Customer Reviews

Motorcycle Electrics Without Pain

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I bought my first copy of Mike Arman's book some time in the mid 80s. I wore it out. Then I bought another. That got a bit frayed too. The third copy is, like Laura Whatsername, "wrapped in plastic"...to keep my greasy fingerprints off it. Let me tell you what I do...I write stuff - including technical stuff - for motorcycle magazines here in Oztralia. For me to do this work successfully I need rather a lot of reference material. Putting it as bluntly as I can, Mike Arman's book is simply the best guide to motorcycle circuit maintenance one can buy. If you want to go into the intricacies of 3-D ingnition mapping or integrated circuit design, look elsewhere, but if you want to know how to rewire your machine so it doesn't stall every time it looks like rain, or so the lights work after dark - two unsolvable mysteries to the owners of Italian machinery - then Mike's your man. Time for me to testify... An acquaintance of mine was having trouble with the standard wiring loom on his Honda 400cc four-cylinder machine. He decided to rewire the bike using Motorcycle Electrics Without Pain as a guide. He used only the existing wiring loom on the machine for materials and ended the exercise with 40 metres of wire left over. And everything worked. On that basis alone, the book's a bargain. As well, it's written in a no-nonsense, entertaining style which is bound to raise the odd chortle here and there as Mike explains the way things electrical work in the real world of motorcycles as opposed to the way electrical theorists would have us believe they work. And it's especially applicable and entertaining for anyone who has had any dealings at all with the electrical work of the company founded by Joseph Lucas, the Prince Of Darkness. Sincerely, I cannot recommend this book highly enough for anyone considering looking into the arcane art of motorcycle electrickery. And it's a damn good read as well.

"Motorcycle Electrics Without Pain" is the only book I've ever read that actually explained the electronic on my bike in a way I could understand, and the book didn't even cover my model. I highly recommend that anyone who is trying to troubleshoot their own electrical problems buy and read this book.

great explanations with excellent sense of humor!! A MUST for the novice vintage mechanic or to attempt to understand how almost anything works.

This is a great reference that simplifies the function of the basic electrical systems that are used on motorcycles.

Some of these reviews seem a little "too" positive. What I think is needed is some balance. One of the biggest negatives of this book is the way it is laid out. Think calendar. You have to turn the book sideways like a calendar and then each page has two, yes 2 vertical columns. Start in column one then over to column two then down to the next (hanging) page for more of the same. It's almost as if this book was originally intended to be a small handbook but the illustrations made it too small to be readable. You may want to grab a magazine, turn it on its side and think about how ridiculous it is to try to read a manual in that position. I've actually been trying to and had to come back and update my review as it is the worst self-help type publication I've ever bought. The material is just ok, nothing great. As far as I'm concerned this was almost a waste of money. I say almost because there are some tidbits but again, nothing great that you aren't going to find in another book. Save your money and get a different one- any other will be WAY better than this one.

So if you are set on buying this (please post your reason, I and others would be curious to know why) hopefully there is a recent reprint available otherwise the binding glue will be old and fragile. So don't let the words unused or new throw you. Find out if it's new reprint or an old N.O.S laying around for 25 years. Mine is. If I was to do it again, I'd spend the extra few bucks and get a more recent wiring book for the simple reason it won't be falling apart soon. There are at least 3 others here on Amazon that have lots of pictures (one claims over 300)and more pages. That's another thing about this book, limited pages so while it may be a simple sounding book, I'm not so sure that it is in comparison to the others. Bottom line: review carefully each books description and reviews before buying. I thought I made a good decision but now you have more useful information than I did (about this book).