100 Skills Every Man Should Know

Popular Mechanics ^ | October 2008 | The Editors

[Vigilanteman]

Automotive

1 | Handle a blowout

“Instead of hitting the brakes, maintain your speed,” says Eric Espinosa, executive director of the Maryland-based National Institute of Vehicle Dynamics. Sudden changes of speed can compromise what structural integrity the tire may still have. Steer gently for the same reason. With things fully under control, slow gradually and pull over to the shoulder.

[HangnJudge]

Handle a blowout...
of the FRONT tire on a motorcycle

Steer straight
do NOT hit front brake
Initially let friction slow you down

Pray to God
look for places to crash that will do a minimum of damage

[domenad]

I didn’t see chopping arougala on there, so I’d guess he’s screwed.

[Little Bill]

My dear Exes Uncle was an Italian Stone mason. He must have built a thousand miles of stone walls in his life time, dry laid and cement bound.

Talking to him I never realized the dynamics involved in a stone wall. There is more to a stone wall than one rock piled on another.

[WayneS]

Well, yes, that’s the #1 thing, but there is also:

2) Maintain throttle setting (HEY! I said MAINTAIN throttle setting - you’re panicking and rollijng off it even as I write this, aren’t you?).

3) Shift your weight as FAR to the rear of the bike as possible while still being able to reach the controls (Further, further, further - I know you’re arms will stretch more than THAT).

4) Slowly (NO! SLOWER than that) begin easing off the throttle while making sure your weight remains as far to the rear of the bike as possible.

5) During all of the above, Keep On Praying!

It worked for me, at any rate...

[I am bigjohn]

Have handled a rear blow-out, not a slow leak down, on my Harley while only doing 65mph. That was hairy. A front blowout at 125mph sounds like a lot of pain.

[envisio]

All of these are common knowledge that every man should know. I never understand why a man has to call another man to fix something for him.

[raybbr]

This is wrong. The back cut should be above the notch cut. Like this.

[NavyCanDo]

# 101 Learn to throw a baseball like a guy

Here is the correct way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evb489N11Q4&feature=related

[Vigilanteman]

Better solution is to have a techie friend (or be one) who knows how to format and copy files over in such a way that the original data cannot be recovered. Then you have something useful to donate to Goodwill.

That's what we do at our office and it has never come back to bite us.

[WayneS]

You are 100% correct. Good catch.

[SZonian]

Glad to hear you’re still with us after that. I’ll bet you almost needed a change of pants.

The throttle one is especially important as the sudden deceleration will dump you. I almost found out the hard way when I developed a high speed wobble (once).

Weight shifting is important on any two wheeled conveyance. I do that a lot on my mountain bike.

Cheers,
SZ

[envisio]

Blowout (complete carcass failure)?
or flat (zero air pressure)?

If it was simply flat, at that speed the tire would be self supporting under its own centrifugal force. I wouldnt worry about crashing. Most motorcycle tires have a load index higher than neccesary. They will support themselves. Although squishy, they will roll. I have driven miles on flat tires, carefully, wobbly.....

Now if your talking about the tire coming apart, well yeah, you’re dead.

[Billthedrill]

Don't use a drill to decommission your hard drives. That's what center-fire rifles are for.

I have a colleague who keeps a little row of decommissioned hard drives on his desk. Each has a hole in it. When asked, and he inevitably is, he announces that it's one for every caliber of rifle he owns. Liberals recoil in horror. Conservatives say, "What, only eight?"

[raybbr]

I posted a message at the site. I hope they correct it before someone gets crushed by a tree kicking back off the stump.

[gunnut]

Sorry, any list like this that does not include knowing how to swim and how to safely handle a firearm is not very credible. I believe these are two very important things that any person should learn.

[taxcontrol]

Not on the list:

Sharpen a knife
field dress small or large game
replace wiper blades
treat a bee sting
treat poison ivy, oak, sumac
navigate with a map and compass
swim 100 yards

And as a plug for the cub scouts / boy scouts, the vast majority of these skill and many others are taught to the boys.

[Ditto]

Wax a car???? Life is too short. I just pay an extra buck for the spray stuff during my semi-annual car wash, or trade the dirty sucker in. ;~))

[TalonDJ]

92, what did I win?

[Hacklehead]

Seducing a woman should be #1.

[SoDak]

I know 78 of those. Stunt Kite?? WTH? Steep drops on a Mountain bike? Riptide? There’s no riptide, steep drops, or boats big enough for a captain out har on the high plains.