Just need some basic input.
Thoughts on it.
As fun as you thought it would be etc etc, any input at all.

Basically, 29 now.
Decent job in child care (not my career path) for the past 6 yrs, pays nice... just not my cup of tea career wise.

Havnt been to school past HS, many reasons.
Poor family, lack of positive influence after HS (all I wanted to do was go out and have fun), and my biggest problem the past 8 yrs I've been contemplating a career... found nothing (til now) that seemed to light a fire under my butt and something I Know I would enjoy Yearssss down the road.
and my biggest pet peeve (tho this is just more placement oriented) a positive working environment.

I've been contemplating going to school for motorcycle tech for a few years now but havnt had the hands on experience til last month when I bought my first bike (my 94 GS500)
Since then, been working on it as much as I can (even simple cleaning) and oddly enjoying every minute of it which has REALLY surprised me. (I HATE working on cars!)
Turned into a friggin grease monkey this past month!

Also the 2nd biggest influence, such a positive environment I've seen so far.
ppl who are merely riding, ppl on boards like this etc etc, its just very surprising. (wish I got into it sooner!)

Also, a career like that would let me move down south more where I can ride longer! 

Keep seeing all these custom threads and always find myself saying Damm thats sweet! wish I could do that! (even on a bike that Isnt mine!)

Just wondering in the long run if the passion ever dies down at all or is it pretty much.. YES! get to go and get paid to play with motorcycles everyday! hahaha


I dunno, its only been a month but that dang fires pretty hot under my rear right now vs Anything I've done in the past.
Just hope it doesnt die down or I'll have to fart on it haha

but seriously tho, finances finally getting taken care of (going to cash a $3000 check from my works old owners pension to pay my $150 Biweekly car payment off) which will free up enough to finally get into position to make a choice already.

and even tho its only been a month hands on, (few years contemplating) think I'm going to pursue a career with working on motorcycles.
which was actually one of my 2 choices rolling around in my head.


so any input from people in the motorcycle field would be Greatly appreciated.

Thank you

I'm not a mechanic, but as I've been told by a number of mechanics over the years, working on other people's toys 8 hours a day gets tiring after a while and takes some of the fun out of it. 

That said, in my career I have significant overlap between my hobbies and my work, and while my job can get very tiring and frustrating, I still love it and regularly find myself working on my free time.  If you ask me working in a field you enjoy is *almost* like not having to work at all.

Really it's only you who can decide what works best for you.  I think the best advice I have ever gotten is that you're young and have many working years ahead of you - you can change careers later if you think your current career isn't working for you anymore.  I know plenty of people who bounced around between totally different careers over their lives.  The point is, you don't have to make a decision now on how to live the rest of your life.

If you don't have any dependents or a criminal history, I'd also suggest looking into joining the military.  Not only will they kick your ass into gear and provide you a solid role model, they will also give you loads of useful training and provide you the means to further your education at a university or technical school.  Plus you get other benefits like free airfare, various discounts, cops won't write you tickets, the opportunity to blow stuff up, etc.  My girlfriend was a high school dropout, party animal, and had no real direction or guidance in life before she joined the ANG and now she's well on her way to becoming an MD on the government's dime. 

If I weren't happy with where I was now, I would enlist as an aviation mechanic in a heartbeat.  They'll give you all your training and certifications you need and you'll have no problem finding a job afterwards - even though the economy is slow, there's always a need from commercial and corporate aviation for more mechanics and technicians.  Not to mention, they get paid quite handsomely as far as technicians go.  Maybe not as fun as motorcycle wrenching, but still pretty damn sweet.

Of course the military isn't not for everyone, but again that's up to you to decide.  Just my $0.02.

Quote from: LimaXray on June 06, 2011, 05:47:12 AMIf I weren't happy with where I was now, I would enlist as an aviation mechanic in a heartbeat. 

That was me 3 years ago and I did just that (albeit in Canada). I joined the Canadian Forces as an Aviation Systems Technician. I wish I did this 10 years ago.

Now I have the time and money to do whatever I want with my bike.

+1 to aviation tech.

Go to Bureau of Labor Service (US gov'nt site). Look up wages for MC tech and av tech.

If you can work on aircraft engines you can do anything else as well.

After done, go to IPEDS College Navigator, and find a college near you that offers it, and shop on tuition rates. They vary a lot.

People tell me I should go into working on bikes full time but I'm hesitant, namely because I enjoy it now and don't want to turn it into a job, a must-do occupation.  Working for yourself might be more fulfilling than working for someone else.  If I was to do it, I might just fix busted bikes and re-sell them.  I took that Penn Foster Motorcycle Course just to teach myself and it was ok.  I enjoyed it.  Compared to working on cars, working on bikes is much better.  I'm in the middle of doing an engine/trans swap on my van and I'm really missing working on my bike.  Good luck to you though.  I hope you post what you decide to do.

I was set to go to MMI and then caught my wife miss behaving,so I didn't go.Instead,I divorced her dumb@$$ and lost my chance to move to Florida and get my motorcycle mechanics certificate.MMI has the perfect set up for single people.They can get you reduced rate rent,help you locate work quickly while you are down there,and help with job placement when you finish.I'm not sure how well they keep to their promises,as I missed out on the chance to attend.That was back in 1998.Life changes after you have kids,so don't wait.Do it while you have your freedom.

I was having this conversation last night with my neighbor as I was fixing her scooter.......

