Wheelbase Vehicle Maintenance Program
WHEELBASE VEHICLE MAINTENANCE PROGRAM
CW EVALUATIONS
Computer-aided service log
COMPUTERS, 10 YEARS AGO THE PLAYthings of engineers, statisticians and other academics, are now an integral part of everyday life. You can even use a computer to help your motorcycle last longer.
Eastbay Softworks (P.O. Box 501, Acme, MI 49610; 800/968-3292), has created WHEELbase, a computer database that enables any vehicle owner to use his computer to keep track of maintenance, repairs and upgrades. What you get for your $40 is a brief, easy-to-understand user manual and a single floppy disk-available in either 3.5-inch or 5.25-inch sizes-that can be installed onto the hard drive of any personal computer that uses at least 640K of RAM and MS-DOS 3.3 or higher. Following a stone-simple installation procedure, you’re ready to begin inputting all the facts and figures appropriate to the machines you want the program to keep track of.
Because WHEELbase (not to be confused with “WheelBase,” an interactive computer magazine being marketed by print journalists Gordon Jennings and Steve Anderson) was created for automobiles, it contains some service categories that aren’t appropriate to your motorcycling needs, and lacks some categories that are. No worries. The categories you don’t need, you nuke with a couple of key strokes. Then you create the categories you need-“Fork Oil,” for instance, or maybe “Chain and Sprockets”-also with just a couple of key strokes.
Each category, whether it’s supplied or created, has a log in which you record not only the work appropriate to that category, but the cost of the work, and the time and mileage intervals your owner’s manual specifies for each job. Once you’ve plugged these numbers in, the program’s main screen supplies the date or mileage each service is next due. Hitting the F6 function key provides a “Service Pending/Due” screen that gives a more detailed look at what maintenance is due. Function keys deliver other options, including fuel usage and costs, total cost of operation and a list of any clubs or service resources you want to keep track of.
A “Help” bar, displayed on the bottom of each screen, tells you which function key delivers which feature, so it’s pretty hard to go wrong. The only thing we found to complain about, besides actually having to take the time to input service information when the program is first installed, is that the mileage box in the “Vehicle Information” screen is not updated when you make note of a service performed. You have to do that manually. A minor inconvenience, but we think that anytime the current mileage figure in one log is updated, that figure ought to be updated throughout the entire program. Other than that, WHEELbase is a winner. It greatly eases the burden of keeping track of the vehicles in your fleet, right down to your lawn mower. And it allows you to supply a potential buyer of your bike or car with a record of your service diligence. Think of it as a maintenance log for the next millennium.
