Great White

Sure, but they're ripping around on 100-150 lbs of minibike in dirt, typically around 20 mph or so and Mom and Dad have them pretty kitted up. Not saying they cant get hurt, but it's very different from what's in that video...

I've been out of that loop so long i wouldn't know where to suggest. Nearly 30+ years now. My auto course was just done at a local vocational school and my apprenticeship was at a local garage. I would start with making school recruiting contacts, requesting literature, etc. I know when I went to university, I could access school rankings based on academic curriculum, achievement, job success, etc. I'm sure if you dig around, there must be a similar ranking scheme out there somewhere. Dig, don't just believe a schools "ad hype". It's all about getting your lad hired on somewhere when he's done. He needs the best chance he can get (ie: good school on the resumé) as there are always experienced journeyman out there these days looking to snap up a job....freaking lousy markets. You're also going to want to know what he needs post formal education to achieve journeyman status. IE: apprenticeship periods, testing, licensing, etc. A lot of that is differnt for us here province to province. I'm not sure how it works state to state....

Pretty much depends on how you look at it. Principles are the same, execution varies. It's the same in the automotive world from manufacturer to manufacturer. Most motorcycle stuff is just the old way of doing things on cars. Please understand my intention is NOT to tear you down, pick a fight or get into a "mine's bigger than yours thing" here, but to discuss some young lad's possible future. To use the examples you've given: Wheel mounting - tires go on rims just as they always have. The automotive service industry have just automated it more. Tire changers vs irons and muscle power. Balancing MC rims is just the old way cars used to be done before dynamic and road force balancers became the norm. It's a matter of no money in automating the process on MC's for machinery manufacturers. A car tire shop needs to get them in and get them out ASAP to make money, not so much in a MC shop. Not enough profit margin for a MC shop to spend multiple thousands on an automated/power tire changer or balancer either. Clutch. Meh. One is a multidisc wet clutch vs a single disc and pressure plate. Multidisc is to get the size down to MC size and still get sufficient friction surfaces. They both still work on plates, springs and friction material. Automatics are a different thing again, but bikes don't operate on automatics other than a few models (like the old Hondamatic) long since dropped. There are some CVT type bike applications out there though. I won't swear to it, but I think the Spyders use a CVT (like a snowmobile). Chain/belt drive - sure, car's use them inside CVT transmissions, but not really the same thing. Many bikes use shafts same as Automotive applications. Shafties seem to be gaining in popularity these days as well. I guess as the rider demographic gets older, they are willing to trade that last 10-odd percent of performance for convenience. Suspension - swinging arms, bushings and shocks. Same principles, slightly different applications. front forks are the biggest diversion from automotive style suspension, unless you want to talk coil overs and maybe even the McPherson strut. Cut open a standard automotive shock and you'll see either an emulsion type or floating piston, same a a MC shock. There will be washer stacks and valves in both. Expensive car shocks will have external adjustments, just like bikes. Bikes will have progressive linkages, something cars don't unless you get into some high zoot off road stuff. But the principles are all still there. Engine/trans single unit and shifting mechanism. Another example of principles and execution. Crack open any unified case and you're staring at pretty much any standard transmission. Input/output shafts, gears, bearings, syncro's and shift forks. No real parallel in bikes for an auto trans though. Auto's are simple as Pee though, once you learn the basics. Engine assembly different process. Respectfully, that has to be a plain old "disagree". Plain bearing cranks, pistons, compression and oil control rings, thrust bearings, end play, torque sequences, overhead cams, tensioners, valves. ports, water cooling, etc, etc, etc. Every skill you use to rebuild a small block or modern OHC engine is the same. Except the Japanese bikes use weird things like colors and letters to select bearing and such. Sure, you've got the unified engine/transmission to deal with, but it's no more real sweat than putting together any other modern OHC engine. You're just doing an engine and trans rebuild together instead of two separate assemblies. Auto-adjusting valves vs manual. Granted, modern car engines are pretty much exclusively hydraulic lifters/followers, but