How mechanically skilled are you ? and where did you learn ?

I'm an engine builder and mechanic by trade and was fortunate to have a very tough but fair guy first employ me when I was 16. Building mostly old school chevy, chrysler, ford, holden etc and most of them were for drag, circut or speedway cars. After that I was at a workshop that mainly did import cars, GTR skylines and the like.
Now I'm a security technician of 8 years (CCTV, access control sorta stuff) and really enjoy working on my bikes without pressure and deadlines. I do all my own work except warranty stuff cause they wont let me (got a 650 berg with the cases split as we speak) but you really enjoy working on your own stuff more when you don't have to do it every day for a job. Especially when the beer is flowing to

I grew up on various guises of Mk1 Fiestas from 1.1 to xr2 after passing my test and did most things myself cause I never had the money to get anybody else to do it, although I wasn't necessarily able to diagnose all the problems myself, I've changed suspension, wheel bearings, brake calipers, discs, exhausts and general service parts, I had to remove a head for skimming and then refit on a quite rare 86 Mitsubishi Colt Turbo.

I have no problems fitting stereo systems either.

On Bikes I've done fork seals, brake pads, calipers, discs, exhausts, removed and refitted an engine, valve clearances, chain and sprockets, rear shocks, pretty much most of this on my NC24 which currently resides in my garage with a stuck throttle mechanism that I haven't got round to doing for prob 2 years now but will tackle that too someday, still, they're going up in price these days on the 2nd hand market and it has only done about 17000 miles so I see it as a future project as a potential classic later on.

Done all the usual accesories and stuff on my gsxr, hugger, power commander, tail tidy, gear indicator, rearsets, exhaust, bobbins, indicators, screen etc.. and replaced the headlight.

Most of my knowledge I've picked up from other people, first from my cousin when I had my fiestas but mostly from a good friend of mine who helps me out when I'm not sure about something or needs a two man effort, plus he also has many more tools than me which I find is one of the biggest problems when tackling a job yourself and that's having the right tool for it, especially if something goes wrong.

These days though with newer bikes and cars I've taken them to the dealer for servicing while they've been in warranty and have continued after as have usually been planning to sell so figured may as well get that last stamp in the service book for the prospective buyer, I still do my own brakes and general maintenance if needed and I always take loose wheels to my local shop for tyres rather than paying someone else to do it.

I think new drivers/riders aren't getting the mechanical knowledge cause finance is so cheap and easy to get (pre credit crunch) than when I was 17 that they're all driving around in brand new or almost new 1.1 corsas and fiestas and such like, not like my day of a £500 fiesta which will definitely break down or need something doing to it at some point, nearly all the apprentices I used to work with at my old company all had cars less than 2 years old but not one of em would have a clue how to change a set of brake pads.

With technology as well it's hard to work on an engine fault without a laptop and the appropriate software so it's also becoming much harder for us to keep up too I reckon.

I'm fairly ignorant but I like to work on my bike and try to do at least basic maintenance tasks (especially once out of warranty). Working up to more and more complicated projects as I learn, but I often take it to the dealer as they can do some things so much faster than me and I'd rather have the time to ride. (That's why my bikes don't get washed as much as I'd like - I spend the time riding). I'm reasonably handy with DIY but having to build up my mechanics tool set. Any torque wrench recommendations?