LADIES: Are you "mechanically inclined"?

Message
Author
User avatar
follow
Legendary 300
Legendary 300
Posts: 325
Joined: Mon Apr 28, 2008 3:57 pm
Sex: Male
Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains

#41 Unread post by follow »

I was fortunate enough (in my younger days) to have a father that was mechanically inclined and insisted that all of his children new how to work on cars, bikes and anything that needed gas, however over time I really don't know how to mess with motors anymore (can do tires) so instead, the other half does it and maintains all three including the vehicles. It's a good thing I can cook.
I follow a new highway I haven't traveled before.

[img]http://i41.tinypic.com/2rpwdjq.jpg[/img] [img]http://i43.tinypic.com/wswow4.jpg[/img]


IBA Member: SS1000, BB1500, BBGold

HD 07 Street Glide-mine
HD 02 Road King-ours
Honda 06 ST1300-ours
Honda 97 ST1100-mine

mazer
Elite
Elite
Posts: 171
Joined: Sun Jul 27, 2008 2:49 pm

#42 Unread post by mazer »

Hi everyone, I am new here. Thank you for the forum, it is wonderful. I am in the process of refurbishing a 1986 Honda Nighthawk 700s that a friend gave me for helping out another friend. It will needs some TLC, and I just order a couple of manuals (including the factory one) in order to save some serious fundage.
I too am a visual learner, but my cashflow dictates I learn from a book, so that is what I will do. I did join the Honda Nighthawk Lovers group on Yahoo and have learned alot there.
I have the time and energy to take it slow, and probably wont get on the road until next spring, and I can hardly wait. I have not ridden in awhile and will probably take the refresher course.
Thanks for having this forum, I hope to learn alot.

User avatar
Lisa
Veteran
Veteran
Posts: 57
Joined: Sun Jul 15, 2007 2:15 pm
Sex: Male
Location: Trenton, On

#43 Unread post by Lisa »

Had an adventure with my motorcycle in my drive way last night. Learned
some stuff about safety too. Grab a seat, it's story time.

My task was to remove both wheels so that I could bring them in to the shop to have new rubber put on. I have the book for doing repairs on the motorcycle but what the book assumes is that you know what you're doing and have experience working on bikes in general. The Haynes manual doesn't tell you little tricks to make the job easier and that's what this story is about. I don't know what I'm doing and I've never worked on a motorcycle before other than changing my clutch lever and changing my oil.

I managed to get the front wheel off fine and with a minimum of fuss. I had the front braced up with some wood so the fork wouldn't touch the ground. while I'm trying to wiggle the back wheel off disaster strikes. The bike slid forward folding up the center stand and knocking over the wood.

So now the bike is on the front forks and partially removed back wheel. My bike weighs in the neighborhood of five hundred pounds. I can probably get 200 to 250 off the ground if I am really motivated but I'm not able to budge the bike by trying to lift the front.

I try jacking the front up a little with my bottle jack (I think it's called a bottle jack) but before it gets high enough to be useful it gets very dangerously unstable and falls down on the wood I've put underneath the bike to try to keep the forks off the ground.

At this point I'm swearing and crying and at the point of giving up. Except I can't give up. I need to have this done tonight so I can bring my wheels in to the shop in the morning and I can't afford to drive the truck around until some one can come help me.

Too heavy to lift and too unstable to jack back up, I'm stuck. Then I had a moment of inspiration. I'm trying to lift the bike from the wrong axis (along the center line) which is causing things to be unstable (and probably dangerous with the jack. I managed to walk the bike back up to a workable height by leaning it to and fro and sticking a block of wood underneath each side until I got it to a height where i could put something like a cinder block under it and pop the center stand down. Once I had the bike raised and stabilized it was simple work to get the back wheel off. Hopefully putting things back together is way easier.

On the XJ list some one suggested that next time I secure the center stand via rope or webbing the next time. When I put the wheels back on tomorrow I'll be doing that.

Shorts
Site Supporter - Gold
Site Supporter - Gold
Posts: 3452
Joined: Thu Jun 08, 2006 7:42 pm

#44 Unread post by Shorts »

Lisa wrote: Then I had a moment of inspiration. ...I managed to walk the bike back up to a workable height by leaning it to and fro and sticking a block of wood underneath each side until I got it to a height where i could put something like a cinder block under it and pop the center stand down.

