haynes or clymer manual - which is better?

[drew]

Just bought an 82 GS400E and sure could use a shop manual.

1. If someone has a proper shop manual or knows where I can find one, I presume that would be best; or
2. Your thoughts on whether the Haynes or Clymer manual is better; and
2. Does anybody know an economical place to buy one in Canada or have an extra copy collecting dust?

Great forum. Made the decision to buy a GS as a first bike that much easier.

[bwringer]

Great bike!

Both Clymer and Haynes manuals suck pretty hard. Get both, read with a large dose of skepticism, and you'll muddle through.

Quite often, the two perspectives or descriptions found by reading both manuals can be helpful. Of course, if they have directly conflicting information, it's sometimes not easy to sort out the correct spec.

Suzuki manuals are supposed to be pretty good, but they are scarce, very expensive, and assume that you have a complete dealer shop full of special Suzuki tools that you have already been trained to use. Clymer and Haynes usually have decent advice on workarounds using more ordinary tools and materials, although some, like the homemade tappet depressor, are laughable.

Also, it's well worth getting the microfiche for your bike if its available:

http://repairmanuals.com

I printed out every page on my fiche with about 45 minutes and a few bucks in spare change at my local library. I popped the pages in a binder, where I can quickly look up part numbers, make notes, highlight, etc.

[scotty]

my clymers is the best compared to the other haynes manuals i have. the only oem manual i have is for the harley. thats really the pits.

[snark]

Clymer, Haynes, and the factory manual all have mistakes. Get all 3, read the section in each that your're working on, hten laugh as you jump in to the work at how all 3 are wrong. Clymer is better than Haynes on most things, but its worth having more reference material than less.

[bwringer]

Just remember that the reality of the machine in front of you always trumps the documentation... don't blindly follow anything in the manuals without thinking it through first.

Does that torque spec make sense? Has this part already been modified? Are those the original fork springs?

A couple of people here, for example, have broken bolts by following a bad torque spec or misunderstanding the spec.

[jimcor]

I've got the genuine Kawasaki manual for my Concours, lots of errors, presumes you were on the design team. (OK, not quite that bad.) After 20 years Clymer came out with a manual last year for the Connie, gotta get one.

[demark]

2. Your thoughts on whether the Haynes or Clymer manual is better;

I'd go with whichever one spells "tires" correctly.

(Read either of them and you'll understand this post)

[jimcor]

I'd go with whichever one spells "tires" correctly.

(Read either of them and you'll understand this post)

Well, you'd love the shop manual I have for the '65 Triumph Unit Construction 650 c.c. Twins! More fun than the King James Bible!

[flyingace]

I don't think any one source of information will ever be adequate to do repairs. A manual has some of the information you need, but think about it - a book that could actually guide you thru step-by-step of every possible procedure with needed background info would be 3 feet thick. I haven't come across a lot of errors in my Haynes manual, but there are lots of places where the info is incomplete.

Before you jump into something, read the manual, read GSR, search the internet and think thru very carefully what you intend to do. Be your own manual.

[chuckycheese]

Two

I use both the Suzuki and Clymer manuals. I think both have their advantages and disadvantages. It seems to me that the Suzuki book assumes that the user knows things he might not. By the way, the Suzuki manuals are readily available and can be ordered like any other OEM part.

[scotty]

I'd go with whichever one spells "tires" correctly.

(Read either of them and you'll understand this post)

i think you are courrect on that one