[exavid]

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There are a lot of owner's manuals available on eBay along with several official Honda manuals for various models. There are a couple GL1200 radio installation manuals along with an Electrical Troubleshooting Manual. I'm not selling for eBay but thought there might be some of use here for members of the forum. Sorry about the wide format but that seems to be the only way to show the link:



MANUALS

 

[englishted]

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It's always good to know about these things Paul. Well spotted. :clapper:

 

[Eamonn1200]

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There is a real glut of these manuals at the moment on ebay. Last year you would have been lucky to see quarter of that amount.

 

[GWNorman]

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We should all be contributing our manuals so that they can be uploaded somewhere for everyones use.

 

[exavid]

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GWNorman wrote:

We should all be contributing our manuals so that they can be uploaded somewhere for everyones use.

It'd be nice, but we'd be running afoul of copywright laws, at least in the US. It would be a lot like the peer to peer sharing of music and DVDs that's been raising such a legal storm over here.

 

[Renegade]

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If at all possible, wecould have a "read only" site to store all this information so it can be accessed / viewed on demand... With the "read only" NTFS permissions locked down, no one would be able to copy it,, just read it..

Any ideas for a server out there, or a web site large enough to holdall the data?Individuals can send the information to the owner in pdf form etc., so he / she would load it into a data base and store it.

Any other thoughts on this idea? :coollep:

:12beige:

 

[pjfsail]

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Here's a thought. Has anyone on this forum applied to HondaCorporation, Motorcylce Division, for permission to show, on this forum., out of Print,ReadOnly, Manuals? If not, why not?I have an idea but would like to know the history of what has gone on before. Regards, Peter



















r

 

[ccsailor]

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I tried doing that but was quickly shut down for copyright issues I have ALL the manuals and info I could findin my computeron my 86 Aspencade with the panasonic and sei addedums

Neil

 

[johnmac]

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Don't buy any from a guy calling himself "One Horse Outfit". I bought one in May and I'm still waiting on it. I had to complain to paypal before he would even answer my e-mails!

 

[pjfsail]

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Neil, did you ask Honda Corporation for permission to use their material? How did you get shut down?

 

[ccsailor]

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Nah some of the other guys on this site jumped all over me as I was trying to get $25 to cover my costs I must have paid over $300 for all the stuff I have and I figured if i sent out 10 I'd be lucky

Neil

 

[pjfsail]

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Thanks Neil, I understand better now. Has anyone ever requested permission from Honda Corporation to use their material, that is out of print, on a site like this? The idea would be to write Honda and ask for their permission. This is not an unusual thing to to. And, sometimes authors and corporations do give permission. Especially if it is not going to be copied, but READ ONLY and Honda Corporation receives the accolades. If the Guru's thought it would be a good idea, I would be willing to write a rough draft letter and post it on this forum and you could all give your input. Just an idea.

 

[olsonm]

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pjfsail wrote:

Thanks Neil, I understand better now. Has anyone ever requested permission from Honda Corporation to use their material, that is out of print, on a site like this? The idea would be to write Honda and ask for their permission. This is not an unusual thing to to. And, sometimes authors and corporations do give permission. Especially if it is not going to be copied, but READ ONLY and Honda Corporation receives the accolades. If the Guru's thought it would be a good idea, I would be willing to write a rough draft letter and post it on this forum and you could all give your input. Just an idea.

I'm not sure what material you are referring to that is supposed to be out of print.
As far as I know, almost all the Honda workshop manuals are available today.

Helm, Inc. is the publisher of Honda workshop manuals for both current and non-current models. I strongly doubt that Honda would authorize a web forum, however well-meaning, to make available for no charge, copyrighted work that Helm has invested in, and pays royalties to Honda for the use of.

And finally, there is no reasonable way to make the material "READ ONLY". If you can see it on a computer screen, it can be digitally copied and reproduced in another format.

 

[pjfsail]

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olsonm,Thanks for the information. I am really uneducated in this area and only want to help. I went to Helm Inc. website and found, for example, you can buy the 1986SE-iElectricalTroubleShootingManual for $36.00. This manual, obviously, is not hard to get a hold of. I had no idea this was still available. What we have been hearingon this web site is that these manuals are hard to get. What's Up? On the other hand, when I checked to see if the 1986 GL1200 Supplement Manual was available, theweb site indicated it had been discontinued. My next question: The manuals that are out of print, can we make a project out of those? The manuals that are still in print is a no brainer and the GURUS need to beaware of those, wouldthat be correct?

