont know what you dont know so just putting it out there
Basic stuff, theres alot of youtube demo's also.. because your bike is popular im guessin there should be some good tutorials. When having a go alone even when its basic stuff like chain tension, taking back wheel off cleaning brake calipers etc... Id always get a friend who is shit hot just to check over and make sure you've done everything. At first a tip i was told, to make sure you dont forget anything off the bike. Is when taking everything off on the left side leave it on the left and same with the right. Also if you have a bit of doubt in your mind thinking that doesn't feel right, then don't ride it get it checked first. I thought when I took my rear wheel off, put new bearings in with spacers and everything. I had left a spacer out. :doh: But i didn't know as i hadn't left any parts off... It was still attached to the old sprocket carrier bearing housing which had been worn in when the bearings had come apart and grinded the edges together, was very lucky back wheel could of come off if i hadn't stop riding it by fluke I ripped the tire valve off and my mate noticed something i'd said.
When i was training as a technician i got a engine out of an old shogun off a friend and stripped it in my garage learning what went where and how it all works together. Helped alot
Sig looks smart mate if u got photoshop u can use the magic eraser and get rid of the white background around some of it.
Am colorblind mate so I can see what's colors are what when they are close. Is it all black and white?
I have done mechanics courses through the military but all the vehicles we work on are all bloody big wagon diesel engines so all my knowledge on bikes is self taught trial and error which isn't the best way especially if you have a really expensive bike. I started on a suzuki gs500e that had been dressed up like a nice bike but it was a wreck and needed constant work to keep it on the road. A good cheap project bike + Haynes manual would teach you more than you need to know
as a kid i learned the hard way... was no internet then lol - and hardly any haynes manuals, but tbh once youve read one theyre all more or less the same. get yourself a shop manual off carlsalter.com or the free downloads section here and get to know your bike. main thing is having the right tools for the job and knowing what tight means - and also knowing how not to strip an ally thread by putting too much force in! youre in the right place for askin.
when you're doing jobs keep things tidy/organised. if i'm doing a job that's going to take a while i get through loads of snappy sandwich bags, nuts, bolts, fixings etc bagged up in groups of where they've come from. that way when you put it back together you know when a bag is empty then everything is back on the bike. also a good torque wrench and torque everything up and i mean everything!! you'd be surprised how tight some things 'don't' need to be!! i've got a guy i do jobs for quite often and he always waits around when i do them, he asked me why i torque everything back up? i told him that if i did and something fell off or broke afterwards then i knew it wasn't my fault
helps to put a sheet under the bike so its easy to see anything you might drop - and it stops stuff rolling to some inaccessible place... ive dropped washers before and theyve ended up miles away! and it helps, with cable routing etc to use your fone to take a series of digi pics as you strip stuff down - a luxury we didnt have yeaars ago!
Get yourself a magnetic tray and some telescopic magnets, handy for picking up dropped stuff, I think there was a set on sale in Aldi last week. Get or download a manual Just take your time, ask loads of Q's on here there's loads of help about mate!
i;ve always been around bikes since i was 14 or 15 and just taught myself by tinkering away the basic stuff is pretty easy changing sprockets chains brakepads oil and filter changes ect, the hardest jobs are engine internals,but when i was young all the best bikes where two strokes and there engines are a piece of piss to strip down,its all down to confidence really but as martin says NEVER say i'l give this nut or bolt one more turn as it nearly aways ends in swearwords and tears
As the old saying goes 'necessity is the mother of invention' ... Like many of a certain age, when I first got into bikes back in the day I couldn't afford expensive garage bills so it was learn to fix it myself OR walk. As others have said perhaps buy a cheap old bike, a workshop manual and a basic tool kit then just take it apart and see how it works,.
All good stuff ^^ I started learning as a kid at school who saved up working in the back of a chippy and bought a crap old honda h100. kept it on a farm and taught myself to fix (and break) bikes from there on. still learning new stuff every day, there's loads of info and guides floating around the net from basic stuff to insane projects I find doing a job once with someone who knows what theyre doing and will talk you through it helps a lot youtube and camera phones have indeed made life so much easier for the home mechanic. as has being able to ask like minded people on forums like this. The workshop days need to be revived and seen through, so much knowledge around it'd be a shame not to share / absorb some of it !
