> There's nothing tricky about fixing a brake, though. It's a portable skill from one motorcycle to another. Unlike, say, the tolerances for oval and taper of a

> There's nothing tricky about fixing a brake, though. It's a portable skill from one motorcycle to another. Unlike, say, the tolerances for oval and taper of a cylinder. Harder then you might think. I've seen someone not install the pads and have the rotor grind down into the caliper itself. Then installed the pad on the broken caliper and getting so crooked that it eventually warped the rotor into a dinner plate. IIRC the edge of the was about 1mm or 2mm out of line from the center of the rotor. Swinging back on topic though, I do disagree slightly on the premise that the service manual is just a glorified page of torque specs. Speaking personally, fixing something isn't usually that difficult. Time consuming, demanding in focus, and wise to be cautious but generally speaking the procedure is usually well laid out. What's hard is diagnosing the problem in the first place, determining what the fix is, and then locating the necessary parts or suppliers for those parts. The service manual's usually invaluable for the first bit. Just to give a car example: You have a car who's instrument cluster who's center LCD that's stuck at minimum brightness. Is it a problem with the instrument cluster, the dimmer switch, or the PWM signal generator that controls the cluster's brightness? As it turns out, someone thought about that. The service manual listed out a self test diagnostic for the instrument cluster; with engine off and key out, hold the odometer reset for 5 seconds, insert the key and turn to the on position. It will light up every light to full brightness and disregard the input PWM signal. Who could have figured that out without the manual listing that procedure? I probably couldn't. I'd probably be reduced to parts cannon. Electronics aren't immune to manufacturing defects, design flaws, mislabeled products, abuse, or the outside elements. And if something does fail, it's an absolute bitch to trace down problems with the electrical. Service manuals are invaluable both listing how things are supposed to work as well as often having extensive trouble shooting guides that give a hint at what could be a problem.