stevenrankin
Active member
Oh yes
Changing up from airheads to the oil head clutch job my friend did. BMW designed the wiring harness as one piece from front to back on the oil head. Eliminating the plug for the tail light sub harness meant the clutch job had to be done around the wiring harness as it could not be unplugged and separated when the bike had to be "broken" in half to change the clutch.
I won't go into "breaking" the bike in half to change a clutch, I have never had to on an airhead but this is an oil head and it is designed differently, and sorry to say in my eyes not better.
Designing out the plug in the middle of the main wire harness, obviously made it easier at the factory to install one harness instead of two, and saved money in build cost over the number of bikes made. Great for BMW! Not so for the mechanics who have to work on it.
Of course, if I were a BMW mechanic, I would love to be busy and be paid a fair price for my work, that is right and just. In the past when I was a mechanic, and working for an hourly wage, it didn't bother me in the least to take 8 hours to do a job, unless it interrupted my lunch breaks or something. Still, I had some choice words to say about nuts and bolts tucked away requiring me to buy a special wrench to reach, or in some cases a special tool.
I ended my career as a mechanic before the real nonsense with and bikes began as such, I don't have a tool box full of special tools to fit the manufacturer's design to repair a customer's car be it BMW, Honda, or Dodge. I have over time collected the BMW tools needed to work on BMW airhead motorcycles and thank goodness for that. They were expensive enough.
I am sorry, I stand by my comments BMW engineers don't always get it right. I guess I must modify that to say, they get it right for BMW with a balance tilted more to BMW than the customer. Yes, we as a customer get a good bike, but, we also get tied to a dealer, and high repair and maintenance costs. Not so much with the airhead bikes but I feel sorry for the newer bike owners when they have to go in for routine maintenance or repairs.
I will stick with my grumping about silly BMW engineering on my airheads, I have no desire to find out what engineering is like on newer bikes. My short visit to my friend's shop while he was doing the oil head clutch just reenforces my beliefs regarding BMW. St.
Changing up from airheads to the oil head clutch job my friend did. BMW designed the wiring harness as one piece from front to back on the oil head. Eliminating the plug for the tail light sub harness meant the clutch job had to be done around the wiring harness as it could not be unplugged and separated when the bike had to be "broken" in half to change the clutch.
I won't go into "breaking" the bike in half to change a clutch, I have never had to on an airhead but this is an oil head and it is designed differently, and sorry to say in my eyes not better.
Designing out the plug in the middle of the main wire harness, obviously made it easier at the factory to install one harness instead of two, and saved money in build cost over the number of bikes made. Great for BMW! Not so for the mechanics who have to work on it.
Of course, if I were a BMW mechanic, I would love to be busy and be paid a fair price for my work, that is right and just. In the past when I was a mechanic, and working for an hourly wage, it didn't bother me in the least to take 8 hours to do a job, unless it interrupted my lunch breaks or something. Still, I had some choice words to say about nuts and bolts tucked away requiring me to buy a special wrench to reach, or in some cases a special tool.
I ended my career as a mechanic before the real nonsense with and bikes began as such, I don't have a tool box full of special tools to fit the manufacturer's design to repair a customer's car be it BMW, Honda, or Dodge. I have over time collected the BMW tools needed to work on BMW airhead motorcycles and thank goodness for that. They were expensive enough.
I am sorry, I stand by my comments BMW engineers don't always get it right. I guess I must modify that to say, they get it right for BMW with a balance tilted more to BMW than the customer. Yes, we as a customer get a good bike, but, we also get tied to a dealer, and high repair and maintenance costs. Not so much with the airhead bikes but I feel sorry for the newer bike owners when they have to go in for routine maintenance or repairs.
I will stick with my grumping about silly BMW engineering on my airheads, I have no desire to find out what engineering is like on newer bikes. My short visit to my friend's shop while he was doing the oil head clutch just reenforces my beliefs regarding BMW. St.