"The Care And Feeding of Your Motorcycle"
"THE CARE AND FEEDING OF YOUR MOTORCYCLE "
EVALUATION
MAINTENANCE BY THE NUMBERS
UNLESS YOU’RE RICH AS A ROCKEFELler, and buy a new motorcycle every time the old one’s oil gets dirty, you can’t afford not to do maintenance. But for the uninitiated, armed with little more than a service manual and a dose of enthusiasm, keeping your beloved collection of alloy, steel and plastic in top shape might be tougher than it looks. The manual itself can be the stumbling block, because it's usually written for the journeyman mechanic, and often filled with grainy photos and pidgin English that make it about as understandable as hieroglyphics.
TGLB Productions tries to lessen that plight, though, with a 48-minute video entitled, “The Care and Feeding of Your Motorcycle.’’ In it, the narrator, a commissioned mechanic with eight years of experience, demonstrates many of the same tasks listed in a shop manual’s “Maintenance” section. In fact. TGLB intends for the video to supplement a manual—not replace it—by offering clearer, more detailed instructions to make the work easier.
“Care and Feeding” fills that role nicely, serving as a fluent interpreter for a manual's mystery. Thirty-two numbered segments describe tasks ranging from chain adjustment to ignition timing to tightening steeringhead bearings, often throwing in worthwhile tips along the way. Few manuals, for instance, suggest shielding yourself from the tiny geyser of oil that erupts when a fork’s drain bolt is removed; even fewer mention adjusting the bike’s controls to fit the rider, which pays off in increased comfort and control.
And throughout, “Care and Feeding” remains considerate of its intended audience. It stops shy of chores that require special tools or certain skills, such as valve adjustment and synchronizing the carburetors, and recommends that a dealer attend to any serious repairs. As with most how-to videos, you won't find a lot of entertainment, but at least the narrator approaches the topic with a sense of humor, mugging here and delivering a deadpan line there.
As the last word in maintenance, though, “Care and Feeding” occasionally garbles the message—for instance, neglecting to point out that the top triple-clamp's fork-tube pinch bolts must be loosened in order to tighten the steering-head bearings. It sounds somewhat provincial, too, suffering from a narrow focus that treats only chain-drive motorcycles with air-cooled engines; there’s no mention of shaft-drive or liquidcooling.
Still, ours was a pilot-production tape, and a TGLB spokesman promised that these procedural gaffes would be fixed for retail versions (available in VHS or Beta for $34.95, plus $3 shipping from TGLB Productions, 505 W. Lucerne Drive, Lafayette, CO 80026, Attn.: Kurt; [303] 666-4234). But even if those oversights remain, “Care and Feeding” will still be a worthwhile video primer on maintenance. It can show what's in the lines of a service manual —and what’s between them. too.
