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MOA Mag Twin Tech Articles

72r60/7

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Has Mathew Parkhouse or anyone collected all his articles into one place that can be accessed online ?

Great information.

Charlie
 
I have been asked the same question regarding my 20 years of Benchwrencing columns. And sadly the answer is no. In 2000 when I was MOA President we broached the subject of putting everything electronic and sadly one author of a regular tech column said "NO". He would forbid it! Then the ON changed the terms so future articles could be provided in different formats, including digital, from that point on but not the prior articles.

Some folks, including my dear wife and mentor Voni have badgered me to put everything in a digital format or in a book. So far I have failed to do so.

But, we shall see about the future. I have already said that any profits would go to the Foundation but I am too busy with life to proceed. We shall see.
 
Don't wait

Don't wait to put things into a book. Time is running out for all of us and knowledge should be passed along.

I know i myself would pay a fair price for a book of Oak's articles, or PG's or others if done correctly.

Forums are great sources of information if run properly and if the knowledgeable people interact. But, they cannot replace years of first hand experience written down in some form.

St.
 
Some folks, including my dear wife and mentor Voni have badgered me to put everything in a digital format or in a book. So far I have failed to do so.

Every time ones turns around we hear how much value our members place on tech content. I can't think of a more valuable thing to do with club funds than to take all the tech content we've published in the ON and here on our Forum over the years and publish it on our web site for members to access. Anyone who doesn't want their work on line can say so, and it won't be published.

We should also be making videos of respected contributors to our community, if only for legacy purposes. A video of Matt Parkhouse balancing airhead carbs is an example.

Snowbum has published his stuff and someone got him hooked up with Google Adwords. Good for him!

Anton has unselfishly shared all his know-how.

It would not cost much to have an offshore service encode all our content.

We can put on huge raffles that a minority of our members buy into, why can't we do this? :dunno

Ian
 
Don't wait to put things into a book. Time is running out for all of us and knowledge should be passed along.

I know i myself would pay a fair price for a book of Oak's articles, or PG's or others if done correctly.

Forums are great sources of information if run properly and if the knowledgeable people interact. But, they cannot replace years of first hand experience written down in some form.

St.

Steve, I do believe Oak is the very person Paul refers to above as saying NO. He also maintained the same position for all the Tech articles he authored for the Airmail. IIRC, part of Oak's reluctance had to do with the fact that AT THE TIME he wrote his articles the information and procedures were "state of the art". After 30/40 years there may now be better materials, tools or maybe even procedures available that he no longer had editorial control over. Hope that helps to better explain at least Oak's position.

Friedle
 
Oak

Michael,

I was refering mainly to PGlaves, comment on waiting to do it. time is running out.

I used Oak as an example of people for whom sadly time ran out.

If a person does not want to publish or archive their knowledge that is their choice. I am fine with that.

If someone is on the fence about doing so, do it now while you can.
 
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Video

One of the best things about the internet is the number of knowledgeable people who have taken the time and effort to make good quality videos of repair or Maintenance tasks then posted them to the internet. A good quality series of pictues is just as good.

My hats off to these people be they airheads, washing machine repair, or auto mechanics, they chose to share their experience with others. The knowledge is not lost as long as the link remains.

I have gone to the internet a number of times and taken advantage of these items. Many times they are free. I would not begrudge a person charging a modest fee to use their work if they so choose to do so and if it is something that is useful and will save me time, money and frustration.
 
I would respectfully suggest that in Oak's case his widow continues to sell copies of his famous Top End Manual and I am assuming that the meager income from this activity is welcome or it would not be happening. Perhaps she might be open to someone digitizing Oak's legacy and the income from selling this might also be welcome. And given the longevity of our antiques what a legacy that would be not only for us but for younger airheads as well.

I have no idea if anyone has approached her in this regard but some of the old guard here knew Oak well and perhaps they might consider proposing this idea. Scanning and re formatting text is a lot more efficient nowadays so projects like this may not be as daunting as they seem.
 
And given the longevity of our antiques what a legacy that would be not only for us but for younger airheads as well.

About 10 years ago, as means for attracting new young members, Greg Feeler floated the idea of a BMW Motorrad Technical Wiki, with work from all the old guard as the starting point. The beauty of a wiki is that editors can update the material with new knowledge and the old material can be archived in the process.

Honestly, I can't think of a better thing for a BMW motorcycle club to do to preserve the legacy of these great wrenches while providing a group activity that qualified club members could enjoy doing together going forward.

Wikis also provide a means of recording and compensating for the use Intellectual Property, so the experts could continue to generate a little income in the future.

I was not a close friend of Oak, but he knew my name. Knowing his concern about the accuracy of his older work, I described the how his content could be updated, his contributions enshrined, and how he could be compensated... but he didn't understand (or didn't want to! :ha ). I also offered to spend a summer riding the country and meeting with other contributors, but no one on the Board seemed to recognize the value of a resource like this and the idea died a quiet death.

Who knows.... maybe there are smoldering embers? :dunno

Ian
 
Compiling the info would be great. Indexing it in a useful way would be better yet. Curating and updating it would be even better. Knowing that there are, oftentimes, multiple viewpoints on issues and techniques, arranging those in a manner that illuminates, rather than confuses, the uninformed, would be superlatively great. Sounds like a real job for somebody.
 
Compiling the info would be great. Indexing it in a useful way would be better yet. Curating and updating it would be even better. Knowing that there are, oftentimes, multiple viewpoints on issues and techniques, arranging those in a manner that illuminates, rather than confuses, the uninformed, would be superlatively great. Sounds like a real job for somebody.

