Total Motorcycle Community Forums

Do you guys prefer using the manufactures shop manual or the Haynes/Clymer type manuals?

I found and bought the manufactures shop manual for my bike and I must say at first glance I'm a little disappointed. Especially for the price I paid. Hopefully that will change as time goes on.

Tom

how much did you pay for it? i found a guy online and bid for my service manual. its was in .pdf format but it was only 6 bucks and well worth it to me.

That's kind of a crap shoot, depending on the model you have, and the team that wrote the manual for it for that publisher. Some Clymer manuals have blatant errors, some don't, generally I have heard more people happy with Haynes manuals than others.

The best service manual I ever dealt with was a factory Yamaha manual for late 80's Kodiak quads. It was a 3-ring binder and the pages looked like photocopies, but it was the most detailed and accurate manual I ever seen. The thing looked like I put it together one drunken weekend, but it was by far the most detailed service book I've ever dealt with, for any mechanical device. And the only one like it I've ever seen.

nyrblue35 wrote:how much did you pay for it? i found a guy online and bid for my service manual. its was in .pdf format but it was only 6 bucks and well worth it to me.

I paid $50 US for an original Suzuki factory service manual for 1982 GS650L off of repairmanuals.com. Unfortunately for me, I found the same one a couple days ago on a different website for $35.

Tom

BuzZz wrote:That's kind of a "crumb" shoot, depending on the model you have, and the team that wrote the manual for it for that publisher. Some Clymer manuals have blatant errors, some don't, generally I have heard more people happy with Haynes manuals than others.

Hrrm. Well apparently Haynes doesn't make a manual for the GS650L. At least none that Google turned up. They make one for every GS model but the 650. I guess I'll have to roll the dice with a Clymer and hope that it is one that doesn't have the errors.

BuzZz wrote:The best service manual I ever dealt with was a factory Yamaha manual for late 80's Kodiak quads. It was a 3-ring binder and the pages looked like photocopies, but it was the most detailed and accurate manual I ever seen. The thing looked like I put it together one drunken weekend, but it was by far the most detailed service book I've ever dealt with, for any mechanical device. And the only one like it I've ever seen.

The one I got seems to be light on the details. I'm not general fixer upper of things. I can change oil and spark plugs, but on other stuff I like to have a sort of step by step process. The factory manual I got seems to assume you are already a mechanic and just need a little guidance. I am not a mechanic and need some hand holding with this type of stuff.

Tom

t_bonee wrote: The one I got seems to be light on the details. I'm not general fixer upper of things. I can change oil and spark plugs, but on other stuff I like to have a sort of step by step process. The factory manual I got seems to assume you are already a mechanic and just need a little guidance. I am not a mechanic and need some hand holding with this type of stuff.

Tom

Yah that's common, especially with the older manuals. What details do you feel that it's missing? I used to really like the Haynes manuals, but the more experienced I get, the less I like them ... I think it has something to do with the fact that you are constantly checking the book to make sure everything's ok instead of just following your instinct on things.

My experience with the Klymers manuals is decent, I would rather have a shop manual. The shop manuals have more specific data, sometimes Klymer will give ony vague instructions on how to repair something specific. I am not sure if anyone else has ran into this problem, but sometimes the pictures in the Klymer manuals are really dark and difficult to interpret.

i still cant find a manual for my bikes year. 03 katana600 should be common enough bike to have manuals but ive not found one yet any where. maybe im just blind...

http://www.repairmanuals.com/motorcycle ... 62/5/10322

they only have the official suzuki manual noone else. would that offical one be a good manual to have while learning to do basics, or would it assume your a real mechanic and not explain the proccess of things?

The factory manuals are next to useless by themselves if you're a newbie. YMMV.

TechBMW wrote:
Yah that's common, especially with the older manuals. What details do you feel that it's missing? I used to really like the Haynes manuals, but the more experienced I get, the less I like them ... I think it has something to do with the fact that you are constantly checking the book to make sure everything's ok instead of just following your instinct on things.

Well just details I guess. I was reading through process of stuff I didn't know how to do and I was thinking, I would never be able to figure this out with this manual alone. Also one thing I was hoping it had it doesn't, the type of oil filter I need. It shows how to change it but doesn't tell you what kind you need.

Tom