As we mourn the loss of our friend Inge K, the UK news reports the loss of another legend in the world of vehicle maintenance - John Haynes. 

Creator of the now world renown "Haynes Manual" and selling over 200 million copies since producing his first edition in 1966, John Haynes has helped many of us (especially in the pre-internet and YouTube days) maintain and fix our cars and bikes over the years. Love them or hate them, with a familiar layout, filled with detailed photographs, Haynes Manuals have undoubtedly helped advance the capabilities of amateur mechanics around the world - certainly, my K100 manual bears the greasy finger marks and discoloured pages that can only be associated with active use (used alongside my Clymer manual). Haynes publishing group and the Haynes motor museum are both based in Sparkford, Somerset UK, a few miles down the road from me. 


John died peacefully, after a short illness, on 08 Feb 19 at the age of 80.
RIP

Back before The Internet existed, Haynes manuals were invaluable to shadetree mechanics.  It's the first thing I bought for any bike or car I ever owned. (And a few more to work on girlfriends' cars.)

I'm somewhat surprised that number is only 200 million.

Don't rely on the diagram of the gearbox in the Honda 400/4 manual... it's actually for a 500/4 and I have the shattered remains of two gears to prove it.

I've been using Haynes manuals since the mid-'70s. They have proved invaluable many times when adventuring into the unknown on a bike (or car) I'd not previously worked on. Like Duck I bought them as soon as I obtained a new-to-me vehicle. I once had a stack of them but have given them away or they've become so dog-eared as to be illegible, over the years. The other manual I used was Clymer but I'd sometimes have to refer back to Haynes because Clymer was often plain wrong or missing critical steps of a procedure. Between the two I'd usually have enough info to stumble ahead. The stock phrase I'd use for them (Clymer) was "park motorcycle, fix engine, ride away".

RIP Mr Haynes, and thank you for being an integral part of my motorbike learning curve.

Dai wrote:Don't rely on the diagram of the gearbox in the Honda 400/4 manual... it's actually for a 500/4 and I have the shattered remains of two gears to prove it.

It's not fair to compare Inge to Haynes. Inge was always right.

Is true

Two things in life are certain: death and taxes

duck wrote:It's not fair to compare Inge to Haynes. Inge was always right.

Quite right Duck. 

While Inge was always right, at least Haynes was generally more right than I would have been if left to my own imagination and gave me the confidence to get stuck in and learn by trial and less error.

Haynes was an ex-RAF man, us other RAF veterans get a decent discount for access to the museum.
If anyone is in that area, then look out for the museum biker breakfast meets, I think that they are once a month. I want to one last year on the Ducati and was amazed by the amount of bikes there.