many motorcycles are also auto adjusting/hydraulic. Heck, I remember the DOHC Honda's in the 750 Nighthawk series (Canada: we got 750's, USA got 700's same with the Interceptor and Magna) had hydraulic adjusting valves back in the 80's. Those that aren't are simply the same principles as older mechanical tappets. Heck, you can even use modern Toyota OHC tappets in any 25 MM tappet motorcycle engine. Like the XVZ12/13/VMX12 engines. Carbs - they taught them when I went through, but that was a fair time ago. Modern bikes will soon be the same way cars are as far as fuel injection vs carbs go. Emissions will make sure of that. Emissions is the same reason why carbs went away of cars and trucks. Carbs couldn't meet the regs. A large number of modern bikes roll off the line injected. I'm not sure if any of the newer, larger bikes even run carbs anymore. Even HD is injected these days....that's saying something right there. I also hate to say it, but he wants to get into a shop where the bikes are all warranty work or new. That means injection will be his bread and butter and it's where the money is. Carbs are older bikes and owners of older bikes tend to be rather.........errrr......"frugal". Respectfully, as I said, I'm not trying to pick a fight or anything like that. But the VAST majority of an automechanics skills transfer right over to motorcycles. They're cut from the same cloth. That's not to say it's simply walk out of the corner garage, into the local bike shop, pick up tools and start working. Bikes have their own little special subset of skills that need to be learned. But a guy slipping out of automechanics is going to laugh at motorcycle fuel injection or spinning wrenches on anything bike related. An automechanic's trouble shooting skills are also going to be vastly overqualified in a bike shop. from a modern car to a modern bike would be like going "back to basics" for a qualified autotech. Might even be touch lost without canbus until he got his legs back under him with automechanics "101" (IE: spark, fuel, timing, compression, etc) The thing is though, automechanics don't normally cross the line into bikes because it's far more profitable for them in the auto repair industry due to simple numbers and steady 12 month a year work. When a guy's bike breaks, he wants to get it fixed. That falls under "disposable income", don't have to spend it if you don't want to. When the car he depends on to get him back and forth to work breaks, he NEEDS to get it fixed. That falls under get it fixed or default on the mortgage. It also covers the male and female demographic. Pretty much everyone drives a car, not everyone rides a bike. Big difference for making steady work for a mechanic.... I was originally a licensed mechanic many many moons ago. 40 hrs a week and more if I wanted it. I also helped out a couple buddies on the weekend in a local MC shop they ran (gave me access their shop, lifts, special tools and whatever parts I needed cheap for my bikes). It was fun and gave me a look into their world. Their profit margin was always razor thin. I always had more disposable income than they did and they paid their mechanics even less than what they had. And they were usually fairly busy when the weather was good. I gave both up and went into university. After i finished with that, I knew I was destined for mechanical work as that's where my god given gifts were (You can drop a bucket of parts in front of me and I'll just put it together and it will work, whatever it is. I'm some kind of mechanical "rain man" I guess.) So I joined the military and started working on aircraft. There's good money in that civvie side (75-100,000+) and the planes are always dry, clean, in a hangar and warm. You do have to travel as a civvie journeyman AME to make serious coin though. That can be a plus or minus depending on the individual. I guess the bottom line in all this is I wouldn't really recommend working on bikes to the OP as an "eggs in one basket" kind of deal. If the lad has mechanical ability, get into something that will pay decent and he will still enjoy. Aircraft mechanical engineer (AME), heavy diesel mechanic, industrial mechanic, etc. Get a good cash base, wrench and ride his own bikes. Or branch out into it when he gets a good cash flow and nice comfortable life established. The skills he will learn in any of the transport disciplines transfer over into motorcycles. Well, the diesel and aviation applications much less. But then again, once diesel or Jet A-1 gets in your blood, it's hard to want to do anything else...... I've always looked at MC wrenching as a retirement thing once I'm winding down, pension is coming in and I'm looking to stay busy as much as supplement the income.That's not to say a living can't be made at it, it's just not a living I woudl want and there are so many other better paying jobs out there for a lad with mechanical ability....

