Is it possible not to know enough??

[Darkside]

Well its sort of embarrassing Is it possible not to know enough about bikes?? I mean in the technical sense? i.e.; How your bike works and what each part does? I mean this morning for example, i was looking over my power commander settings, and for half of it i was like WTF Generally there is rather a lot to know, and I feel i know the basics but what about the rest? I feel that if i got into a convo with 'real bikers' i'd be fucked (christ this really is turning into an auntie bcf thread!) Does anyone else ever feel like this? Is it normal? I know most car drivers havent got a clue about how their car works but its not really the same for bikes.....is it?
I feel i know a lot more about the bike than the car, but yet not enough if that makes sense.....I mean what the fuck are compression ratios
What exactly as a biker should you know? Are there any good books on the subject? Thanks in advance.....Panic over(for now).
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[pa_broon74]

I don't know a whole hell of a lot about bikes either, on the other hand, if I discover something I need to know then I'll find out about it.

Other than that; if you're in conversation I find that copious use of the word 'indeed' works well. It doesn't mean yes or no, it doesn't mean you understand or not, it can mean I agree or I don't agree...

I have a friend who's an engineer and he feels the need to know all sorts of odd things so that he can share with the group... Unfortunately he also lives under the misapprehension that those in the group give a shit...

[Itchy]

however much you feel you need to know,

previously when my bike ran ok just throwing tyres and oil at it , I needed to know nothing , when a problem developed I fixed it needing to know how at that time.

while there are plenty of other riders who will just know nowt about bikes and just ride them,

which is also fine,
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Spain 2008France 2007Big one 2009 We all die. The goal isn't to live forever, the goal is to create something that will. In the end, your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it is worth watching.

[MattShill]

Yeah, you only need to know what you want to know. Read 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenence' to see the two sides. Or don't, y'know. Your call.
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Living life in the second overtaking lane!

'98 Kwak ER-5

[Marci]

Down to bank balance... if you have the money you don't need to know a thing - take it to a shop and pay them to do anything that needs doing.

If you're a skint l'il puppy like me, you buy the bike and it never sees a shop again... everything is done by meself, so I learn what I need to know when I need to know it. Everything else I just picked up along the way...

For definitions of common terms, that's what google's for... https://motorcycles.about.com/od/roadtestsreviews/a/motospecterms.htm

I haven't discovered anything that I need to know that couldn't be found out simply by hunting various forums and the net.

The compression ratio for your particular bike is found in it's spec sheet / workshop manual / haynes manual, or on www.bikez.com
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FAB-Racing MiniMotoSidecars - Back with a vengeance - F1 Class 2011...
CBR170 engine, custom chassis - www.minimotoscene.co.uk

[yambabe]

I know nothing about my bikes except how to ride them, and I'm not ashamed of that. I don't make any secret of it either!

I'm an accountant not a mechanic. if I need anything fixing or looking at I'll ask someone who has trained (even if self-taught) to have that knowledge in the same way as I would expect them to ask me for advice about capital allowances or PAYE codes.
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Sod falling in love, I wanna fall in chocolate.

[eifion]

[Blau Zedong]

[ncrn]

Well it depends how much you want/need to know.

When I got my first bike, a scooter, I had no interest in the mechanics of the thing, all I knew was I had to put oil in under the seat and fill it up with petrol, and take it to the garage whenever the manual told me too.

After paying £80 for an oil change and a spark plug change I decided I should probably learn how to do stuff, so when I got my current bike I got my dad to help me replace everything that needed replacing, and he showed me what I needed to do to keep it running.

And whenever anything else has gone wrong I've asked him to show me how to do things, I know now how to rebuild the engine which I don't need to know, but its handy if the engine does go again.

It does help to have someone on hand to show you how to do things, but I'm sure you can learn just as well with help from people on here.

But at the same time you don't really need to know anything, it just depends on if you want to know.
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Past: 55 Sym Jet, 91 ZZR250, 03 NSR125R. Present: 97 ER-5.
https://www.nsr125.co.uk - NSR Owners forum.

[MarJay]

Not knowing about power commander settings is one thing...


... not knowing what a spark plug is, or how to do an oil change is something else entirely.

I'd say if you know enough to not get fleeced by a dealer when they try to tell you your bike needs a new "Rotator Splint" then you're ok.

Personally I can never know enough, but thats just me...
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British beauty: Triumph Street Triple R; Loony stroker: KR1S; Track fun: GSXR750 L1; Commuter Missile: GSX-S1000F; Cheap project: CBR900RR FireBlade
Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

[stinkwheel]

The important thing is that you know enough to know what you don't know enough about.

In other words, if you don't know what it does, don't mess with it until you have educated yourself.

This avoids people having to post threads along the lines of:

"I took this bolt out to see what it does, something went ping and now there is oil everywhere. Oh, and I cross threaded it trying to put it back in then burred the head. What was it for?"

You may laugh, but I've seen one on here that said almost exactly that.
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I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Wafer_Thin_Ham]