Novice at mechanics; needs hands greased up..

[chiragrk]

Hi guys,

I've been a software engineer all my life.. I own a Tata Indica and a Yamaha R15. Not to mention I like my Yamaha better.. Planning to buy a new car, probably a Honda Civic or City by end of next year.
I am a complete novice at mechanics of engines and how things work. I am hoping to learn a lot of stuff from this forum.
For starters: How do I start ? Whats the best approach to learning about bike engines and servicing them? Be-friending a mechanic sounds like a good option, I however do not have much contacts. Are there any part-time sessions where they teach right from the text-book to the real things?

Thanks,
Chiragz

[kkr2k2]

chirag
welcome on-board team-bhp.

to begin with you may try these:

Service | India Yamaha Motor Pvt. Ltd.
(use the drop down menu for weekly and monthly)

&

Service | India Yamaha Motor Pvt. Ltd.

[chiragrk]

Hey,

Thanks for your reply. Off late I've been reading a lot of stuff off the internet. However, what I need right now is something practical to do.
Sometime in future I wish to tour across India on my bike and I'll need to know my bike inside-out to perform some make-do kinda stuff. How do I get started on doing things myself on my bike?

Thanks,
Chiragz

[kkr2k2]

If getting your hands dirty is what you are looking at,
Buy an used bullet!
Join a bullet club and go out for rides.

Else if you want to tour, buy a new karizma. Tour without getting your hands dirty.

Better not take your Yamaha for touring.

[Swifty2008]

Hey There!!!, Welcome to T-BHP family.
As for your new ride, go for the All New Honda City. An alternative would be Hundai Verna. I have driven it and its too hard believe that its a diesel.
Enjoy your stay.
Cheers!!!!!!!!!

[chiragrk]

>> Better not take your Yamaha for touring.

Why do you say so? @ kkr2k2 . I've not done much touring yet, however I took my bike till Daman from Mumbai. Its around 200 KM one way and the bike was behaving very decently.
I believe you're asking me not to take it on bad roads or places where it would be diffcult for me to get my ride fixed.

[kkr2k2]

R15 is a track bike, though it can be used for touring but only for short distances and also the bike is technologically advanced, so any break downs would eat away considerable amount of time. Also off late I have been hearing lot of R15 rims being bent on hitting pot-holes at good speeds, but never heard of it for Karizma(I could be wrong though). Also the sitting position will leave sore wrists, shoulder and back if you are tall.

All in all, the R15 is not designed to be a touring bike. And you were talking about cross country touring. You might also have to come across bad roads. The tires are also for tarmac not for rough roads.

[chiragrk]

Yep. You make sense. I guess I'll hang around the 300 - 400 KM radius for now.
I've also made arrangements to visit a guy who does bike mods and planning to learn some stuff from him. I think there are some books also for grabs to learn basic stuff (like how 4 stroke engine works etc).

thanks!

[kkr2k2]

for basics try our technical section also wiki, how stuff works for now.