South West Bikers | Motorcycle Forum

deej wrote:sounds a good idea but i'd be suprised if a mechanic who runs his own business would want to give up his own time to freely train us on how to maintain our bikes as that would put his business at risk

Then the power companies send out information on how to save energy? I wasn't expecting him to do it for free, a group of us could chip in £10 each. But I hear you I'm sure you're right. Probably better if someone in the club could pick up the mantel, and show the rest of us how clever they are.

In the 4 years I've had my bike I've changed the oil and filter, brake pads, tightened head bearing, changed clutch cable, front fork oil and seals, new chain and sprokets, and I've got all the tools for those jobs, chain breaker/joiner etc so if anyone wants to come to my place to do any of those jobs I don't mind showing them how.

ah yes we looked into the great british gas offer thats being advertised and were already with them on a cheaper plan already, makes you wonder what all the fuss is about

Count me in Si
I have added my bike details too

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It's not that straight forward to do an owner maintainence class.
There are several legal consideration in such an endeavour, firstly most business insurances will not take kindly to having members of the public in your workshops, Insurance to cover accidents and injuries occurring in the workshop by members of the public would likely not be covered,then there is the question of liability arising if someone does something wrong and causes/has an accident as a result, such as not tightening the caliper bolts to the correct torque for example. Then there are the amount of tools that would be needed, the college had a massive amount of tools so that each student had the tools he/she needed, a small motorcycle workshop is unlikely to have that amount any in many cases the tools belong to the mechanics not the business, with the exception of the specialist service tools that most dealerships have.
When I taught motorcycle mechanics at college we would not allow students to carry out work on their own machines for this reason. As well as that if something goes wrong when working on the bike such as a snapped stud or a stripped thread and the bike cannot be ridden, who is responsible for moving it, it may not be possible to leave it overnight in the workshop. Items like valve clearances need to be done when the motor is cold, so you would not be able to turn up on the bike and do them, you would need to bring the bike on a trailer or leave it overnight to cool down.
There are a great many pitfalls in such an undertaking, speak to East Devon college in Honiton/Tiverton this is your local motorcycle mechanics college and they run a full time C&G motorcycle course and may be interested in running an evening course if there is enough interest. I used to teach an evening group at the college where I taught, which was mainly owner maintainence and enthusiasts etc. Which was always over subscribed.

jam wrote: ....... speak to East Devon college in Honiton/Tiverton this is your local motorcycle mechanics college and they run a full time C&G motorcycle course and may be interested in running an evening course if there is enough interest. I used to teach an evening group at the college where I taught, which was mainly owner maintainence and enthusiasts etc. Which was always over subscribed.

Oddly enough Jam, I was going to post up that if people were interested in learning to do their own maintenance, they should see if Tiverton College still did evening classes - I didn't realise they did courses at Honiton in the past - as that would be the best way to go about it

A "self-help" advice session like Rich Webber did for suspension is one thing, but to get a "proffesional mechanic" to give lessons would be something very different as the issue of public liability indemnity would come into play for any advice that was given .....

Maybe bring back the good ol' SWB garage days. Always fun and an excuse for a p*ss up too.

I know I've learnt alot from various persons on this site.

they were always fun

all we need is someone with a bike in need of alot of work but who also has little to not enough knowledge to be dangerous .............

The motorcycle department at East Devon college is now based in Honiton, they moved from the site in Tiverton after selling part of the site to a supermarket chain. I know they are still running the fulltime course and the day release, but as far as I know there is no evening group, however if there are enough enquiries then the usual practice is to run a course.

When I get my bike back from SP, I'm going to service it so if anyone wants to come and see how to change plugs, oil etc they're welcome.

Funky wrote:When I get my bike back from SP, I'm going to service it so if anyone wants to come and see how to change plugs, oil etc they're welcome.

Can you teach us the black arts of wood screws too?

if your bikes in SP ehy dont you get them to do whilst its in there ??

I think he should come clean on what else he’s been up to

Ha ha layne, if I was putting stuff in bottles, you definitely wouldn't want your kids to bathe in it!

SP don't have a dyno do they Deej?

Nope and I never said they did

I asked why you didn't get the oil done whilst they had your bike apart on the work bench ?