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Haynes manuals are normally just as good (if not better since they give tips and advice, and howto's as well) Or you could just buy the workshop manual online, a couple years ago I bought the workshop manual for my CX500T - which is a pretty rare bike with no Haynes manual. There's one for the normal CX500, but not the CX500T and other than the physical engine the bikes are WAY different, one is aspirated the other fuel injection, with all the extra plumbing and wiring that entails.

What this Bantha Fodder? http://www.haynes.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10001&storeId=10001&productId=53477&langId=-1

How about this?.

A bit tongue in cheek, but still useful.

So you want to copy http://www.haynes.co.uk/?

Why pay such high prices for a few pages of original manual when you can just buy one of these for your maintenance needs?

You are so wrong, on so many levels, it's hard to know where to begin.

For example, if I buy a console, and then write a manual about how to modify that console, then legally that is wrong.

Incorrect. You can modify or repair, or upgrade the system all you like. You can even write a manual instructing others how to do so.

If you want to change the LED colors, knock yourself out. If you'd like to solder in connector on your wii so you can plug a classic NES controller in, there is nothing stopping you. If you'd like to include a beefier (or quieter) cooling fan, go ahead. If you want to cover your case with stickers or add a plexiglass window and internal lighting, who's going to stop you?

The only legally prohibited element is that you can not bypass a digital copy protection scheme. If you want to jailbreak, and let the console run unsigned apps, that's a violation of the DMCA. This of course may varry by locality.

However, if I buy a car, and then write a manual about how to modify that car, then legally that is ok. (For example http://www.haynes.co.uk/ have been doing exactly this for decades).

Also, once again: wrong. Your car analogy falls flat. Yes Chiltons, Haynes, and others provide manuals on how to repair your car. But I've not seen one that instructs you on how to modify it beyond stock. Even though you're wrong here, it's not strictly relevant. If Haynes wanted to publish a "Carbon Fiber Hoods and Bigger Injectors 101" manual, they could, legally. They just don't. They tell you how to conduct routine repairs and maintaince.

However, your car analogy actually fails in another way: There are elements of a car which are illegal to modify too! It is unlawful (again, may vary by jurisdiction) to tamper with an emissions control device. Just because you don't like your catalytic converter, doesn't mean you can legally hollow it out, or remove it.

I'll give you that your next comment isn't so much wrong so much as it is something I simply have to disagree with.

The closed nature of consoles prevents other smaller companies growing to support 3rd party products without the expressed legal permission of the console makers. They therefore control the market and the government helps them. So much for Capitalism's concept of goods traded in a free market when that market is closed off to all but the console makers and anyone forced to pay console makers effectively protection money, preventing the console makers taking legal action against them for violating access to their turf.

Also, I'm not going to loose any sleep that consoles are closed systems. The free market doesn't prevent a console maker from releasing a system that's open. But there hasn't been a successful one since Atari's heyday. And that nearly brought the industry down. There have been other smaller players to come along since then, but none have had much success. There's your free market.

Also, nobody was ever stopped from developing a game for PCs. Generally if your idea is good enough to get traction in that free market, you can find a publisher, (or a publisher will find you) to get your game onto a console. It happens all the time.

Since we're in the mood for terrible analogies, this is like being an indie film maker, and complaining that your local Sony Zillionplex won't play the movie you made with your friends last summer. You can burn it to DVD, and sell it on the street corner. You just can't show it in the theater, because that's more or less a closed system, where the man wants to keep you down. Maybe if you're lucky, a major distributor will notice you and pick it up.

"moral wrongness"

Its not just morally wrong, also its legally wrong, but apparently thats overlooked by the governments.

For example, if I buy a console, and then write a manual about how to modify that console, then legally that is wrong.

However, if I buy a car, and then write a manual about how to modify that car, then legally that is ok. (For example http://www.haynes.co.uk/ have been doing exactly this for decades).

So Lobbyists have fought to distort the legal status of consoles and media in general. An audio/film/game protection system isn't any more important than a car, yet we are all supposed to blindly just accept that it is because Lobbyists say it is and have forced a protectionist market onto these forms of media.

The closed nature of consoles prevents other smaller companies growing to support 3rd party products without the expressed legal permission of the console makers. They therefore control the market and the government helps them. So much for Capitalism's concept of goods traded in a free market when that market is closed off to all but the console makers and anyone forced to pay console makers effectively protection money, preventing the console makers taking legal action against them for violating access to their turf.

What you are describing is the Haynes manual. It describes in detail (and there's a different one for each car) how to change anything from tyres to spark plugs to brakes in a step by step way, and with each procedure clearly labelled as to how difficult it is.

'EVERY person is DIFFERENT and we do NOT come with a "Workshop Manual.'

No, you're right - it has to be ordered separately.

Er, if thats your idea of "excellent" then oh dear.
It looks like the images found in the Haynes book of Lies of car engines.
Virtually impossible to make out seperate items from each other.