Maybe consider swapping to a complet RSV transmission since you're going to have to split the cases anyways? They were pretty cheap and pretty common on ebay when I bought mine for 100 bucks CAD plus 30 bucks shipping. That was both loaded input and output shafts, shift forks and shafts, new solid style shift sector and they even threw in the oil pump gear. Was a wrecker in Quebec I bought it from. Smbikeparts IIRC.... Sitting in my 83 right now. You'll likely want the Vmax rear diff if you go that way as 1-5 are higher on th RSV as opposed to the 83-91 Venture. Basically, what you end up with is Sean Morely's (AKA: Morely's Muscle) 5th gear overdrive option he sells for the VMax and all the 2nd gen transmission updates to boot (ie: shift sector, hardened thrust washers, etc).....

Why bother with the helmet and gloves? They go bouncing down the road they're not likely to want to survive it dressed like that. If they had a get off I'm "Dad" sure as hell would have wished he'd died once "Mom" would have gotten through with him. The rest of it was just as irresponsible and made the lack of proper gear even more appalling. You might get away with that type of thing a hundred times. But what about the one time you don't? Something as simple as what if the kid just slides sideways on the tank? What if they hit a bump and the kid whacks the throttle? Or the bike hits a rock in the road big enough to wobble it? Heck, what if the kid just yanks the bars because he just don't have the understanding of what it is going to do and thinks it would be "funny" or "fun"? Six year olds don't exactly have the most solid thought process or sense of their own mortality.... If that had gone wrong, it wouldn't be "cool Dad" it would of been "idiot Dad".......and then he would have had to explain to mom why their son is dead or in intensive care with road rash over 75% of his body and/or an amputated limb. So yeah; it most definitely is the same as putting a weapon in his hands. A 600-odd lb weapon that will kill the same as a bullet will. A six year old has much less chance of surviving a road impact or tussle with that bike than a fully grown man. It woudl crush him like a grape. In fact, the method in which it kills is often more horrible and more painful than a bullet. And if it doesn't kill you, you might be wishing it had. Some things are just stupid and irresponsible, now matter how "cool" you think it is going to look....

I'd say if he wants to do bikes (and only bikes) I would suggest he'll likely have to move somewhere where it's warm all year round to make a living at it. The guys here are seasonal. Meaning: they work on the machine that fits the season if they want to make a living wrenching. Quads/side by sides - all year round, more in summer. Snowmobiles - winter. Bikes- summer. Most also haul in the small engine stuff to fill in down time. Yard equipment - summer. Snowthrowers - winter. I guess what I'm getting at is that only bikes doesn't work in an area that has a winter season. Not enough people buy them and not enough riding season to make a living at what little there is out there. They have to diversify or die. Just something to think about as Ohio is pretty close to the Canadian seasons IIRC. On the plus side; the schools I know of that have a specialized motorcycle programs are located in those warm places. Or, he could take automechanics, make a living at that and apply those skills in his spare time to build up experience. Bikes are no more complicated than cars, in some cases much less complicated. The basics of power generation and transmission is the same. Once he's made a decent living at automechanics, He can start branching out into a private shop to do bikes on the side. If he finds enough money in it for his satisfaction, he can do it exclusively. Or take a sabbatical after building up a little "war chest" in teh bank account and go do a couple bike courses. I certainty wouldn't put him off working on bikes if that's what he wants, but there are certain limitations to that part of the mechanic trade and he should understand that. It's a "niche" market as far as mechanics go. Small and profit is very elusive.....it's there, but he's not going to make a good cash income in the northern areas without diversifying his skills. Ask yourself how many motorcycle dealerships we've seen open and then close 5-10 years later and that pretty much sums it up. Even the mom and pop private places I grew up with are all gone now. Around here, they've all pretty much died off except for one "mega dealer" that started off as a Honda place and is now an "all brands place (including HD). They just sucked up the other brands as they slowly went out of business....and even they had to switch to selling everything from generators and quads to dirt bikes and street bikes.....

As i said, more power to those that run a car tire on a motorcycle rim. I just can't get it squared away in my head knowing what i know so I won't use them. Glad you're happy with them, its just not for me.

