Packing a repair manual
 

Without going into details, I'm planning a trip soon and I want to be able to take care of my bike myself should anything happen unexpectedly. I've been looking mainly at a Haynes manual and the official factory manual for my bike (Suzuki GS500E). I've heard that Haynes manuals are easier to follow for novices, but it's a big book and only seems to be available in hardcover. I can't imagine the awkward amount of space that would take.

On the other hand, the factory manual is, as far as I can tell, soft-covered and probably easier to pack, but much more technical (and twice the $$$).

Opinions? Thanks!

You could scan it in and carry it on a USB stick. You can look at it on any PC and print out a few pages, if necessary.

Leave it with someone back at home who you can rely on, and phone them if you need to know anything.


The GS500 is quite an old bike, I wouldn't be surprised if you can get an older copy of the Haynes manual second hand (off ebay for example) in paperback.

Ask yourself, do you really need to carry a manual? if so, as someone said, just butcher the manual, you don't need to carry 'how to change a tyre, spark plug' etc pages, just the pages that refer to engine, and service page that covers oil and lubrication amounts.
Depending on where and how long you are going for, are you really going to entertain any major work? Say you are doing a 2 week France trip and you had a camchain break, are you going to strip the bike down order parts/borrow tools etc or would you make the most of your 2 weeks and worry about the bike just before the trip ends to get it home?
On the other hand, if you were on a RTW or extended trip then I would think most people would either consider doing the work or getting the local mechanic to sort it.

I carry a manual, but that's only because I'm not fully adjusted to the fact that I now carry a netbook (into which I could easily have scanned the manual). Next time.

Usually it just takes up space. Every now and then I'm glad I've got it....just like much of what fills my panniers and clogs up my life.

Mark

Basically the same idea ,but you could take a lot of time at home and use a digital camera to photograph each page of your manual onto an empty memory card like a 2GB SD card,page number corresponding to each photo number.Carry that card and a photocopy page of the manual index as your manual . Then if the need arises you can at the roadside put the card in your camera and review and read the page relevant to your problem by recalling and zooming in. No laptop or visit to internetcafe required.

Sjoerd, I'm doing this with some unrelated documents. Basically, it's a giant pain in the butt: when you zoom, you've only got a tiny bit of a given page on your screen by the time it's large enough to read. Searching a single page is frustrating; searching multiple pages, or trying to a-b back and forth, would bring on a heinous depression or a murderous rage.

Taking photos, then downloading .jpg files to a netbook or memory device works fine in the absence of a scanner, however. And for files you never expect to actually want to use (lists of card numbers, emergency contacts, whatever), the camera is better than nothing.

Hope that helps.

Mark

Well, I don't have a netbook or digital camera, and I'm not taking my laptop, so it looks like I'll be going with the butchering option. Now that I think about it, taking the whole manual probably would be excessive. I just have to make my decision on Haynes vs factory.

Google is your friend!
 

I found one in PDF for under $4. Download: Suzuki Gs500e Manual
If your really handy you can probably download it for free. Just Google "suzuki gs500e manual download" then put it on a $10 USB card. Packing a book with you is crazy IMHO.
Google is your friend! :Beach:

Download pdf and put it in your smart phone.

Right, I am just a newby to digital cameras buying a my first a 12Mpixel Kodak in '08 which does a nice job of magnifying a page to readable size.,
What are you expecting to break or wear out ? - fix it before setting off then.Another option is to just photocopy relevant pages of your shop manual.
Actually , I never carry a shop manual,just the owners manual. Figure if I take care of the bike it should not break, minor glitches can be solved with logic and patience and if a major failure occurs the manual would be of little use without also having a complete supply of shop tools,presses ,gauges etc etc , facilities and parts source. So, if a major failure happens it is time to truck it to a handy professional shop.Like breaking the rear wheel bearings on my 1100GS last year in Guatemala late on a Satrurday.. A bit of coordinating of transport and hotels and it was repaired in GT City by Tuesday 1pm. Admittedly that strategy would not work if you break down on some desolate island 400000000km from civilization, but you get my drift.

This site http://www.carlsalter.com/motorcycle-manuals.asp has loads of free downloads (including a GS500E manual). Be patient as it takes a long time to download the pages as there are lots of them.