Hitchcocks Forum

I've been following this guy on Youtube for a while. He makes it all look easy...



Link to some DIY videos.


It may be of some use to others with a 500 Classic Bullet..

Thanks Exile, Always good to expand knowledge but i must take issue with his wheel removal antics..

All well and good if your colleague holds the bike over whilst you pull the wheel out from under but if your on your own then for goodness sake Enfield designed it so that the loosening of four nuts allowed the rear mudguard to be lifted up and the wheel rolled out..

Trying to hold the bike over with one hand and pull the wheel with the other is asking for a slipped disc and a dropped bike..

Sound like a grumpy old man but i'm old enough and i've earned the right.. A bad back is for life not just a few days..

I have watched a few of his videos before, and I think he just likes to get on the internet! I seem to remember his starting procedure was a bit long winded and complicated for instance.

I suppose one could question his methodology once in a while, but for someone like me, who hasn't had to open the primary case yet, it's comforting to see how easy it is and what's in there. You can explain most things to me verbally and I will probably understand it. Show me once and I'll remember it forever...


I thought there may be others who, like me, have no knowledgeable people close by.. Everything mechanical that I do with the bike is trial and error.

Wouldn't it be great if we all filmed our repairs? Think of the knowledge base we could present.... How many words does a picture represent?

Exile, I would not dare film my repairs, they come under don't do this at home folks.
My "special tools" consist of a forge hammer and a 6 inch length of 3/8ths brass bar.
What works for me would usually end in disaster for most other people.

There we go, like myself, Papasmurf is a bit of a whacksmith.

But I am reforming my way due to the arrival of Kevin.

Scalyback I am like the itemised bill sent to Falmouth Docks by a contractor many years ago:- To hitting with hammer £1, for knowing where to hit with hammer and how hard to hit with hammer £99, Total £100.
I spent the last two years of my engineering apprenticeship working on ancient special purpose machines and cam auto lathes and multi-spindle lathes. You have to develop a knack of being able to shift something a thou with a hammer.
(That also comes in handy for setting up sidecars with sliding clamp fittings.)

As Nettshubby says, I think this guy just likes to publish. There's nothing in the few videos I watched that would help anyone more than a workshop manual.

Exile, you of course are quite right, I consider myself correctly rebuked! After 50 years messing with bikes and especialy having an engineering background, I do tend to be a bit blase about things that I have been doing for years! As "they" say, "you are never too old to learn".

Nothing wrong with putting wood under the centre stand to remove the rear wheel - his problem was simply not using enough of it! I've found it much quicker to use the correct amount of wood than it is to mess around with the mudguard nuts.