Details

And he made the robe of the ephod of woven work, all of blue. And there was an hole in the midst of the robe, as the hole of an habergeon, with a band round about the hole, that it should not rend. And they made upon hems of the robe pomegranates of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and twined linen. And he made bells of pure gold, and put the bells between the pomegranates upon the hem of the robe, round about between the pomegranates; A bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate, round about the hem of the robe to minister in; as the LORD commanded Moses. Exodus 39:22-26

On steam ships the engineering department is called the Black Gang. Among the Black Gang there is a saying that goes like this: "If you sweat the small stuff, the big stuff will take care of itself."

The idea is that it is the details that matter because if all the details are right, all of the bigger scheme -- that is made up of uncountable details -- will be right. The verses of Scripture above come from the long chapters concerned with the making of the Tabernacle of the Congregation and the the clothes that the priests should wear while ministering in it. Towards the end of Exodus, God tells Moses how all the details, that He commanded should be made for the tabernacle, are to be set up, and when they are to be set up. If you ever decide to copy the Bible out longhand, you will find details of the details.

That's how it is with motorcycles. What details were good enough in the old days, are rejected today. Good enough, was a bad idea. Close tolerance means that the details are defined within a very small window of acceptability. A tolerance that was once ± .005 inches is now ± .0002 inches. It is why modern Triumphs, like myself, run so smoothly and last so long.

Here are some motorcycle details. Some show amazing -- that should be acceptable -- concern for details, others show less concern. But all show that someone is concerned about the details.































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