NICE MOVE!

I've seen that method in a documentaries several times pertaining to Stone Henge and other ancient architects who've moved big big stones without machines. And it works! 8) Great to see it in action

User avatar
goodies
Veteran
Veteran
Posts: 92
Joined: Thu Aug 07, 2008 4:29 am

#45 Unread post by goodies »

I was my dads, first born "son." LOL! I spent hours in the garage with him growing up. I had bikes as long as I can remember, and was expected to maintain them. if the points got damp, I knew how to dry them off. 2 wheel and 4 wheel maintainence was drilled into my head. The newer electronics is way over my head, and I won't even go there.

I guess I have always had a tom-boy streak.

User avatar
Lisa
Veteran
Veteran
Posts: 57
Joined: Sun Jul 15, 2007 2:15 pm
Sex: Male
Location: Trenton, On

#46 Unread post by Lisa »

Shorts wrote:NICE MOVE!

I've seen that method in a documentaries several times pertaining to Stone Henge and other ancient architects who've moved big big stones without machines. And it works! 8) Great to see it in action
Thanks! I've never seen the method on tv (I don't have any subscriptions to content providers and I might turn my tv on every two months to watch a movie). Good to know it's used to move even heavier objects.

My latest maintenance was a heck of a lot smoother, I cinched the center stand and braced the front of the frame with a cinder block with a piece of wood to cushion it.

This time I swapped out the forks, namely the entire shocks. working at the front of the bike this isn't where I would want the bike rolling forward and landing on me.

User avatar
lewister
Rookie
Rookie
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Aug 09, 2008 2:24 pm
Real Name: Susan
Sex: Female
Years Riding: 0
My Motorcycle: 2008 Buell Blast
Location: Texas

#47 Unread post by lewister »

I'm hoping to be mechanically inclined. Actually, most of the tools in the garage are mine, but they generally weren't the kind for cars. However, I'm now the proud owner of a decrepit (as in pieces are in boxes) Norton. We think it's from 1968. Someone who's looked at it thinks it might be a P11, whatever that is. My hope is to get it going. Someday. Should be a great adventure just getting it going. Then we can have some great adventures actually riding it. :D
Susan
Baby Rider | 2008 Buell Blast

User avatar
RocketGirl
Elite
Elite
Posts: 138
Joined: Sun May 25, 2008 9:33 am
Real Name: Belynn
Sex: Female
Years Riding: 4
My Motorcycle: 2007 Yamaha Virago 250
Location: New Castle County, Delaware

#48 Unread post by RocketGirl »

sunshine229 wrote:I do my own oil changes (my hubby TMW Mike taught me!) and I lube my chain.
I did my first oil change on my bike. It was a productive afternoon of cleaning and lubing chain, adjust chain slack, changing the oil and oil filter. My husband helped out when I needed a bit more muscle.

It was pretty straightforward, followed the manual and a few posts I've read here at TMW. I'm not sure if I'll be doing much more than that though unless I take some kind of small engine maintenance course. I would like to learn how to change out my tail light for one of those LED-types. Those are incredibly visible even in bright day light.

------
2007 Virago 250cc

mazer
Elite
Elite
Posts: 171
Joined: Sun Jul 27, 2008 2:49 pm

#49 Unread post by mazer »

I am excited and a bit bummed. I got the fairing off and the instrument cluster. I was just going to clean things up and found out that the plastic housing for the instrument cluster is badly cracked and even had broken off where one of the bolts goes - poo!
Sooooo now I have to add another parts to the growing list of things I need- I swear it is getting to be like a shopping list now!!
tools, tires, lubes, torque wrenches (which is apparently an afternoon class just to figure these things out)
Oh well - at least I am figuring things out - it is kinda like a puzzle in 3D, with alot of dirt and grease, and wicked positiions you have to be in just to reach what you need.

User avatar
dr_bar
Site Supporter - Diamond
Site Supporter - Diamond
Posts: 4532
Joined: Mon May 23, 2005 4:37 am
Real Name: Doug
Sex: Male
Years Riding: 44
My Motorcycle: 2007 Yamaha Royal Star Venture
Location: Surrey BC, Canada

#50 Unread post by dr_bar »

So, are all the pieces there? A vinyl repair person just might save you some money by fixing it rather than replacing...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Four wheels move the body.
Two wheels move the soul!"

Post Reply