Movies for Maintenance Fix My Hog Maintenance DVDs

For some Harley riders, the only thing scarier than the hourly rate charged by the local dealer’s service department is the thought of doing all their maintenance themselves. Not only are there tools to buy and manuals to read, they think, but what if I do something wrong? What if the manual’s not clear? And how dumb will I feel trailering my bike to the dealer to have them fix what I broke? If you’re worried about tackling your own routine maintenance for some reason, do yourself and your wallet a favor, and check out the DVD series Fix My Hog.

Fix My Hog president and founder Dennis Santopietro started making these DVDs after deciding he needed something to show him how to do basic maintenance on his bike without leaving it at the dealer. He contacted a friend, Bob LaRosa, a graduate of the Motorcycle Mechanics Institute who worked at a Harley dealer for eight years and now has his own shop. LaRosa and Santopietro teamed up to produce Fix My Hog’s first two DVDs, the Touring Edition ($45.95) and the Softail Edition ($39.95), both of which cover the Evo and Twin Cam models. They’re also coming out with a Sportster Edition, which should be available by the time you read this.

The one-disc, 70-minute Softail video walks you through 12 maintenance tasks, from adjusting the clutch and primary chain to lubing the throttle cables and changing the fork oil. The two-disc Touring Edition runs three-and-a-half hours, and covers just about everything except deep-motor work, including the tools and supplies you’ll need, oil and transmission fluid service, removing the fairing, adjusting the steering head bearings, and rear tire removal and replacement – 24 sections in all.

Bob LaRosa walks you through the steps involved in each job, explaining what he’s doing and why as he goes along. The Fix My Hog DVDs are not meant to replace a factory shop manual, and are, in LaRosa’s own words, for reference only. But even though they’re not definitive, they’re practically essential for two reasons. First, it’s one thing to read a description of a task and see a still photo of it in a manual; it’s another thing all together to watch it being done, start to finish, by and experienced mechanic. Second, if you’re an old hand at doing it yourself, you might learn some tricks from LaRosa that’ll make your next wrench session even easier.

Copyright 2006 Jerry Smith / American Rider