Get really familiar with your bike...

[hawkwind racing]

maybe its generational or geographical ( could be a thesis for a buding sociologist ?) but back at the dawn of time when I was first besotted by the two wheeled wonder ,every man and his dog did all the wrenching on his own machine ( as an aside I,m an ardent disciple of the FTPCBS principle f*** the politically correct bull shit so I will not be using politically correct language ) we employed many methods to achieve our aims ,yours truely sort help from my more experenced elders eg DAD yes they were a common sight back then in those old fashoned functional neuclear famlies , good ol dad would donate time and tools to the cause one was encouraged to" have a go " in these informative years one would learn the time honored art of f*&^ing up real bad as we moved on we were encouaged to "purchase" our own tools , as good ol dad became a cranky ol fart who did not appreciate the loss ,damage and abuse of said tools , so we started to acquire a range of tools and one learned quickly that cheap shit was precisily that so quality was sort yes I still have many tools purchased 35 years ago that function well today ,next knowledge was sort from books , working for FREE down at joes garage , and spending countless hours over many years at TAFE courses ,this was over and above ones training in what ever vocation one was earning a crust from ,this and spending all of ones spare time on "projects " started small and worked up through all the fads , a common social event was the "mates getting together over a a beer or 10 dozen at the shed " where one could share ,do ,learn and perfect the art of bullshitin ,there were also bike clubs ,racing clubs and other groupes where like minded lads would gather , so for me over the years its allways been do it your self and do it right , but in the end its up to each of you to decide how you do things for me the journey has been long and extreamly satisfying and thougherly enjoyable
the best way to keep your front and back wheel aligned is to "string line them " give me a holler if ya want to know how
Gary