Motorcycle mechanic?

Question

I'm thinking of learning a bit more about engines and how they work - basic mechanics - can you recommend a good simple bike to start on. What about a Honda cub?

Answer 1

Start with a large single cylinder engine
Small engines are harder to work on
At least a 250 cc single cylinder hopefully you can even find a 350cc or so
Two cycles use reed valves instead of Metal valves and a cam - so - you need to stick to 4cycles with oil and valves early on - 2 cycles are kind of tricky too

Good Luck

Answer 2

I think the Honda will be an overhead cam engine - kind of a pain for the first-timer.
Actually, start with a Briggs and Stratton lawnmower engine.
You can do a lot of things wrong to it and it will still work.

Answer 3

Find a basket case sporster and a good shop manual.When you are done you will have a bike worth keeping or selling.The parts are cheaper and easier to come by.you can get alot of aftermarket parts too without havind to go though the dealer.Good Luck.I hope it works out for you and have fun.

Answer 4

To start with it's best in my opinion to learn with a single cylinder 2 stroke, and then you just multiply this by more cylinders. Then move on to 4 stroke cycle. start with small cubic capacity (cc) and air cooled, then move on to water cooled slowly adding more to investigate once you have learnt the basics. Then you will see that it becomes easy to understand how any motor works.

Answer 5

Any old single cylinder 4 stroke. Two strokes won't teach you anything. Valve clearences, cam timing cam chains and all that stuff is a major part of what you need to learn.