Hula and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

 Wrench-Wench Home Page Hawaii writer/artist Leilehua Yuen also teaches hula and other Hawaiian cultural arts. Here, she is leaving for a week long conference in June, 2001, at which she will chant the opening and closing ceremonies and speak on Hawaiian traditions.  
 

     I first drew a connection between hula and motorcycles when I was taking the Motorcycle Safety Foundation RiderCourse. My instructor and I both were becoming frustrated with my inability to achieve any degree of smoothness or finesse in the cone weave. Finally he shouted at me, "Lei! I've seen you dance hula! DANCE with that damn bike!" Well, I did, and suddenly, it all began to work. 
     One of the About.com Motorcycles facilitators, Bountyman, says, "A good rider has balance, judgement, and good timing. So does a good lover." So does a good dancer.  As time goes by, I'll add more thoughts on hula and the art of motorcycle maintenance. But for now, please enjoy the following links:

Wrench Wench Goodies! - Handy aprons hold small tools and parts, t-shirts, coffee cups and more!

Basics of Wrenching - Tools Diary of a Newbie Rider
Setting Up Your Shop
Maintenance Schedule - When to do stuff
Tips and Techniques
Getting it on the Centerstand Love My Nighthawk - articles, links etc. about the Honda Nighthawk series.
Getting Up - How to Climb on the Thing Kaona - Keeping it Clean
Getting IT Up - Ouch! What do you do when you drop it?  Spiffing up a Used Motorcycle - on a budget
Pretty Shifty - Getting it in Gear Singing Steel - Modifying Jardine baffles for a Kawasaki Vulcan 500
After the Drop - Patching tank dings
Bike Reviews Links I Like - Here are links to other sites which I have found useful and/or interesting

Maintenance and Repair
http://www.dansmc.com/MC_repaircourse.htm

Engines
Harley-Davidson engines - this site has brief descriptions of the various engines HD has made
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/harley4.htm