On Fri, 2011-09-16 at 15:07 -0700, Michael Hechmer wrote:
> Kelly, thank you, thank you, thank you for the honesty of your post.
>  As both an amateur mechanic and amateur woodworker I have been
> repeatedly snookered by "expert" instructions that lulled me into
> thinking something would be straightforward and doable, only to be
> reduced to speaking anglo-saxon.  Last night I installed a pair of the
> tektro canti brakes and discoverd that the instructions failed to
> mention that only a mutant with four hands would find this straight
> forward. 
> 
> I have bikes with plastic, aluminum, and steel fenders but I wouldn't
> ever again install fenders without both rereading the instructions and
> remembering that it will be a PIA. 

Actually, installing Honjo fenders is pretty straightforward - there's
nothing really 'clever' or 'complex' about it - but it's slow and can't
be hurried.  Reading the instructions about 20 times for a week or two
ahead of time, and working on visualizing what goes on helps.
Understanding on a deep-down level that it simply cannot be hurried or
sped up helps the most.  

One. Step. At. A. Time. First install.  Mark.  Remove.  Drill.
Reinstall.  Mark the next.  Remove.  Drill.  Reinstall.  Mark.  Remove.
Drill.  Reinstall.  Breathe.  

Once you get your mind wrapped around the pace - the process as a whole,
but especially the pace - it's not really much of a pain in the a$$.  At
least, not until your hand cramps and you drop the parts to the draw
bolt in the grass and can't find them again.  It helps a lot to spread
some cloth under where you're working, because your hand is almost
certainly going to cramp and you almost certainly are going to
drop /something/.

The instructions on the VO and Jitensha web sites are pretty good.  So,
too, are the articles published in BQ.



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