It’s going to be a lot easier to buy Haynes manuals soon, as the company moves its famous do-it-yourself guides online.
If you do your own motorcycle maintenance, you likely have at least one shop manual, and there’s a good chance it’s a Haynes – they’ve been printing their trusty shop guides for over 50 years. If you need to know valve clearance requirements, torque specs, or fork oil levels, your Haynes should have the information you need.
But up to now, that information has always been published in book format, while the world moves further and further to digital formats. That’s why Haynes founded Haynes MOL (Manuals Online).  They’ll start by publishing their 50 most popular titles this fall, with more to come.
The new digital offerings are designed to work not only with your PC, but also mobile phones and tablet computers. And don’t get your hopes up, because they won’t be free – they’ll be available through subscription.
Thankfully, Haynes is going to continue producing print manuals as well. The MOL project has potential to make some tough-to-find titles a lot easier to acquire, but it’s a lot easier to drop your book-format manual on your workbench to view while you tweak your carbs than it is to unplug and re-assemble your desktop PC in your shop. And if the oil stains on every shop guide we’ve ever seen are any indication, you probably don’t want your iPad anywhere close to next winter’s top-end overhaul.
I already have lots of diagrams for one of my bikes in PDF format. Â I’ve happily discovered that I can put my ipad in a giant ziplock bag and use it in the garage without worrying about grease.
I already have lots of diagrams for one of my bikes in PDF format. Â I’ve happily discovered that I can put my ipad in a giant ziplock bag and use it in the garage without worrying about grease.
Ah, good, so now we can read “reassembly is the reverse of disassembly” in electronic format đŸ˜€