Seriously guys... RTFM
I especially like the one about checking air pressure.
Seriously though what he says is oh so true but much of the manual is over many of our heads or of no interest to us.
If we come across the important stuff on this or some of the other forums they point out much of the really important stuff and that is how we learn of it. fjrtech.com example...
Of the last 3 bikes I have had I have owned the manual for all of them but only read the sections that were relevant to what I was doing such as changing cams on my Vstar...
Good example also is lubing the shaft at first tire change which I would never have thought to do and this is my second shaft drive bike...