I cleaned out the Jets and tuned up my 79 super easy shortly last week. And stop to think how many people still know how to do this? Do you do you get your own work? Or do you just ride and bring your bike into the shop?

I just finished the work on my 79 Shovelhead thinking I wanted to do that again. I don't know wth I was thinking but she's done and ready to go. LOL With that said, I'll ride my '12 Heritage and do regular maintenance. Anything above that, it will go to the shop. I'm glad I had the opportunity to once again work on a shovel but it's not something I care to do anymore. BTW, it is for sale

Sounds like you need to go out and find another old bike that needs work!

I try to do as much of my own work as I can. To me part of the fun of owning a motorcycle is working on it. Although on the newer bikes with computers and EFI there is more these days that I can't do myself. Don't get me wrong, I love my '07 Road King, but I do miss the days of carburetors and simple motors that weren't controlled by a computer. I also miss the days you could sit on the fender of your car with your feet in the engine compartment and work on the motor. Now it takes me 10 minutes to find the dip-stick on these new cars with all the crap under the hood.

I pretty much do my own work on my '85 bagger. I took it to a friend's shop for a replacement drive belt because of what's involved. Inner primary and swing arm have to come off, it was just easier.
With that said, I do my own maintenance, oil/lube/filters etc. Rocker boxes were weeping 2 years ago, changed them out myself and still no leak. I do alright for a cripple...

I do most of the maintenance on my bike. About the only thing I that won't do that I could do is change tires. Without proper equipment it's too easy to screw up the wheels. I have a lift on the garage so putting it on the lift and pulling the wheel off is easy. A shop in the next town changes and balances it for $13.00US.

I've got the breakout boxes and the Electronic diagnostic manual so I can pretty easily chase down electronic problems and I love buying and playing with tools.

This is the first bike I've had without a carburetor and while we can sit around and wax nostalgic about the good old days, I for one, don't miss sitting on the side of the road in the middle of the night messing with carburetors, points and broken chains.

Most of the guys that ride around here couldn't find a spark plug.

I have the service manual and am not afraid to jump in to my arse and then let the shop fix my screw ups.

But usually I get the basics done. And sometimes beyond the basics if I have directions.

These things are far different than my old pan head and some of the stuff I have not figured out yet.

Well looks like I'm not the only one that still has some tools in the shop. But Revbigjohn puts us all to shame. You build your part? That would be to cool.

I'm with lucky with missing the days of carburetors. A good friend of mine just picked up a 02 or 03 soft tale jest so he can go back to the carburetor. I have always had one myself. But I don't have much trouble with sitting on the side of the road in the dark working on carbs. But I keep them tuned up well. That I can do. I just wish I could learn the electrical part of the dam things. Any ideas for me?

My shovels most of the work is done by me… If I need machine work for rebuilds Wooly and I have someone else do that. Basic maintenance on the Twin cams depends on if I have the time to do it. Some times it is the one thing I don't have enough on and other times I have too much of. Electrical work has always been my down fall and have had a friend that owns a shop giving me lessons. Should have learned it a long time ago but I am can be as stubborn as the old bikes… ; D

I have always thought it was just part of riding motorcycles that you worked on them yourself. Maybe though it was the fact that I have never been wealthy enough to let the dealerships work on my bikes. The only thing that I don't do on my bikes is change the tires.

Sweet! There are a lot of riders today that don't do any work on there bike. I talked with one guy at HD that had been one his bike for a year and disinterested know how to check his transmission oil. Much les know how to change it. I'm just hoping I'm not a dying breed.

It seems like with the advanced technology being promoted, on motorcycles these days, it is becoming more & more difficult to do a lot of the more technically involved work.

A very good older friend of mine,had a old 72 Sport w/a peanut tank,that he could tear down & throw back together in the matter of hours.Most of the parts were readily available from the local dealer,who stocked a lot of the parts anyway. My 03 Honda VTX would probably take quite a bit longer,and most likely a lot of parts for a rebuild would take weeks to get & would require shipping from Ohio or Japan.

I do tackle all the lesser sorts of work on her,yet I do not consider myself all that good w/a wrench.

That's what I need is the Electric Diagnostic Manual I don't know what the breakout boxes is. do you know we're is can find the Electric Diagnostic manual?

The dealer where I bought my bike sold me mine.  It's a Harley book about the same size as the Service Manual.  First he said they didn't sell them then he said since I took the bike to Europe he'd sell me one.  Then, a few years ago he said Harley had become tight on parts sales and he wouldn't be able to sell me the tools and things as loosely as before.  The breakout boxes and extra adapters are pictured in the back special tool section on my repair manual.  Some after market places specializing in Harleys might have them.  I know sometimes Drag Specialties will have Harley specific tools.

They really make it easy to chase sparks as you put the box in series with a harness and simply follow the directions in the Electric Repair Manual.  Like for a certain fault code the instructions will read "put the VOM leads in pin 14 and 16".  Then there is a chart that says, "is there continuity?"  Yes--No.  Then to the next step.  Until reaching a solution.  Keeps you from having to chase down connections and trying to squeeze probes into the connectors.

But I don't think they are very valuable without the electric manual giving fault code explanations and troubleshooting diagrams.  My Dyna is an '06 and I'm not sure how far back for older bikes the boxes and manuals go.

I know you have a pre EFI bike and don't know if you also have something newer, but if you have anything that my 2006 Dyna book will cover and hit a snag sometime I'd be happy to scan a page and send it to you if it'll help.

I no longer even have to have tools or a shop! ( I still do just cuz) Our local dealership allows us to come in and use their shop/tools and even get tech advice from their mechanics.

Now that would awesome to have a shop do that for you.

And every fall/winter they have Saturday workshops teaching different things about working on your own bikes. You can even bring your bike in to be the project bike. Last Saturday was EVO maintenance. I've even taken a class on wheel lacing.

 For those who just don't have the place or tools to work on a bike, I am seeing more and more DIY shops popping up.  They have bays, lifts, manuals and even loaner tools to work on your bike.  Some have qualified mechanics around for advice  One of them just signed up here on CycleFish recently... Sprockets DIY Motorcycle Shop