That's what I like about wikis.... there is ample room for different points of view. Honestly, I think there are enough interested people in the MOA, if given the leadership and an on-line resource for collaboration, we could knock this out of the park. Nothing like this exists and it would be awesome if we built it. :nod
 
Quote Originally Posted by khittner View Post
Compiling the info would be great. Indexing it in a useful way would be better yet. Curating and updating it would be even better. Knowing that there are, oftentimesend , multiple viewpoints on issues and techniques, arranging those in a manner that illuminates, rather than confuses, the uninformed, would be superlatively great. Sounds like a real job for somebody.

+++++

I will gladly send a small donation to anyone (of the recognizable persons and others with good credentials) for your compilations/contributions that will be available on line for ALL in the Future. And I’m serious ! That goes for all models of BMW’s.
And I will pay for the finished product too.

And Thank You to ALL that do that now !

I have always envisioned that one day a person will find a K75 engine (or Airhead) in an overgrown field, frame long rotted away, and then dragging it away to use on the farm or their personal shop. Much like “hit and miss” engines that are still out there undiscovered.

They will benefit from just such information too.

Especially something like Barringtons /2 info. Wonderful reference.

Charlie
 
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+1 on a Wiki ... love the idea


I would respectfully suggest that in Oak's case his widow continues to sell copies of his famous Top End Manual and I am assuming that the meager income from this activity is welcome or it would not be happening. Perhaps she might be open to someone digitizing Oak's legacy and the income from selling this might also be welcome. And given the longevity of our antiques what a legacy that would be not only for us but for younger airheads as well.

I have no idea if anyone has approached her in this regard but some of the old guard here knew Oak well and perhaps they might consider proposing this idea. Scanning and re formatting text is a lot more efficient nowadays so projects like this may not be as daunting as they seem.

In the monthly Airmail publication they publish a technical tips by Oak section called Airtech. Being newer to airheads than many on here, I have jumped at the opportunity to purchase Oak's Tech Index for $25 and Oak's Top End Assembly Manual for $30. It will definitely benefit me, and hopefully benefit Oak's widow as well. Airmail says to send a request and check for the publication interested in to (hopefully it is acceptable to put this info here ... apologies and deletion of this is understood if I am breaking any rules):

Carol Okleshen
22637 Ridgeway Ave
Richton Park, IL 60471
 
+1 on a Wiki ... love the idea




In the monthly Airmail publication they publish a technical tips by Oak section called Airtech. Being newer to airheads than many on here, I have jumped at the opportunity to purchase Oak's Tech Index for $25 and Oak's Top End Assembly Manual for $30. It will definitely benefit me, and hopefully benefit Oak's widow as well. Airmail says to send a request and check for the publication interested in to (hopefully it is acceptable to put this info here ... apologies and deletion of this is understood if I am breaking any rules):

Carol Okleshen
22637 Ridgeway Ave
Richton Park, IL 60471

I don't see a problem letting people know they are still available from Oak's wife. I had purchased my Top End Manual before Oak passed and found him to be an old school gentlemen. These are rare people these days and it was my pleasure to exchange emails with him. After he passed I decided to also purchase all the material he published for the Chicago BMW club. These ChiTech manuals (four of them) are still available online here: https://www.crbmw.com/rokcart Later on I discovered that Carol Okleshen receives no benefit from the sale of Oak's manuals from Chitech so I wrote a letter to the club asking why. I also asked if they would consider compensating her somewhat now that Oak is no longer with us. They replied that Oak basically donated his work to the club and no, Carol was not receiving anything nor would she as his gift was to their club.

If someone had the time and skills to put together a CD of Oak's technical articles from the AirList over the years I bet they would sell like hotcakes and this could be a nice source of income for Mrs. Okleshen going forward. On a more selfish note, we airheads would also benefit from this tremendous archive of airhead knowledge.
 
Some thoughts on an airhead wiki...

A physical printed paper publication such as an "Airhead Service Guide" is not really practical. First, it costs a lot of MONEY&TIME to develop, assemble, edit, illustrate, print, publish and distribute. After the cost of development and self-publication, how many copies do you think it would take to recover the investment? At what retail price per book? Not talking about a profit, just recovering costs. The numbers just don’t support a physical book. Few people decide to own and operate an airhead these days. Fewer still have the skills to do even basic maintenance (which becomes obvious reading the airheads 'Garage' pages). Far fewer people go deep into their twins to perform major service and hardly anyone is actually becoming proficient enough these days to even call themselves a pro because it takes tools, time, money and customers willing to entrust their mounts to the 'new guy'.

A 'Wiki' though can be economical to operate from a website such as the MOA, combine the experience of many individuals and become a useful reference source right away to the largest possible group. The process of managing and presenting the information needs to be done while there are still folks available who have useful knowledge to ensure that the entire project accurately portrays correct service technical details - and - technique.

There is a perfect example of an outline for an airhead Wiki in the BMW factory service manuals such as the 1977 publication. I've always appreciated owning a copy of the accompanying 1977 parts catalog too which gives one a picture of how things go together and now days, shows you what was once a available and now NLA. The factory numbering system would help to organize the project, links between those ‘Snaab’ catalog images, service info text and video.

Each service manual section would include the original factory information by numbered section – Example: 11 – ENGINE. The section would then be expanded to include in-line web links plus: 11.1 - the information we all know was left out because it was part of the factory service school training and 11.2 -the best available technique from the current super-users. There would be component 11.3 - describing the original factory tools and how to obtain them or make an acceptable substitute and, a component 11.4 - describing ways to make replacement hard parts or, find suitable substitutes. A subset of information 11.5 - would be contained additional links (not found in line) to the variety of sites with excellent video presentations of service processes. Last, a section 11.6 – containing links to resources for parts all over the world.

Something to think about- If Oaks material was not directly incorporated into this Wiki, with the continual updates to each section his information would eventually become part of it anyway because his practices are generally accepted.
 
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