Total Motorcycle Community Forums

Yeah, I want to do various stuff to my first bike that I recently acquired ('75 Honda CB550-F) , but I have no idea where to start. I'd like to do an oil change (The oil light keeps coming on), check the carbs, and maybe fix the fact that the shifter is, for lack of better terms, "being gay."

To give you an idea of how ignorant I am, I still have no idea what carbs are. I also once spent a good 2 hours trying to get my bike started when the gas was off.

It's not like I'm a full-fledged idiot, I change the oil in my car and stuff. It's just that I'm new to the whole bike thing, and nobody really cares to help me.

Given my circumstances, is it possible to just buy a maintenance/repair manual and do everything myself without screwing anything up majorly? It's either that or go to the nearest motorcycle mechanic and get raped.

Don't try anything that you dont think you can fix if gone wrong. But in that case you would end up getting "raped" by the mechanic down the street as well as being called names for not knowing what you were doing. happened to me with my car

You could look in the library. Our big library here has quite a lot of different maintenance manuals.

go to

http://www.helminc.com/helm/Result.asp? ... L394X35BC1

expensive service manual but the price way outweighs taking it to a stealer to have your work done. I should be getting my service manual from them here in a couple days.

Carbs are indeed confusing. Took me a while to figure out what they are.

Anyhow, they're the things that create the vaccuum to draw in the fuel to the pistons. Fuel injected bikes don't have/need carbs so they're becoming outdated as FI catches on.

The price of the service manual pays for itself after one service. Buy the genuine Honda service manual as it is the same the dealer uses to work on your bike. It is a step by step process accompanied with pictures so it is very easy to follow.

Your oil light coming on is a sign of bad oil pressure I think. You may not want to ride yoru bike if that light is coming on.

sharpmagna wrote:The price of the service manual pays for itself after one service. Buy the genuine Honda service manual as it is the same the dealer uses to work on your bike. It is a step by step process accompanied with pictures so it is very easy to follow.

Your oil light coming on is a sign of bad oil pressure I think. You may not want to ride yoru bike if that light is coming on.

the link I gave him is the genuine Honda link for ordering your specific Honda manual .

Definitely get ahold of the service manual. You can mentally walk yourself through the procedures a few times before starting.

If you are uncomfortable doing work that is a real safety issue, like brakes, have someone reputable do it for you. I would say a shop and that's fine, but you'll never learn it. Another option would be to have a competant friend walk you through it.

Anyhow, you gotta start somewhere. Little by l ittle you'll learn about your bike. Sometimes it takes tearing it apart and cussing it back together.

The fact that your oil light is coming on may be the reason that you're experiencing problems with your shifter.

low to no oil? Definately check it

Do you know how to top off the oil? That may be the first thing you want to try and do.