About Fix My Hog

So how did Fix My Hog© come about?

It’s easy; I was not good at turning wrenches. I grew up with mechanical people but they did the work and I enjoyed the rides. My brother Paul and Bob LaRosa, our childhood friend and the mechanic on the Fix My Hog® DVDs. (*Note his Dad and my Dad rode 1948 Panheads together back in the day), for as long as I can remember they always had us on some type of go-cart, mini-bike, dirt bike or motorcycle. We could never afford new so they would find a “deal” and make it work. I lost a few teeth trying to stop a go-cart once but over time they got better and I had safer rides.

I went off to college and Bob went on to MMI and my brother on to be an auto-mechanic.

I moved from CT to CA and I brought my 1984 FXRS with me. I had Bob rebuild and paint it before I left. I traveled up and down the coast of CA and through Yosemite every year. I found a local guy that was “highly recommended” and I paid the $55 / hour to have my bike serviced. Then the rear tire had to be replaced and the clutch, and the everything. It was no longer a $100 service it was more like a $1,000 service and repair. Where was my old buddy Bob when I needed him? 3,000 miles away in CT!!!

As the cost of owning my motorcycle went up, I realized that I knew nothing about how it worked. Thankfully I never had a major breakdown on any of my trips; but what if I did? Call the tow and pay again?

Then I moved again and welcome to the dealer world. Dealers can be great but $85-$90 an hour can cut into travel money real fast. I figured I should be able to do that.

I said to myself, “Self, I watched Bob do service and repair before, I can do this no problem!” Yeah right, as Bob and Paul would say I paid a lot of “idiot tax” on things that I tried to do myself over and over again the wrong way.

The factory service manuals were all Greek to me. I looked for “how to” Harley-Davidson videos and found a few VHS tapes that had good info but they were to general and audio / video quality was amature at best.

I called Bob and asked him if he would like to use his skills from; going to MMI, working for HD for eight years, completing all the PHD course work, and now the proud owner of his own shop, to do a profession Harley-Davidson maintenance DVD. He laughed and said he would. It was more like “oh boy what are you getting us into now.”

We set up in Bob’s shop with a professional TV production crew (Lights, Cameras, and Jibs -oh my) and went at it. Six years and 7 titles on Harley-Davidson maintenance and performance later we are happy to be considered the only ones that do what we do in Harley “how to.”

I had a feeling that most motorcycle riders wanted to see things done by a professional, up close and with as much detail as possible. I guess we were onto something because now we get emails everyday from customers saying “thank you, your Fix My Hog DVDs bring the factory service manual to life.” Our customers range from the shade tree or “at home” mechanics to jet engine mechanics, Apache helicopter mechanics, diesel truck mechanics, plumbers, electricians. All of them riders that just want to see how it’s done so they feel better about servicing and upgrading their motorcycles. Even if they never plan on turning a wrench, they get an idea of how their Harley-Davidson works and what needs to be done to keep their motorcycle running in top condition.

So there you have it, from a kid that never turned a wrench to a guy that is able to service and repair his 1984 Harley-Davidson FXRS. All from a little (OK, a lot of) help from my friend, Bob!

Wrench Safe,

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