And so at last, I’ve finally popped my cherry! I have done what all bikers who’ve just been bitten by the bug, but who have no experience of engines, what so ever, wants to do. I have taken bits apart and fiddled with them and when I put them back together ON the bike, there were no bits left over AND THEY WORKED!!!!!!!
Raaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!! Biker, Biker, Biker, Biker, Biker, Bi…ker …………bik ….alright sorry. A bit carried away as usual, but it feels amazing.
A quick recap for those of you that haven’t got a clue what I’m on about, well it’s Week 4, and myself (Impatient), the ever so patient Buddha (MacP) and, the bad influence that shall forever be known as Satan (MattCBF600) have signed up for the 20 week part time evening course on Basic Motor Cycle Maintenance and Repair.
Week 1: Wow, I’m in a garage, ooooh, the excitement... but all we do is read hand outs.
Week 2: Errr, the same actually!
Week 3: More hand outs, and the frustration really started to kick in.
But it’s now week 4, and this week I have news for you. Techniques, tricks and tips and proof positive that you too can manage the maintenance on your bike just as easily as the spotty engineer can down at your local garage, and it won’t cost you £60.00 an hour to have him do it for you anymore.
You might need to butter up your missus (or mister) and buy them some chocolates, flowers or curry cos they haven’t seen you for weeks and you’ve been, wait for it, “playing with that damn bike” again! But, it is totally well worth it.
So there we were 12 of us, in overall type coats, up to our arms in hydraulic fluid, learning how to bleed brake lines and strip and repair brake callipers. The trick to all things bike is to be prepared ahead of time. Buy your Dot4 a day before you’re going to do your brake lines, cos the vibrations from the ride home will aerate it… this means your lines will end up with bubbles in em… roughly translating glasshopper as, bike not stop, Very, very bad! Great tip see!
Also your going to need washers, copper or steel… If you don’t know what’s on your bike, take a look. Find the brake reservoir. Then, find the line that’s leading out of the reservoir. See the round bolt with the hexagonal bolt attaching the line to your reservoir… that’s called a banjo bolt, especially designed to take the brake fluid down to the callipers. But, they need to stay sealed tight, and to do this you use washers. Soft metal is ideal for creating that perfect seal but, ideally they need replacing every time the break fluid is replaced and they’re cheap so, why scrimp!
But, all of this it is about preparation. Get it all in BEFORE you start your work, otherwise you’ll have to go and put your pride and joy back together (unless you have a car or monocycle) then what do you get? A bike that’s in bits in your garage, cos you’ve forgot the one of the vital component to get the job finished.
Now, I can’t go into great detail about how to do this job, cos this one’s a bit serious. And if I go telling you how to do this, you follow my instructions, then put all of the bits back together all wrong… and then crash cos of it! And then, I’d feel really bad, cos you’ll have trashed a nice bike, and some lawyer will probably try and blame me, which in turn, would just be like too much hassle!! Mind how you go, getting to the hospital, and don’t bleed on the fairings ok, as it reduces the value.
But what I can say is, that it’s high time you took the bull by the horns, or your bike by the throttle and headed down to Merton College, and asked to sign up to the next available version of this course.
I have worked out, that once I buy the tools (which in total will be no more than about £250) (and an investment), I will save myself a rough estimate of at least grand a year in labour and servicing. Oil changing is easy and brakes, the holiest of holiest, are no longer as scary as I first thought. Take em apart, put em back together and they work. I can now do this and trust myself doing so.
You could do this too, after you’ve sign up on this course, or something like it. Well, good luck and come back next week for some more great tips and we’ll be talking oil and oil filters!
Related Linkswwww.merton.ac.uk
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