I'll skip the whole going to school part of it. I don't think it's totally necessary but that's just my opinion. Look for a job right now that will help pay for tools. I work in a machine shop and we have a tool allowance: if I buy $1000 worth of tools they pay for half- the other half comes out of my paycheck in $50 increments. You will need a LOT of tools to work on bikes. There's the normal wrenches, sockets, etc, but if you look in a service manual there is always a section of "specialty tools" that are fairly specific to a model line.

Sign up on as many specific forums as you can, especially ones that deal with specific branches of bikes. Like the GSResources, SOHC4, Hondatwins, one for Chinese scooters, etc, etc, etc.......the people on each of those forums know every single nut/ bolt/ problem about their bikes.

If you're looking for a job with long hours, low pay, marginal benefits and no job security, then being a bike mechanic is for you!!! No, I'm not kidding. If you insist though, I do agree with skipping MMI. From what I've seen their graduates don't have a very good reputation and the diploma isn't much help in getting a job.

I hate working on cars too, I love working on bikes, but I dont believe in working on bikes for a living, that will suck the fun out of it.
I dont ahve any ideas though ... that is all I have ... Oh yea, dont go into debt for getting any bloody education. If after the first year it wont pay for itself via an internship, its not worth it. Its a dead beat line of study ... say you're doing a BS in widget science ... after say 1-1.5 yrs you cant find work with what you learnt in the first 18 months, like say mindlessly hammering out widgets or testing widgets, or codification of widgets, or castration of widgets ... its not worth learning any more about widgets.
Cool.
Buddha.

Quote from: The Buddha on June 07, 2011, 01:36:33 PM
I hate working on cars too, I love working on bikes, but I dont believe in working on bikes for a living, that will suck the fun out of it.
I dont ahve any ideas though ... that is all I have ... Oh yea, dont go into debt for getting any bloody education. If after the first year it wont pay for itself via an internship, its not worth it. Its a dead beat line of study ... say you're doing a BS in widget science ... after say 1-1.5 yrs you cant find work with what you learnt in the first 18 months, like say mindlessly hammering out widgets or testing widgets, or codification of widgets, or castration of widgets ... its not worth learning any more about widgets.
Cool.
Buddha.

i kinda like this philosophy

I second not goingto school, its fine and willgive you the basics but everything that should be learned is better learing hands on. If bike are what you wanna work on than find a shop that will hire you as a trainee and you can learn as you go best way in my opinion. I learned how to work on cars by getting in a shop and doing it.  I have guy working with me who graduated from UTI and WYOTECH and when it comes to troubleshooting they always ask for help, school cant teach you real world issues when it come to Computer controlled engines.

Buddahs right on the money with the school thing.. i got loads of friends with masters degrees and debt for life who are in a completely different field of work. I went to tech school, got a few certs, a butt load of experience and am doing ok with my 2 yr degree. I say tech school if any for education or trade school.

appreciate all the input! 

and yeah, whatever I plan to go to school for, I've already planned to go to a Technical school.


I still got time to keep working on mine and see how I feel later.
But right now I wanna go out and rip the entire thing apart, check, clean, adjust, replace, and paint everything that needs it.
I'm more enthused to rip it apart and make it like new lately then I am to go riding! haha

Too bad I dont have an extra bike, garage (only a large shed), or a way to take it in the house or I probably would!

Want to tear a bike apart, rebuild it, and put it back together? Look for an older GS450. Preferably not seized up and that has a title. The engine is almost identical to a GS500, they can be found for under $200, parts are readily available, and you can sell it later to make your money back.

All the while riding your 500.

Quote from: jebz240 on June 07, 2011, 08:06:19 PM
Buddahs right on the money with the school thing.. i got loads of friends with masters degrees and debt for life who are in a completely different field of work. I went to tech school, got a few certs, a butt load of experience and am doing ok with my 2 yr degree. I say tech school if any for education or trade school.

That would define me ... except I dont have any debt, never did and I ended up in a much more lucrative field of work wihtout the encumberances of a masters degree ... I did a bs in civil engineering in India, 1/2 my class ended up here, 11 out of 23, 10 of them went to study crapola like structural engineering or transportation enginnering. I came to work in a factory (that clown cheated us) and one fine day after about a year, I decided I had enough, and quit, and a few weeks later got an entry level position as a software engineer. Most of my friends did a masters in whatever, and the smart ones decided that they need to go to school for computer science (I think going to school makes you dependent on going to school, so they spend a lot more time and $ learning what you could get free @ the library) ... to get a job, and they did that and 3-4 years later landed @ entry level positions. The slower ones did phd in whatever ... no clue what happened to some of em.

Cool.
Buddha.

Well, I live a few miles from MMI and have lived in this house two and a half years. So far three of my roommates have gone there. 1) Outright failed, cheated on his wife, and stole my medication while I was in the hospital. 2) Has failed a class and retaking it got divorced from his wife in Illinois and is now living with another chick 3) Current roommate failed last semester and is working at Steak and Shake waiting so he can take the class again. I know a few others that have graduated. Yama on here he graduated and could not find a job. If you live down here you may have job prospects when leaving but other parts of the country it is a seasonal job.

Speaking of tools I went out into the garage I allowed one of my roommates to borrow my tool box and I also had a new set of ratcheting box end metric wrenches that the BF got me for Christmas. They are now gone. I left a note saying they need to be returned in the next 24 hours or there will be hell to pay!. I looked further into my tools and noticed the tools I hadn't engraved with my initials is gone. To say I'm pissed is an understatement!

Mary