Everything you need to know about biking ... and more
SO WHO really needs to know the difference between a crankshaft and a camshaft? Power and torque? Two-strokes and four-strokes? For most modern car drivers, with vehicles being sold with maintenance and service plans, engines plumbed with bewildering arrays of pipes, hoses and wires, and five-year warranties being voided by any unauthorised tinkering under the bonnet there’s no real need to involve themselves in the complexities of their vehicles. Motorcycle people, though – they’re different. Their passion is motorcycles and most bike owners don’t buy their bikes as transport – they buy into the lifestyle, and they want to understand how they work.
Pinetown’s Dave Harris has written a very useful book called Understanding Motorcycles that’ll give even the least mechanically adept motorcyclists answers to the questions they’re afraid to ask for fear of appearing ignorant. Riders with years of experience can also benefit from the 112-page book’s seven chapters covering engines, lubrication and cooling systems, electrical systems, clutches, gearboxes and final drives, frames, and suspension and brakes, as well as wheels and tyres.
Dave, a multiple ex-Rhodesian road-racing champion and speedway racer, served his apprenticeship as a motorcycle mechanic in the early ‘60s in Bulawayo. After retiring from racing he moved to South Africa and joined Yamaha Distributors in 1980, becoming their national technical manager.
He attended Yamaha Motor Company’s technical seminars in Japan, Holland and the USA and then passed on what he’d learned through giving training courses for Yamaha technicians across SA.
In 2005 he retired from his fulltime job but continued to work for Yamaha as manager of the company’s technical training academy before finally retiring in April 2013.
He now spends his time building classic motorcycles and running private technical courses for dealers across all brands of motorcycles and outboards. And, of course, writing this book. His expertise, gained through decades of training both apprentices and qualified mechanics blessed with varying degrees of skill, helped him write his book in such a way that it can be understood by raw novices, as well as be useful to experienced motorcyclists who know the principles of motorcycle technology but still have unanswered questions.
Understanding Motorcycles sells for R199 and is available through various motorcycle outlets.
For further info contact Dave Harris on 082-712-7745 or daveanddot@telkomsa.net.