 

[olsonm]

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pjfsail wrote:

olsonm,Thanks for the information. I am really uneducated in this area and only want to help. I went to Helm Inc. website and found, for example, you can buy the 1986SE-iElectricalTroubleShootingManual for $36.00. This manual, obviously, is not hard to get a hold of. I had no idea this was still available. What we have been hearingon this web site is that these manuals are hard to get. What's Up? On the other hand, when I checked to see if the 1986 GL1200 Supplement Manual was available, theweb site indicated it had been discontinued. My next question: The manuals that are out of print, can we make a project out of those? The manuals that are still in print is a no brainer and the GURUS need to beaware of those, wouldthat be correct?

I recently bought the complete GL1200 manual from Helm, it covers the 84-87 Interstate and Aspencade (part number 61ML950-AH). As far as I can tell, there is no 1986 Supplement anymore- there is a dedicated manual for the 1986 SE, part number 61ML860AH, $36.00. There is also an electrical troubleshooting manual for the 1986 GL1200, part number 61ML870AH, unfortunately the Helm website doesn't say whether it covers all the SE as well as the Interstate and Aspencade. I found the 1985 LTD workshop manual supplement, part number: 61MG950AH, but no electrical troubleshooting guide for that year, but I'd guess that the '86 electrical manual would cover it if it included the FI models.

My guess is that whether a manual is out of print or not, Honda and Helm will not be interested in giving up control of its publication to a web community. It's not that difficult for Helm to reprint books that are not currently 'in print'. In fact the illustrations in my newly printed GL1200 manual look suspiciously like they were copied from a paper copy of the book rather than from original master artwork, as they are rather poor quality. This is why you're probably better off buying an old original manual from ebay rather than ordering one from Helm, unless you have no choice. The original Honda manuals printed back in the late 70s and early 80s (I have one for the CM400T) have very good quality illustrations.

Personally, I think it would be a huge selling point for a bike or car manufacturer to put all their manuals on the web for free. However, since none have yet done this to my knowledge, they appear to disagree with me.

Despite the fact that I have found and downloaded illegal copies of the factory workshop manuals for most of my bikes, I've bought the genuine articles on paper media from Helm (Honda, Ford) or direct from the manufacturer (Suzuki, Kawasaki) for all my bikes and cars and I will continue to do so as long as they are available on paper. I'd much rather have clearly printed drawings with illustrations I can easily see than low-res scans of a printed document. Even the genuine Ford workshop CD I have for my Focus is less useful for the most part than the genuine workshop manual on paper, which supposedly has the same illustrations but the paper is easier to read and I don't need to be getting my dirty fingers all over the laptop's keyboard to use it...

 

[pjfsail]

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Olsonm, thanks for the detailed explanation. I have a clear picture now. I will forget about attempting to get permission to put these manuals on this web site. I think, in the future, it should be noted that the original manuals may be hard to get but reprinted manualsmay beavailable from Helm. I agree with you that a printed copy is much better and, like you, I have manuals for all my vehicles and power tools.

 

[olsonm]

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pjfsail wrote:

Olsonm, thanks for the detailed explanation. I have a clear picture now. I will forget about attempting to get permission to put these manuals on this web site. I think, in the future, it should be noted that the original manuals may be hard to get but reprinted manualsmay beavailable from Helm. I agree with you that a printed copy is much better and, like you, I have manuals for all my vehicles and power tools.

Helm, Inc. is the publisher of the genuine original Honda manuals, not just reprints. If
you go to your Honda dealer and buy a manual for a 2005 Gold Wing, it will have been
printed by Helm. It will be exactly the same manual that you buy from Helm's website.

 

[Renegade]

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Looks like we've looped back to square one.. Seems like expensive E-Bay purchases on this material is unacceptable because the price becomes artificially inflated thru bidding. As time goes on, ANY material on these precious bikes becomes more valuable to consumers.

If we dig deep into this forum, almost all the materials listed in the manuals is available here. Perhaps it's not a bad idea to keep it hidden this way for us to access with just a little hunting around.. After all, this is why the site is available to us. We learn. We give and take advice. We help others.

Lesson learned??? Stay away from E-Bay... If at all possible. It's a great site to purchase what you really need, but be careful of pitfalls where you lose your wallet during the fall.... :goofygrin:

 

[pjfsail]

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Renegade, you have summed it up quite nicely. But, I think it is still a good idea to check ebay as good deals can be had. Before biddingI would recommend checking with Helms to see what the availability is and what the price is from them. Once you know the value of something you can place your highest bid with confidence. If it is not available from Helms and you REALLY need a particular manual then decide how much you are willing to pay. If I need something and it is not available elsewhere I base my highest bid on how much I want the item. This is how commerce works in the free world, isn't it? Supply and demand. We can all be grateful we own one the greatest motorcycles ever built and belong to this forum.

 

[Patch]

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Does anyone have a Honda Line Accessory manual from 84 85 or 86 that shows optional HONDA equipment for the GL1200's?