When your transportation machine (car, moto, rollerskates et al) breaks, your urge will be to pay a guy to fix it. Or to buy a new one. You should resist this urge at all costs, partially because it will cost you a lot or money, but also because by having someone else solve your problems you are giving up an opportunity to do a lot of good things for yourself.


If you're like me, you're not good at much (other than ye olde fap fap). But since you're a pro at that, why not put your energy into something equally productive? I had this thought recently after I found out it would cost $400 to fix my motorcycle, for what was essentially a really stupid fix. Stupid meaning any idiot could do it if he put his mind to it.

"I have a mind," I said to myself. "I wonder if it still works!"

The fix was simple - my rocker box gaskets were weeping like sad little babies who lost their nookie. I went to the local Harley store where a scary looking guy told me basically that if I couldn't fix this, I didn't deserve to ride a Harley. Challenge, accepted. Actually he said "yeah, you can probably do this yourself." He said this after having looked at me, so I assume he knows what he's talking about (I don't look like a guy who knows how to fix stuff).


Gaskets purchased, I set aside an entire weekend for what the internet told me would take an hour to fix. I got to breaking down the bike. To get at the gaskets, I had to perform the top-end disassembly procedure, which ultimately had me take off WAY more than was necessary. But being I was not willing to take any risks, I followed the process closely. Here's what it looked like when I got the bike stripped and the rocker covers off. Side note: this job allowed me to drink beers and soil my clothing, two things I enjoy doing because it feels productive.


At this point it seemed like a good idea to let the internet know I was a complete moron, so I uploaded to Reddit.com/r/motorcycles to see what others thought. Luckily, they didn't think I was as dumb as I did. Good news!

Shitty gaskets replaced, I got to rebuilding the top end. Four hours later, everything was back up. I started her up, and this was the result.


Oh man she sounds good. A couple tweaks later (you'll notice the engine light is on), and the old girl was back to normal. Riding her home from my buddy's shop, I felt one with my moto. It was a good feeling that I hope you can feel soon. It may even be better than the post-fap afterglow (with none of the guilt). Here's one more pic of the rockers all polished and sexy! So, get out there yon bretheren and fix something. Of course, asking a pro how to do it first should be step one. Get to it!