How much time do you spend wrenching vs riding?

[josephbailey]

I rode during the 70s and 80s and I confirm that owner maintenance was routine. Frankly, that was half the fun. You would hang out with your riding buddies and drink beer and wrench on your bikes. Ah, the good old days.

[erich]

The manuals used to show how to adjust valves. Now they just tell you not to drink the battery acid.

[jburton]

I’m paraphrasing the leadership of BSA Triumph but they said that motorcyclists like working on their bikes every weekend and won’t buy Japanese as it’s too reliable

[LouisStreet]

BMW is trying to monopolize bike servicing by discontinuing the sale of service manuals. Support the Right to Repair.

[kevinpeterson]

The Art and Zen of Motorcycle Mechanics. Old bikes, old books.

[inkymunster]

70s biker here.
Got a 18yr old VL 800 Suzi at the moment, maintained myself, no major problems.
Don't forget also, we had no mobile phones then, so you get stuck in shitsville, nowhere, you were really stuck, unless you could fix it. You had mates to help though, and great adventures. Good times.

[ElDuderino]

I ride an ‘88 Kawasaki ZX-10 Tomcat — it boils down to like 0.1 % wrenching… and that was replacing the battery in a 15 minute task. I quit inspecting valve clearance quite a while ago, as they were in perfect tolerance for like 10 inspections in a row. Maybe I just use it in a rather balanced manner: Quite légère countryside touring mixed with high-rev highway segments.

Those 80‘s Kawa‘s are truly no-nonsense unkillable gods… Kaizen manufacturing and reliability at its all-time peak 💪🏻

[thomask]

Knowing how your vehicle works is worth a lot. Car, motorcycle, truck or bicycle. It doesn't matter. The more you know the better you can help yourself when there is a problem. Especially when you're in the middle of nowhere while being on a long trip.

[Greek-above-the-creek]

Конечно, крутить гайки так же приятно, как и кататься. Привет из России!

[eljuano]

I never stopped. Learning the new bikes isn't hard and saves a metric crap ton of money, however, you have to keep excellent records and do not do your own warranty work. It can be a fight to get the dealerships to honor that warranty, but if it's a reputable business and you show thorough documentation that you've been properly maintaining it, the law is on your side. I have current bikes and old bikes. The older bikes are a labor of love, but it's awfully nice to just go when you need to, so new is also valuable. Old skewl sometimes get stuck behind rose colored glasses, but those golden days, ..well that's now.

[beniniandrea]

There might be a sweet spot in motorcycle years where the reliability starts to be really good but the maintenance isn't already overcomplicated. I think that could be early 2000 years..

[h.d.h]

Longer maintenance intervals but harder maintenance. It's a fair tradeoff - I want to ride, not wrench.

[dinosaursr]

Riding since ‘76. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance sold in those days because even if we weren’t sure what it was about (exactly) we knew what the art of motorcycle maintenance was.

[KensWorldRestorations]

This goes with the funniest motorcycle meme I every read: "In the 1970's, motorcycle manuals told you how to adjust the valves. Today's owners' manuals tell you not to drink the battery acid."

[mgpyt]

He's back from the eyebrow convention!

[supercharger]

And once again I'm glad that my 125cc Varadero and my 600cc Bandit were built before wrenching got too complicated

[troycongdon]

“That was part of being a motorcyclist.” It still is if you want to go on any real adventures. If your goal is to commute in and between large population centers, you can abdicate your responsibilities if you have enough wealth.

[reneeann]

Exactly why I like my Royal Enfield Himalayan

[devontitterington]

Honestly, I don't do either as much as I'd like.

[chrismorris]

One of my best memories was track-prepping our daily drivers on Fridays after work with all my buddies to get ready for a weekend at Road Atlanta🏍️❤
Thanks for the reminder😊