After riding a few hundred miles through some local mountains I removed my seat to check my oil. The friend I had been riding with came over the next day, saw my seat off & asked what was wrong with my bike. When I said "nothing, just checking the oil" he said "what a bad design! I bet most Nortons run out of oil and break before most owners go through so much trouble to get to the dip stick" I just had to laugh, this from a guy who owns a bike that has to go to a dealer for valve jobs or anything twice a year and that alone costs more than I paid for my bike! Funny, he can't even check the oil level on his bike without me holding it up, because of the cataletic converter no center stand can be fitted & if on the side stand the oil in the sight glass can't be seen. He is an engineer so it's not his fault he over thinks things & can't see the simpicity in a seat the comes off with no tools in 3 seconds & gives access to the oil tanustINov think it's a elegant system, keeps the lines of the bike clean with the oil tank covered & out of sight. Just thought you guys ( and girls) would get a laugh out of this.

There's an oil tank under the seat?

if that's an engineer with a capital 'E' as in 'Engineer' I know how you feel - I'm surrounded by them

We even have 'Purchasing Engineers' who buy stuff!

Fortunately my training included the critical steps which posed such questions as 'yes, but can you make it?'
They used to be called 'Apprenticeships'. Back when we could build bikes... *ahem*

A colleague in a previous Engineering establishment had a H***a XR400R (oil-in-frame), and he didn't know there was a dipstick in his frame, but I think he knew what one felt like when it ran dry and ate the piston

Its a damn good design. Stops curious kids lifting the cap and pouring sand inside.

Mick

rvich wrote:There's an oil tank under the seat?

Hilarious!!

If you haven't read it already, have a look at 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance', it explains why some go to a dealer and some get their hands dirty.

Cheers,

Steve

Is this on topic?


A priest, a doctor, and an engineer were waiting one morning for a particularly slow group of golfers.

The engineer fumed, "What's with those guys? We must have been waiting for fifteen minutes!"

The doctor chimed in, "I don't know, but I've never seen such inept golf!"

The priest said, "Here comes the greens keeper. Let's have a word with him."

He said, "Hello, George! What's wrong with that group ahead of us? They're rather slow, aren't they?"

The greens keeper replied, "Oh, yes. That's a group of blind fire fighters. They lost their sight saving our clubhouse from a fire last year,
so we always let them play for free anytime." The group fell silent.

The priest said, "That's so sad I think I will say a special prayer for them tonight."

The doctor said, "Good idea. I'm going to contact my ophthalmologist colleague and see if there's anything he can do for them."

The engineer said, "Why can't they play at night?"

Or


A man is flying in a hot air balloon and realizes he is lost. He reduces height and spots a man down below. He lowers the balloon further and shouts:
"Excuse me, can you help me? I promised my friend I would meet him half an hour ago, but I don't know where I am."

The man below says: "Yes. You are in a hot air balloon, hovering approximately 30 feet above this field. You are between 40 and 42 degrees N. latitude,
and between 58 and 60 degrees W. longitude."

"You must be an engineer," says the balloonist.

"I am," replies the man. "How did you know?"

"Well," says the balloonist, "everything you have told me is technically correct, but it doesn't help me, so in fact I am still lost."

The man below says, "You must be a manager."

"I am," replies the balloonist, "but how did you know?"

"Well," says the man, "you don't know where you are, or where you are going. You have made a promise which you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problem. The fact is you are in the exact same position you were in before we met, but now it's somehow my fault."

NOW we're getting somewhere....

An optimist considers a glass to be half full. A pessimist says it's half empty. An engineer says "that glass is twice as big as you need".