I know many guys run car tires and have never had an issue. But I can't bring myself to try one. The incompatibility of the bead seat is just too much of a question mark for me. More power to those who use 'em. I just can't square it away in my own head enough to "risk" it.

A Vmax SHOULD have long enough lines. But I've never swapped a set or even measured. You'll have to either try or measure to know. As long as they are long enough to allow suspension travel without going taught a full extension, you're good. If they are a little too long, they will work, but extra length may be a PITA to keep from moving about too much. You can always add another line clamp somewhere if needed. My preference would be to find lines that are pretty much the right length but an inch or two long shoudl be manageable. Too short speaks for itself....

This is also worth a look:

For the crank bolt I use an impact. One zip and its off. Make sure you have grade 8.8 bolts or better for your puller. The rotor can be a b@st@rd. Make your life easier and watch this: Notice how everything jumps when it releases. There's lots of force and weight there. Do not get in front of it when it lets go or you may regret it. Mine came off with enough force to launch it across the garage. I was standing off to the side and had a good grip on it so it just tried to spin me around at the workbench.

I bought a set of these: http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Yamaha-FZR-YZF-600-600R-R1-R6-R6S-7-8-Motorcycle-Chrome-Handlebar-Grips-/161967242907?hash=item25b5fffe9b Figured it was too good to be true. Showed up and they were just like the pics. Slipped 'em on my 83 and they're probably some of the best grips I've ever owned. durable and mega comfy. Go figure. But grips are a very personal thing. What feels good to one guy might be too hard/soft/big/small for the next....

I had a look a a couple of your pics (kinda fuzzy) and it looks like the selector lever is there on the throttle housing for cruise. If you've got a manual lock then the cruise is probably not working and that was someones fix. The four wire brake switch is also an indication of cruise control (originally). An 85 should have "Venturecruise" written in green on the tachometer and a green light just above the writing. If you've only got two wires on the Fz6 housing, it's just a simple switch. There's several posts on the forum that have wiring diagrams, just find the two that go to the brake light and not the cruise. Looks like the brown wire and the green/yel stripe from what I can see on a couple 85 diagrams. So PH seems to be right on the money.

I'm going to differ here on the brakes lines as I've done it many times myself: if the lines are long enough and it good shape (IE: no cracking, dry rot, etc) go ahead and use 'em if you want to. Swap 'em out for new or stainless when you get the chance or money. I don't replace brake lines until they show me the signs they need to be done or I just want to switch to braided lines. Never have had a failure in my 40 odd years of riding/wrenching. Never seen or heard of one either. Replacing with new is always a good idea if money allows, but older lines aren't automatically bad simply because they are old....

I'm thinking to retrain at metal fab/welding (they pay for it after all) and open my own shop to do piecemeal work to keep busy and supplement income. Stuff like trailer construction and such. It also would let me build a nice big workshop and tool it while writing it off as a business on taxes.....

Regular release has far less benefits. 2% per year and severance is pretty much it.

I'm a tinkerer. Nohting I own is what could be considered "stock". Bikes, cars boat trucks...you name it, I can't leave it alone....

I do have many good memories, but I have just as many nightmares.....unfortunately, that's one of the main reasons I'm being offered the golden handshake....

Meh, i always thought the bikes they built were not much more than a joke anyways.....

I've actually seen that exact picture form that exact vantage point several times (ie: airborne)

Nope, touring NA would involve our 35 foot travel trailer. 35 feet dedicated to hauling two people. No bunk house model here! Only bummer is it's not a toy hauler. I suppose I could always build a hydraulic lift for the truck...... This was my last flight in SAR: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/4-p-e-i-fishermen-perched-on-sinking-boat-s-bow-rescuer-1.3133379 Not a bad way to go out.

Nah, not ready to live on a pension income yet. Need money for my automotive addictions.....

