How to talk to your mechanic about what's wrong with your motorcycle

How to talk to your mechanic about what's wrong with your motorcycle

How to talk to your mechanic about what's wrong with your motorcycle

It helps keep your motorcycle running properly so you can get to the office, go to class, or better yet, enjoy a Sunday morning ride with friends. And as your mechanic, I may need a little help from you if your bike's problem isn't as obvious as a flat tire or a toothless sprocket. This help comes in the form of information that will guide me towards a diagnosis, so I can repair your motorcycle and get you back on the road.

The information is especially important when I don't have access to the machine, as is the case when I respond to pleas sent to me via social media. In that scenario, a vague problem like “My bike runs rough and doesn't want to rev” is difficult to address, because I have no evidence to work with and no interest in composing a troubleshooting guide on my smartphone.

If you're the rider whose bike doesn't idle well, I'll probably groan out loud, take a deep breath, and then start asking questions.

What do you mean by running badly? Is it a low idle, a high idle, or does it misfire? Does it stumble when you open the throttle? Is your bike carburetor or injection? Have you changed anything on the bike? How many miles are there? When was it last serviced or worked on? How long has this problem been going on?

Verbal investigations for clues

These questions and others like them are verbal probes, methods of building a mental picture of information in which I will look for correlations. That's what all mechanics do. Perhaps the owner just installed an air filter and high-flow exhaust, revealing an obvious cause-and-effect relationship to explore. Or perhaps it will be revealed that it has been raining for weeks and the bike is parked outside, in which case water in the fuel system or soggy electrical connections are probably the culprit.

It's just detective work and you, as a key witness to the problem, even if you absolutely don't understand what it could be, have more clues.

So, the best way to help your mechanic help you is to think about the problem, identify as many symptoms as possible, and offer as much background information as possible. To that end, there are three categories I recommend considering as you collect evidence: sensation, noise, and scenario.

Tune into the sensations

When it comes to feel, you have many options for feeling your bike. Your hands are on the handles, your butt is on the seat, and your feet rest on the rungs. That's tens of thousands of nerve endings to detect rattles, shivers, thumps, tremors, or other sensations that might be helpful to your mechanic. Defective bearings, a loose timing chain, worn head bearings, warped clutch discs, glazed brake discs, unbalanced wheels and a host of other maladies, all telltale sensations to the observant driver.

In addition to tuning into any unusual sensations, you'll want to take note of where they seem to be coming from. The same goes for sounds.

Imitate sounds

Does your motorcycle make any unusual noises? If so, where are they coming from? Don't be afraid to imitate the noise your bike makes when it's in trouble, even if it's the screeching of an alternator belt slipping on your BMW R 1150 R. Chances are, your interpretation will make both of you laugh, and maybe even provide a valuable clue.

Describe the scenario

Finally, the scenario surrounding the problem can be revealing, so search your memory for the situation in which the problem occurs. What happens just before the problem or after? Is it associated with specific inputs or control actions, such as making a turn or hitting a bump? How was the weather and is the engine cold or hot? Have you just spent an extended period of time on the highway? Does it happen when accelerating or slowing down? At a certain engine or road speed? Things that may seem completely insignificant or irrelevant to you might light a light bulb in your mechanic's head, so don't hold back.

Motorcycles are not mysterious machines and mechanics are not magicians. We are simple people who have a knack for logical, if-A-then-B thinking, and we need information for our mental flow diagrams. Providing clues will help you fix your motorcycle faster, save you money, and make you think like a mechanic, which might help you fix the next problem yourself.

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