The factory manual

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Chris in TN
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Re: The factory manual

#16

Post by Chris in TN »

Ah...Tech data! After a career in aviation maintenance where you have to use it and be able to show you're using it both on the aircraft and repairing the electronic equipment on the bench I'm something of a connoisseur of well written technical information...and conversely, a critic of it when poorly written. As for motorcycle manuals, I collect them all for each bike I own if possible. Yes, Clymer isn't a shining example of well written data and you can find out and out factual errors. (I think their worst is the BMW R-bike manual mostly because they try to cover 20 years and 25 different models in one book.) I like Haynes for their illustrations and the attempt to do the job without recourse to factory tools which of course we usually have not got. (I also like the British text...gudgeon pin anyone?) My favorite factory manuals are the Suzuki ones in the bright red binders but my RG500 factory manual is a yellow soft bound book. Whichever, I like the usually clear text and plenty of pictures.

So why one of each? Simple. Sometimes, if the procedure isn't clear or I suspect they may have gotten something wrong I can poll the other manuals to see if there's a consensus or to find if a different text has made it clearer. Sometimes just having a different picture can make the light bulb go on for me.

Besides, I like reading them even when I'm not working on something.
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mikenixon
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Re: The factory manual

#17

Post by mikenixon »

:) Makes sense.
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