26 years in military SAR and it looks like its over. I'm finally busted up enough that they're looking at bouncing me out the door. It's just as well I guess; last time I did the fitness test I passed (did better than the 18-20 year old bucks), but it also broke me for a couple weeks. The young bucks are in better shape for sure, but they don't have the mental discipline to push it past the limits like the old guys do. Running across the final scramble line I heard a pop and my back went out in the usually spot on the disc. I'm coming due again and could probably pass if I pushed myself too far like last time, but I'm sure it would break me again for a couple weeks like last time. I think it's time I stopped with that kind of thing..... But it's not all bad, a medical release has many more benefits attached to it than a regular release. It also looks like I'll be accommodated to at least year 27, which would put me at a 54% pension. I lost some of that to the ex-wife a long time ago, so it won't quite be 54%. Probably more in the 45-50% range. Still, not that bad, that should put me somewhere in the 30-40 g range and the wife is still working at a 60G+ a year job n=and she plans at least another 10 years before even looking at retirement (she's 10 years younger than me). So, if I make around 40-50G (gross) that would probably maintain our standard of living as it currently sits. I've also got a couple medical restrictions that Veterans has yet to pay out for. Should come in around 60G. Great thing about that is its tax exempt, which makes it more like getting close to 100G. Med release also indexes my pension to the rate of inflation from the first day I'm out. I think the rate is somewhere between 1.5-2% per annum. MedR tops up my pension to 75% for the first two years after release and they pay for two years retraining at an occupation of my choice. They literally pay for everything, right down to travel back and forth to my spouse's location on weekends if my schooling is elsewhere. I also get a severance package, which is somewhat of a rare benefit these days. They froze that several years ago since they are ceasing that benefit (like most places these days), but a MedR is different and it "unfreezes" that rate. Basically, the recipient receives credit for the years since the freeze in the calculations, which means more $$ for the recipient. That should come in around somewhere in the the 25-35 G (gross) range. That money will go into an account/investment to pay/help pay for my daughter's education. I gotta say, Med release is a very generous package. But in the other hand, I can't count how many people's lives have been saved as a result of sacrificing my body and mind. Even the last flight I did before they grounded me I puled 4 guys off a boat as it sunk beneath the last guys feet. That's not a bad note to leave my flying career on I guess. Maybe it all comes out even in the end, dunno. I have very mixed feelings on it..... I've already been "felt out" by a couple SAR organizations to join them post military, but I'm not sure I want to (or even can) get back into a SAR aircraft. My real quandary is what the heck do I do once out? I'm 50 now and everything I'm interested in has some sort of apprenticeship period. Who the heck is going to hire a 53-ish year old apprentice? It seems even the young bucks have a hard time getting on somewhere these days. If I take a trade and assuming I get through an apprenticeship, I'll still need something I can transfer between provinces (wife is still in military and will likely move every 2-5 years). That means red seal trade at least. Which is yet another hurdle to jump before I start making income. Even harder if we're moving around. Not to mention, by the time I do make it to a journeyman, I'll be pushing 60. Nearly time to retire for good then. I would like to get into some of the "metal" trades (welding, fabrication, machinist, etc) but they're all in the apprentice category and you need red seal to be interprovincial. I thought about going back to school to get my autotech license back, but apprenticeship again to get back to journeyman. AME is an option, but apprenticeship again and you're somewhat limited in Canada for job locations. I thought maybe NDT, but the quals seem to be impossibly difficult to get (bureaucracy), apprenticeships and the bulk of it seems to be piecemeal work in Alberta with oil companies (I have absolutely zero interest in alberta and big oil work). I've even thought about opening my own small shop in something like small engines or motorcycle work, but that market seems pretty flooded everywhere I've lived. Plus, by the time it takes to get a small business viable, it would be time for the wife to move provinces again...... I guess I'm just sort of vetching here, it's all pretty new. Just found out about this 2 days ago. Although I could also see the writing on the wall a while ago. The whole process is going to take a min of -12 months, so I have some time to think about my options. I know lots of guys get to this point without these options/benefits. I guess I'm at least lucky that way.....

No this is not the first time I've made a simple!e comment and you've come out full attack. Only seems to be with my comments, anyone else can say pretty much whatever they want and nothing. At least not a response rife with distain. Anyways, it is what it is. I'm out.