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Dan's online motorcycle repair course (1999-2020)

dansmc.com

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Re: Dan's online motorcycle repair course (1999-2020)

#91

Post by jelliclesfarm »

westmeal wrote: post #72
jelliclesfarm wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a feeling and I can’t prove it. Because I dont have a decent sized sample set, but when it comes to women..I think it’s not just brawn, but also our slightly different center of gravity. Many many years ago..when I was young and stupid, I decided that I was going to hike the Appalachian trail..end to end. And then I figured that I was smarter and that I will do it in parts. And then I gave myself yet another…

I'm a hobbyist but in my experience the Germans and Japanese have a clue about automotive design while American stuff is just a crapshoot. American engines are really not at all bad but the cars they are in were definitely not designed around the drivetrain. GM has some absolutely incredibad ideas on how to make a car serviceable that floors me everytime I pull one apart. Same thing with Ford if we are talking about…

Agree so much about the newer German innards and the use of plastic!!!!

(Altho I have never worked on them, but I paid an ungodly amount of money to get some of my 10 y/o mini’s insides replaced/repaired..post cooper’s sale to BMW...it’s just unacceptable! Some of the stuff just gets eaten away or corroded? How is this possible..it’s like a detective novel inside to figure out what’s what)

Re: Dan's online motorcycle repair course (1999-2020)

#92

Post by bmj »

motohagiography wrote: post #11

Such a pleasure to read this, thank you for posting. Motorcyclists and hotrodders were OG hackers. Not so much a gentleman, but more of a yeoman scientist. You have to be a bit of a lunatic to ride motorcycles, a noble, heroic, and glorious lunatic. Even with modern engineering, a working bike is still only a temporary equilibrium.

Take a look at Matthew Crawford's latest book, Why We Drive, for a deeper dive into the "hacker" side of the automotive world.

Re: Dan's online motorcycle repair course (1999-2020)

#94

Post by Rumudiez »

mathieuh wrote: post #90
ada1981 wrote: post #80

This is an awesome site. It’s also reminding me of one of my best friends who builds custom choppers. He was just in a gnarly motor bike accident and is lucky to be alive. Fused spine, deformed body, lost a finger. Still walking somehow but can’t work and is worried he may never be able to again. Just to say, motorcycles are a lot like skydiving. If you are around them enough either you or someone close to you gets i…

The idea of riding a motorbike terrifies me. I cycle regularly for fun and exercise, I do about 45 km at an average speed of about 30 km/h, and I have a couple of near misses every time I go out. Whether it's someone opening their door on me, someone pulling out in front of me (either because they haven't seen me or they don't realise how fast you can go on a bike), or someone passing me so close I'd be able to rap o…

It’s not about the thrill for everyone. As a motorcyclist myself, I scorn many of the bicyclists I see out on back country roads full of blind corners and hills without a shoulder. In my opinion, it is not safe to have large speed differentials in traffic because it erodes trust in the road and other traffic. If you enjoy two wheels as much as I do, you’ll perfectly enjoy motorcycling without the rush – you’re only as fast as you want to go but at least you’ll always be managing the speed limit. I appreciate in other regions there are minimum speed limits, and I’ve heard personal stories about getting ticketed for riding a bicycle slowly on a fast road.

Re: Dan's online motorcycle repair course (1999-2020)

#95

Post by hcknwscommenter »

mathieuh wrote: post #90
ada1981 wrote: post #80

This is an awesome site. It’s also reminding me of one of my best friends who builds custom choppers. He was just in a gnarly motor bike accident and is lucky to be alive. Fused spine, deformed body, lost a finger. Still walking somehow but can’t work and is worried he may never be able to again. Just to say, motorcycles are a lot like skydiving. If you are around them enough either you or someone close to you gets i…

The idea of riding a motorbike terrifies me. I cycle regularly for fun and exercise, I do about 45 km at an average speed of about 30 km/h, and I have a couple of near misses every time I go out. Whether it's someone opening their door on me, someone pulling out in front of me (either because they haven't seen me or they don't realise how fast you can go on a bike), or someone passing me so close I'd be able to rap o…

"a rear radar" On a road bicycle? What is this device?

Re: Dan's online motorcycle repair course (1999-2020)

#96

Post by pengaru »

h2odragon wrote: post #40
pengaru wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We shouldnt have to use brawn when physics should do. There's nothing inherent about this space requiring manly strength, it just takes up a lot of slack when everything else is lacking - from tools to knowledge. The trained professionals don't rely on brawn to perform repairs properly.

> professionals don't rely on brawn to perform repairs properly In point of fact I have recently had a mechanic lament to me that he was no longer strong enough to work on suspensions anymore. Professionally, time == money, and where something like a come-along pulling a torque wrench can work, it's not viable in the real world of a busy shop. At home, your own car, hobby, fine; but AFAIK that cost him his job. I've…

If you interpreted my mentioning a come-along as something you'd combine with a torque wrench, I'm afraid this is kind of pointless.

