Other than "MMI," where can someone learn to wrench on motorcycles? G'pa? Dad? ok, sure, there's that. What if they didn't wrench? How many community colleges offer "motorcycle mechanics" classes today? Any high schools offer any vocational classes at all? Anyone take welding in high school, that's NOT from the 60's or 70's? Those classes have been eliminated.
I've noticed recently that dealerships have been taking advantage of this "lack of knowledge" by increasing their shop rates to crazy levels. $135/hr isn't unusual anymore. Remember the $22 oil change? (3 holes.) Now, it's $250-300. Sure, oil costs more, but not 15 fold. They're taking advantage of rider's ignorance, all the way to the bank.

 

 

I think back to what it was like 50 or so years ago. To ride meant you were forced by necessity to be competent in the maintenance of your machine. Until the Japanese got into the game in the 70's, every motorcycle out there was mechanically unsound and needed continuous attention.

Plus the machines were simple enough that a man with a halfway decent assortment of basic hand tools could perform any operation necessary in his garage. For guys riding HD's, almost everything on the bike was rider-serviceable. Add a hydraulic press to your garage, and you could almost do everything.

Today's machines are fundamentally different. When you roll a new bike off the lot, you expect it to operate more or less flawlessly for 100k miles. And if you don't **** it up, it probably will.

"Wrenching" doesn't mean what it used to mean.

Time was, "wrenching" meant something like solving a no-start problem, curing some horrible mechanical noise inside the motor, or repairing a catastrophic failure. Today, "wrenching" means bolting on some pipes or other doodads, or maybe changing fluids or brake pads. Go out to your garage, press the button, and your 2018 turns over vigorously but doesn't start? Good luck. Tow it to the dealer and plug it into the computer, identify the gizmo no longer holding it's smoke, replace, and on your way.

Its a totally different world. For the most part, the same digital technology that makes contemporary bikes so complex has also been used to deliver precision in manufacturing unheard of a couple of generations ago. Every new engine in every new vehicle sold in 2018 comes "balanced and blueprinted" from the factory to a level that the most competent hotrod shop circa 1963 could only dream of. Not to mention the dramatic improvements in metallurgy over the same time frame. Getting 100k miles out of a car used to really be something. Today, anything less than 250k (and without EVER doing any internal engine work) is a disappointment.

I don't have a new bike, but if I did, I doubt I'd ever lay a wrench to it. Maybe change the fluids. But that's it.

What's the point?

There seems to be a longing for the old-school ways, but today's bikes don't require it. Push the button and go.

 

I think some people have removed a screw and springs flew everywhere, and they told themselves "never again"...

 

So, you've seen me do plumbing? LOL!

 

Every time this topic is dug back up, it's the same "only manly men rode back in the day and now these pansies ... blah blah .. ego stroking ... blah blah." I only trust myself to go so far into modifications, after that I'm happy to throw money at someone that knows far more than I do to make sure the job is done right.

 

to me, it's simple, maybe they don't have the mechanical ability or the patience or maybe the time to work on their own bikes.