Online motorcycle repair course.

[TRANSPORTER]

Heres a nice link I found on the www.ukgsers.com site. Ive had a quick look through the site and it looks quite a handy site for all of us who do our own spannering.
Might even be worthwhile making it a stickied thread.

www.dansmc.com/mc_repaircourse.htm

[Daz Max]

Nice one

[TRANSPORTER]

Thanks DAZMAX lets hope somepeople find it helpful in the task of mending their steeds.

[AlanH]

Some of the stuff on that site just plain wrong and can result in expensive catastrophies. Take this page for example:

Dan's Motorcycle "2-Stroke Oil "

It says:

I'll condense hours and hours of study and research to one statement. "You can run the manufactures oil at whatever ratio the manufacture says and feel safe. ANY other oil run at 20 to 1."(20 parts gas to 1 part oil).In other words run Honda oil in Honda 2/strokes at Honda ratios. But if you run Honda oil in a Yamaha, run it at 20/1. Yamaha oil in a Honda? Same thing 20/1. They all say "Ours is the finest oil available." Trouble is they will not really tell you why.

If your bike is pre-mix and jetted for 40:1 and you decide to run it on 20:1 then you will most probably have issues. The best case scenario is you'll oil up your plug and the thing will run like crap. Worst case scenario is you'll seize it solid. Putting more oil in a pre-mix makes the mixture weaker (it's more viscous and there is less petrol in the mixture). 20:1 is a lot different to 40:1 and will need rejetting if you don't want to be replacing your top end and maybe rod/crank too depending on how bad the melt-down is.

Admittedly, the site does have a disclaimer:

Dansmc does not warrant that the information contained in this Web Site meets your requirements or that the information is free of errors. The information may include technical inaccuracies or typographical errors.

There are loads of 'helpful' sites on the web that appear to be based on the authors opinion, assumptions and flawed knowledge. My advice - steer well clear of that one and rely on the workshop manual for your bike instead.

[TRANSPORTER]

Fair one Alan H, myself I work out all my own fluids etc and know what the bikes need, looks a good sight for maintainence procedures ie for REFERENCE only, but I take your point on that that snippet that you found.

[AlanH]

To be fair, there is probably loads of good info on the site but that was pretty much the first thing I looked at.

The problem with this sort of content is that the site visitor needs to have the skill to tell what information is right and what information is wrong. If you have enough knowledge to do that, you don't need the site anyway. If you haven't got enough knowledge to to do that, you can't trust the site and shouldn't rely on the info being correct.

My 2p's worth

[TRANSPORTER]

To be fair, there is probably loads of good info on the site but that was pretty much the first thing I looked at.

The problem with this sort of content is that the site visitor needs to have the skill to tell what information is right and what information is wrong. If you have enough knowledge to do that, you don't need the site anyway. If you haven't got enough knowledge to to do that, you can't trust the site and shouldn't rely on the info being correct.

My 2p's worth

I totally agree with you with the bit about the knowledge, Shall we just say use it at your own discretion as a ref only site for the odd job that you might want to do that you might want a helpful pointer to guide you on your way but at your own risk.

[AlanH]

Shall we just say use it at your own discretion as a ref only site for the odd job that you might want to do that you might want a helpful pointer to guide you on your way but at your own risk.

That sounds like a disclaimer in itself - good advice

[jonnybgood]

Some of the stuff on that site just plain wrong and can result in expensive catastrophies. Take this page for example:

Dan's Motorcycle "2-Stroke Oil "

It says:
If your bike is pre-mix and jetted for 40:1 and you decide to run it on 20:1 then you will most probably have issues. The best case scenario is you'll oil up your plug and the thing will run like crap. Worst case scenario is you'll seize it solid. Putting more oil in a pre-mix makes the mixture weaker (it's more viscous and there is less petrol in the mixture). 20:1 is a lot different to 40:1 and will need rejetting if you don't want to be replacing your top end and maybe rod/crank too depending on how bad the melt-down is.

Im more of a 4 stroke man so really dont know too much about the fuel/oil ratio thing but was puzzled as to how too much oil could cause a seizure!! ! I was always under the impression that if you put too much oil in rather than less you would reduce the chance of seizure?? Maybe I should go on motorcycle maintenance course or stick to 4 strokes

[AlanH]

Im more of a 4 stroke man so really dont know too much about the fuel/oil ratio thing but was puzzled as to how too much oil could cause a seizure!!

It's one of those strange but true facts that seems plain wrong. Mess with the premix ratio and you also need to rejet.