On January 23, 2010, Sloan’s offered a free maintenance class targeted to women riders; including myself I counted 37 attendees. Our clinic space was tucked away in the back of the store next to the maintenance and repair bays.  We found an agenda, a maintenance schedule and a noticeably green, ‘give me your demographics’, post card on each metal chair. We started on time (10am) and promptly received a gift bag for completing the aforementioned post card. It was cool stuff, there were nitrlle (plastic) gloves, 30 SPF sunscreen, an air gauge, a microfiber cloth, a shop towel and a can of PRO HONDA spray cleaner and polish, all packed in a pink paper bag. I personally would have traded a few of the goodies for a 10% off coupon. This class produced a mental laundry list of items we should have on hand for the maintenance of our bikes. A percentage off coupon in a woman’s hand, while in the very store that sells the things she needs, is never a bad thing.

Cory, who works in the service department, was our instructor. The tutorial started off a bit random partly because of the welcomed questions prior to him using the agenda as a guide. He promoted the review of our owner’s manual and what differences can be found between publishers of these manuals. Curiously while we had been given a paper copy of a maintenance schedule, we did not spend any real time interpreting it.

I chose to be quiet about this as we still had many items on the agenda and we were already 45 minutes into the class. He went on to discuss differences in types of oil used for bikes and he demonstrated the steps to changing the oil using a Honda Cruiser as a model. I appreciated his emphasis on the little details that apparently can make a big difference, things like the importance of changing washers, lubing the O-ring and avoiding over torquing the fastener. Chain and belt tension were discussed and included a demonstration of how to make adjustments. There was some time spent on the subject of tire maintenance especially, and understandably, the importance of tire inflation. As we were getting into the 2.5 hour mark, (no breaks were scheduled) more than half the class was already gone.  At this point lights and turn signal operation became the last formal agenda item that was discussed.

Overall I commend Sloan’s and especially Cory for the opportunity to learn how to maintain my bike.

As an instructor for a Corporation, I can appreciate how challenging it can be to address a lengthy topic as apparently bike maintenance can be.  Cory deserves much credit for covering the key points.  I humbly suggest  that having an agenda with allotted times for each item discussed can go a long way for anyone who is put in front of an audience to teach, especially if teaching is not their chosen career.