1930-1936 v vl manuals

[Sargehere]

Sounds like we need for someone in possession of a 1st (1948?) or 2nd Edition of J.B. Nicholson's book Modern Motorcycle Mechanics to scan it page-by-page and commit it to CD. And share it among the VL community. It's not hard.

If anyone's interested, I have Victor Page's 1920 book "Motorcycles and Sidecars" done that way. Also Harley Knucklehead/U-model, 45, and Rigid frame Panheads (1948-57) Service manuals on a single CD, for postage. PM me.

[c.o.]

I have the 4th (1953) edition of Bernie's book. It's 674 pages worth of knowledge. Tommo is right, as the books progressed, earlier info is left by the wayside. Ironically enough this edition has more information on J-Models than it does Vl's...go figure! By this stage in the game the British bikes were flooding the continent and it has tons of Brit stuff. As far as Harleys go, it mostly covers '37-'52. It also has some good Indian info. If my book were in better shape I would attempt to scan it but it's hanging by it's last thread and I'd hate to destroy it any further. I would be happy however to pass on info if questions come up and the book has the answer. I know a guy who got a copy of the 1st edition at an old library sale for a dollar. It can be worth it to hit the used book stores as well. Copies can be found but if you're shopping on e-bay expect that first one to go for big bucks!

[Sargehere]

Cory, if your book is truly "hangin' by its last thread," that is the most important reason to copy it. As a digital record, it has a chance to last "forever." As a broken-down book, it has little value as a book, if that makes any sense to you. On CDs, today's literature may be carried into space, to other planets and stars. That's how William Shakespeare will be read in coming millenia, on the Moon, and beyond.

The words and illustrations in that book are priceless (and "public domain," no doubt, as the copyrights are probably expired), but the pressed, dried, and shredded wood paste they are printed upon gradually rots into dust. Today, the best thing you can do with your books,ones you already admit are too far gone to have any 'collector value,' is to have them re-bound by an expert bookbinder. Every major city has at least one.

That will give your books another lease on life. I had a 19th century songbook rebound recently; it was surprisingly inexpensive, they saved all of the pages, and it looks like a brand new volume. I hope you'll consider that, so you can share. I want to see what's in there, myself!

[c.o.]

Sarge,

You have certainly given me food for thought. I will have to ponder it a bit as I'm quite a distance from any major city. You do have a good point though as the sharing of info is one the great perks about this club. I find it rather surprising that you've not seen between the covers of Bernie Nicholson's legendary "Mechanics" books!!!

[Tom Wilcock]

Sarge: There is a second edition on Ebay. Item #320844781648. There are other editions on other auctions also. Tom #381

[Tommo]

Heres a few pages from the First Print run of the Second Edition that was printed in 1945.
There's about 550 to 570 pages to each book so it's a big ask to get someone to put it all to computor.
Abe Books has about 6 various editions of J B Nicholson's Modern Motorcycle Mechanics on their website.
The last two pages I scanned will have to be posted in a second post and it appears all of them will have to be opened from right to left so that they continue in order.

[Tommo]

Here's the last two pages

[Sargehere]

Heres a few pages from the First Print run of the Second Edition that was printed in 1945.
There's about 550 to 570 pages to each book so it's a big ask to get someone to put it all to computor.
Abe Books has about 6 various editions of J B Nicholson's Modern Motorcycle Mechanics on their website.
The last two pages I scanned will have to be posted in a second post and it appears all of them will have to be opened from right to left so that they continue in order.

Thank you, Peter! Copied them. Valuable info there! Checked Abe. Yup! Only $275 for a wartime 2nd Ed. Would love to have it, but too rich for by blood.

[Steve Slocombe]

Thanks Tommo, interesting stuff, but that 0.002" piston clearance specified on the Big Twin sidevalves has been the downfall of many a rebuild and applies only to the 1934-37 cam ground unstrutted aluminium pistons. The 1938 and up strutted pistons need a more conventional clearance of say 0.005" while the earlier magnesium pistons needed 0.018". My general comment on the Harley specs is that they were a bit on the tight side and designed for that 1000 mile breaking-in process specified in the Owners Handbook. Today we generally use strutted pistons and no-one has the patience for a long break-in, so I believe it's OK to build the bikes a tad looser.

[Sargehere]

Sarge,

You have certainly given me food for thought. I will have to ponder it a bit as I'm quite a distance from any major city. You do have a good point though as the sharing of info is one the great perks about this club. I find it rather surprising that you've not seen between the covers of Bernie Nicholson's legendary "Mechanics" books!!!

Well, I'm going to ("see between the pages") now, Cory! I just "outsnipered" someone, or a couple of folks, to "win" a copy of the 2nd Edition on Greed-bay. If I outbid someone here at the forum, sorry about that, but I was fired to get a copy of 2nd Edition with the VL information inside, along with all the other neat stuff.

Mine was a manual snipe: just sitting at my computer, watching the clock run down, I entered a manual bid in the last seconds that exceeding someone else's, apparently pre-set, snipe, at only 1 second to-go, by the minimum, a dollah. It's all in how much you want something, I guess.

Now, I'm the one who advocated scanning the entire book. Tommo tells me that it's 550+ pages. Well, I have a scanner, and I'm retired... and I've done shorter books, before. Think anyone will want the 2nd Edition, which reportedly includes VLs, on a CD? For gratis or a donation, of course. I'm not in it for the money.