LIFE ’S AN ADVENTURE
FIX IT, IF YOU CAN
BY CLINTON SMOUT
Should you do
your own bike maintenance? I believe you should do some — to the degree of your competence. Just like first-aid skills that are limited to your expertise and training, your bike maintenance skills have limits. You shouldn’t try to perform a tracheotomy with a Bic pen just because you saw it on M*A*S*H. YouTube how-to videos are amazing, but doing your own brakes for the first time could have dangerous and costly consequences if you don’t have the skill.
I was fortunate to have a passion for motorcycles from a very early age. With very little money I bought and bartered beat-up, well-used bikes, and wrenched as much as I rode in those early days. Luckily for me, my neighbour, Mr. Adams, worked as a small-engine mechanic. He devoted a lot of his evenings and weekends to helping keep all the neighbourhood dirt bikes and snowmobiles running. I learned so much from this generous man, which has since helped me operate my rider-training business. Being able to fix broken bikes has come in very handy over the years, and has also helped at my part-time job as a sweep rider for adventure tour groups. But even as experienced as I am, I still take my bikes and training vehicles to experts if the repair is above my pay grade.