Any mechanic worth anything would use a longer torque wrench or reach for the trusty pipe in such a situation.

This reminds me of some of the shitty amateur shops I've had the displeasure of working in where toxic masculinity runs the place and people would be embarrassed to need increased leverage on something they should be able to do with brawn. That's a different problem altogether, and unfortunately it's very common among automotive workers.

Re: Dan's online motorcycle repair course (1999-2020)

#97

Post by mathieuh »

Rumudiez wrote: post #94
mathieuh wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The idea of riding a motorbike terrifies me. I cycle regularly for fun and exercise, I do about 45 km at an average speed of about 30 km/h, and I have a couple of near misses every time I go out. Whether it's someone opening their door on me, someone pulling out in front of me (either because they haven't seen me or they don't realise how fast you can go on a bike), or someone passing me so close I'd be able to rap o…

It’s not about the thrill for everyone. As a motorcyclist myself, I scorn many of the bicyclists I see out on back country roads full of blind corners and hills without a shoulder. In my opinion, it is not safe to have large speed differentials in traffic because it erodes trust in the road and other traffic. If you enjoy two wheels as much as I do, you’ll perfectly enjoy motorcycling without the rush – you’re only a…

Just to be clear, it's not all about the thrill for me either, it's just when I was bombing that hill with nothing but two wheels between me and being smeared across the road I realised what it might feel like to have the power of a motorcycle under you.

I ride safely, I'm not swerving between cars at traffic lights or squeezing through gaps.

In the UK, where I live, there are very few roads cyclists aren't allowed on, basically motorways (70 mph speed limit). Regardless I use a route-planning app called Komoot that uses cycle-specific data and heat maps to give you the safest route.

We have national laws that say drivers must treat bicycles as if they were a car and leave them space as such etc., not that it actually happens in practice.

Re: Dan's online motorcycle repair course (1999-2020)

#98

Post by mathieuh »

hcknwscommenter wrote: post #95
mathieuh wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The idea of riding a motorbike terrifies me. I cycle regularly for fun and exercise, I do about 45 km at an average speed of about 30 km/h, and I have a couple of near misses every time I go out. Whether it's someone opening their door on me, someone pulling out in front of me (either because they haven't seen me or they don't realise how fast you can go on a bike), or someone passing me so close I'd be able to rap o…

"a rear radar" On a road bicycle? What is this device?

https://buy.garmin.com/en-GB/GB/p/698001

Basically you connect it to your bike computer and it puts a little line along the side, cars appear as dots on the line and move along it as they get closer to you and your computer emits audible beeps when it detects a car. Has a different, more urgent beep when it detects a large vehicle like a lorry or a bus, or if a vehicle is travelling at a high speed relative to you.

Highly recommend it, haven't had any false negatives (obviously I still look over my shoulder, it's just nice to know a car's coming from a distance away and if they're going very fast).

Re: Dan's online motorcycle repair course (1999-2020)

#99

Post by pengaru »

ehnto wrote: post #44
pengaru wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW I've done a lot of lifting for engine and trans services with nothing more than ratchet straps or a come-along hanging from either an overhead joist or I-beam, or a constructed A-frame when the former were unavailable. Honestly two post lifts are more just a space and time saver for quick service shops and kind of suck. Back when I worked at a muffler+brake shop it was the two post lifts that did the most damage…

Interesting! What would you prefer over a two post lift? I have always wanted one for a home garage but maybe there is a better alternative?

If there's space and resources a four-post drive-on lift is superior. The good ones include sub-lifts on rollers in the middle for raising the vehicle further off its tires. Some of them can be annoyingly crowded underneath though, alignment racks tend to be this way to accommodate a maximum range of vehicle sizes.

If there's no permanent dedicated space, you can get a lot done with robust safety using simple ramps made from stacked wide planks of wood.

The first hot-rod shop I worked at in my youth had a simple four post lift and a big iron A-frame on wheels used like a gantry crane. We'd lift entire bodies off chassis or K members with it, and roll them out of the way into a corner so we could access the powertrain. It was a big shop space, usually with 5-6 cars in the air at a time, but most of the cars were on static stands. The A-frame would just move around the place as needed, it was just big enough to straddle the largest anticipated vehicle. But we weren't in a constant hurry like your typical muffler/brake shop full of butchers.

Re: Dan's online motorcycle repair course (1999-2020)

#100

Post by hungryforcodes »

HoveringOrb wrote: post #65
hungryforcodes wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But without any of the philosophy.

I believe he said that.

I was actually responding to the comment after that one, having missed it, for some reason. So yeah it’s in the thread, true.
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