A 1977 R100RS was towed into the shop running like a bag of bolts. After listening for five seconds, I knew what the problem was. Instead of just starting the repair, i decided to hold a Tech Day so airhead owners could see, learn, and do.

So, I planned the event about 3 weeks out and sent invitations to everyone on the West Coast.

For the Tech Day, I cleaned some space and moved one of the lifts out in the middle so everyone could see. The bike was up in the air so everyone could see whether standing or sitting...lots of chairs and water since this was going to be a long day.

We had around 12 enthusiastic airhead owners who actively participated in swapping out the short block.

I tried to rotate people in for certain parts, such as removing the swingarm and suspension, the transmission, disconnecting the electrical, the charging and ignition parts, and the short block from the frame.

Anyone who wanted to use the correct tool or the small and big torque wrenches put on gloves and actually did the work, with more than a few people looking over their shoulders.

Along the way, there were discussions about good and not-so-good upgrades, how to tell when rod bearings have died, when to replace wires instead of reaching for the electrical tape, which bolts are single-use only, etc.

And lots of good pizza and drinks.

As we installed the new short block, I demonstrated how to remove the clutch pack, measure the clutch disk, clean the clutch plates, and where to apply grease when putting the clutch pack back on.

But first, it's always about the rear main seal. They blocked the flywheel and removed the 5 bolts, removed the flywheel, and changed the rear main seal. I demonstrated the methods to keep the crank in place and talked about what happens when the crank moves forward and the thrust washer comes off the pins inside the engine case.

They also learned to install new seals, lube the splines, center the swing arm, and torque pivot pins. Then, four attendees were asked to install one bolt drive shaft bolt each and how tight it should be. And finally, how to easily fit the drive shaft boot.

Everybody came wanting to see, learn, and do the basics, to understand how the parts go together, why some bolts are one-use only, and how to adjust the rear brake and tell if the brushes are worn.

So, almost everyone got a chance to work hands-on on part of the disassembly, cleaning, determining whether it was still good or time to replace, and putting it all back together again.

It was an excellent day for knowledge transfer and having fun.

We also learned diagnostics of engine failure ;-((

This was a classic case of the $2K O ring. Yep, whoever did the last oil change also installed the paper gasket. The big O ring was perfectly round, not compressed.

We started at 9:30 a.m., had the complete drive train out before 11, and took our time with Q&A and evaluating parts going back in.. We finished around 4, so we hit the target.