Comments on: Biker=Hacker? http://www.gaijinbikers.com/wp/2007/04/10/bikerhacker/ The continuing adventures of a couple of American bikers in the Land of the Rising Sun Wed, 15 Oct 2008 19:42:20 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.3 by: Big Ben http://www.gaijinbikers.com/wp/2007/04/10/bikerhacker/#comment-13579 Wed, 11 Apr 2007 22:17:40 +0000 http://www.gaijinbikers.com/wp/2007/04/10/bikerhacker/#comment-13579 <p>Conan, I overstretched a bit it service of my main point, but I think \"as accessible as possible\" is still admitting that they\'re less accessible. And of course I\'m generalizing from the bikes I\'ve worked on, so it may not apply to all modern bikes, but the sparkplugs on my Vulcan were under the tank strut and required a specialized tool to get out, you had to remove the side panel, which wasn\'t easy, to add oil, and a Honda Steed I worked on we had to remove the fuel tank just to adjust the carb. Changing the oil on my Harley requires one normal screwdriver, period, and you can change the plugs with a monkey wrench. And I\'m certainly not arguing that the Harley design is superior. But this is kind of tangential to my main point. Harleys, in my experience, are easier and more fun to work on, and I don\'t think it can be denied that they are more easily customizable. This makes their appeal, to me, similar to the appeal of linux and open source.</p> <p>I can see how this might have looked like another \"Harleys rule, Jap bikes suck\" rant, but that wasn\\\'t my intention. I\'m not criticizing anyone else\'s choice of ride. Like I said, it\'s about freedom. </p> Conan, I overstretched a bit it service of my main point, but I think \”as accessible as possible\” is still admitting that they\’re less accessible. And of course I\’m generalizing from the bikes I\’ve worked on, so it may not apply to all modern bikes, but the sparkplugs on my Vulcan were under the tank strut and required a specialized tool to get out, you had to remove the side panel, which wasn\’t easy, to add oil, and a Honda Steed I worked on we had to remove the fuel tank just to adjust the carb. Changing the oil on my Harley requires one normal screwdriver, period, and you can change the plugs with a monkey wrench. And I\’m certainly not arguing that the Harley design is superior. But this is kind of tangential to my main point. Harleys, in my experience, are easier and more fun to work on, and I don\’t think it can be denied that they are more easily customizable. This makes their appeal, to me, similar to the appeal of linux and open source.

I can see how this might have looked like another \”Harleys rule, Jap bikes suck\” rant, but that wasn\\\’t my intention. I\’m not criticizing anyone else\’s choice of ride. Like I said, it\’s about freedom.

]]> by: Conan http://www.gaijinbikers.com/wp/2007/04/10/bikerhacker/#comment-13576 Wed, 11 Apr 2007 20:58:56 +0000 http://www.gaijinbikers.com/wp/2007/04/10/bikerhacker/#comment-13576 Interesting parallels, but all of the modern sportbikes i've owned (only 4, EX250, ZX-6E, SV650, CBR929) have all had just about everything in as accesable a location as you can given the design of an inline 4. There's no easy way to make spark plugs accessable when you've got a design like that...the SV was quite easy to get to though. The drainplugs are in the same place (roughly) on all of the bikes, and i'd imagine they're in the same place as they are on your Harley. Furthermore, when i'm not tuning, i can't remember the last time i had to pull plugs. I change them out of habit when the bike is opened up, but I'm pretty sure my CBR has been running the same plugs for the last 20k miles (I just bought it). The learning curve may be slightly more intense on a newer bike, as a result of it using newer technology, but it's really no more complicated than any other engine. (For reference, though, 3 of my bikes have been carb'd and the CBR is FI. With that said, with the right tuning software, fuel injection kicks the crap out of tuning a set of carbs). Interesting parallels, but all of the modern sportbikes i’ve owned (only 4, EX250, ZX-6E, SV650, CBR929) have all had just about everything in as accesable a location as you can given the design of an inline 4. There’s no easy way to make spark plugs accessable when you’ve got a design like that…the SV was quite easy to get to though. The drainplugs are in the same place (roughly) on all of the bikes, and i’d imagine they’re in the same place as they are on your Harley.

Furthermore, when i’m not tuning, i can’t remember the last time i had to pull plugs. I change them out of habit when the bike is opened up, but I’m pretty sure my CBR has been running the same plugs for the last 20k miles (I just bought it). The learning curve may be slightly more intense on a newer bike, as a result of it using newer technology, but it’s really no more complicated than any other engine. (For reference, though, 3 of my bikes have been carb’d and the CBR is FI. With that said, with the right tuning software, fuel injection kicks the crap out of tuning a set of carbs).

]]> by: Daily Motorcycle Blog roundup April 11, 2007 » CycleChaos http://www.gaijinbikers.com/wp/2007/04/10/bikerhacker/#comment-13565 Wed, 11 Apr 2007 15:18:37 +0000 http://www.gaijinbikers.com/wp/2007/04/10/bikerhacker/#comment-13565 [...] Gaijin Bikers has an interesting post relating bikers to open source hackers. I would agree with it seems like a good deal of very technical minded people love bikes, but I still think its a case of vocal minority and silent majority. I think he does make a good point about how customizing your bike to make it your own is in ways similar to making your linux distro your own, both take a great deal of work, but once you have it like you like it you know you&#8217;ve accomplished something. [...] […] Gaijin Bikers has an interesting post relating bikers to open source hackers. I would agree with it seems like a good deal of very technical minded people love bikes, but I still think its a case of vocal minority and silent majority. I think he does make a good point about how customizing your bike to make it your own is in ways similar to making your linux distro your own, both take a great deal of work, but once you have it like you like it you know you’ve accomplished something. […]

]]> by: Kaze http://www.gaijinbikers.com/wp/2007/04/10/bikerhacker/#comment-13506 Tue, 10 Apr 2007 13:34:52 +0000 http://www.gaijinbikers.com/wp/2007/04/10/bikerhacker/#comment-13506 Hahahahaha!!!! I'm very proud of you. Years ago you would've "Trusted the bike to the pros". I think fucking with your own bike is a big part of being a " <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/goldencenter/SplendorTouring/photo#5051791122038355026" rel="nofollow">Biker</a> ". And thank god for them "Bikers" who do things like...repair our punctured tires when in the boonies. And thank god for cereal boxes that make great gaskets!!! Hahahahaha!!!! I’m very proud of you. Years ago you would’ve “Trusted the bike to the pros”. I think fucking with your own bike is a big part of being a ”

Biker “. And thank god for them “Bikers” who do things like…repair our punctured tires when in the boonies. And thank god for cereal boxes that make great gaskets!!!

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