Motorcycle Mechanic Institute ???

[Mike198]

I wasn't too sure were to put this, but Im 16 and I know what i want to do with my life, i want to be a mechanic, I was thinking auto at first but id rather work on a motorcycle. I only have 2 years of high school left and i wanted to get some reseach first. So my questions are for the people who went to motorcycle mechanics institute. 1) Was it a good school? 2) How were the teachers and work enviroment? 3) are you happy with your choice to go to mmi? 4) any suggestions on other trade schools for being a motorcycel mechanic?
Thanks for any help.

 

[clutchcover]

I didn't personally go, but my cousin's step brother did. He seems to like it. It is pretty spendy. Not sure on the price, but he was whining. I hear it's the best of the best. I'll ask him if I see him and see exactly what it intails.

 

[_SOLO_]

I am also wanting to go to MMI after high school. I was wondering about those jobs that they always promise. Like how good of a jobcan they get you?

 

[TRexRacing]

I'm the service manager of a shop and when I interview many of the MMI grads they think they should be making the big bucks.MMI prepares you to be an ENTRY LEVEL technician.It teaches the basics of working on bikes.It cannot give you the diagnostic skills of an experienced tech but does give the building blocks to be a mechanic.Think very hard before you enter this business.It is as tedious and boring as any other job.If you happen to have the head for it you can make a decent living.You get a great price on parts.You don't have to pay someone to work on your stuff.You will meet some of the wierdest people on the planet(I do Harleys).And you'll have the biggest collection of exspensive tools known to man.The Snap-On man will own your soul :eek: .If this sounds like you go for it.MMI/AMI and the like are decent schools and are approved by the major manufacturers who donate bikes for you to work on while in school.It can make it hard to have the motivation to work on your own bike when you get off work.Like I said before if you wanna do this go ahead.I don't know about the rest of the country but we've got a hard time finding decent,qualified techs so you won't have a hard time finding a job.

 

[MikeT]

That was some good and helpful insight TRex

 

[Jammertime]

I'm 15 and I want to go there when I get out of high school. I was on Weisco's web site and there were wanting to hire people straight out of MMI and if I can rember right it was in the 50,000 a year range. Don't hold me to that because it isn't to fresh in my memory.

 

[treefinder]

A few years ago Motorcycle Consumer News (a susbscription-only street bike mag) had a series of articles written by someone going through MMI. It was very informative and might give you a good idea of what to expect. I think they sell back issues or reprints on the net, you might want to track those articles down.

 

[crkid]

This is a pretty interesting thread, being a motorcycle mechanic is one of backup choices for what I want to do. Wasn't sure how good of a living I could make doing it though.

The Snap-On man will own your soul

And you'll still owe him. :p

 

[TRexRacing]

Originally posted by crkid
This is a pretty interesting thread, being a motorcycle mechanic is one of backup choices for what I want to do. Wasn't sure how good of a living I could make doing it though.


And you'll still owe him. :p

ALWAYS pay the Snap-On man.I've got such good credit with my Snap-On man I can buy anything I want on credit.Just paid off my new boxes and that freed up enough cash to buy an '03 CRF450R.Just bought a Jeep Liberty and spent $5K on lifting it and some other stuff to play off-road.You can make a good living if you get into the racing side long enough to know how to make the power.My engines hold 6 or 7 landspeed records.Hell my wife holds 2 records.Long hours and late nights will pay off in the long run.You won't get rich and you'll work hard but if you love bikes it may be for you.And you will definitely go broke at some point chasing speed.I'm headed for Maxton,NC in Sept. to try for some records on my bike.Tired of watching everyone go fast on my stuff.Want my name on the certificate.

 

[MXP1MP]

Someone beat me to asking this but I was going to go to the local tech college instead. The course covers everything and it takes 2.5 years to complete and you get a degree/certificate garunteed job. It has to be better than this customer service gig.

 

[blackhawk468]

In this months Racer X the one with RC on the cover some one asks the same question and Mitch Payton answers it, go check it out at the newsstand. It's on page 80.

 

[skal426]

i just got out of a welding school and am now registered to go to mmi in arizona. The tuition alone is going to cost me 17,000 + registration, housing, food... I have heard that it is a great school, but you still start at the bottom and work your way up just like the other guy just out of high school. People are telling me to just start at the local shop with a janitor position if you have to and try to pick up info. from the head mechinic as much as you can. I have been trying to find some tech schools with motorcycle programs, but have had no luck. I have talked to several shops that say just a small engine class would be a great start for some basic knowledge.

 

[nephron]

Hmmmm....It cost me $625 a semester and about a hundred bucks a month to eat and sleep at the Jolly Rancher Penetentiary. This was at a 4 year University, and I ended up with a Chem degree. Med school cost me nothing. Zero. I lived in a studio that rented for $275 a month, and received 1500 bucks a month stipend. My only payback is a 4 year term of work in Southwest Kansas, and I don't plan on leaving.

Hell, there's no way now I could make it on 1500 bucks a month. :eek: Not with a wife and 2 kids.

Point? If you're young, and single, think about getting scholarships and a good education. It will pay off in the longrun. Just look at Bruce out there in Kali makin' the big bucks. ;)

 

[SFO]

I remember bringing the crankshaft of my rm125a (76) to the local shop to get rebuilt when I was 14. I watched the wrenches at my local shop, one of who was Marty Moates back up tech and I said that I wanted to be a m/c mechanic.
The ALL laughed and said get a real job so you can pay someone to work on your bikes.
I became interested in machining because I got to do more than replace parts. I could potentially make everything I needed, or wanted.
All those techs at the time were in college to be something else.
Wrenching has always been #2 to machining for me.
Putting stuff together or being a line tech wasn't enough for me.
If you can rebuild the spindle on a 55hp Mori Seiki lathe or generate CNC code for your own 3D parts you might find that wrenching on bikes is like desert after a great meal.
Unfortunately it all becomes esoteric at some point, how many bikes you have built, how many parts of yours are on record bikes, how many titles you have, or how popular you are.
I have been doing this for just over 20 years now and my parts have been involved in more than one world record of many different m/c racing venues.
I really do it because I like to make parts.
Wrenching is really easy.
Tuning and building a better bike is a lot more sophistcated than bolting some xyz stuff together.
My best friends on this career path have always been curiosity, enthusiasm, and professional integrity.
Tell people what you know, not right and wrong but your experience, and never BS them.
Building relationships with customers takes integrity.
I learned most of my shop habits working a second job at an independent shop for a maniacal racer who could build anything out of a box of bits with no manual.
He paid me in pizza to clean bikes and change tires.
Wrenching is easy, attention to detail requires all of my attention.
There are techs in SF that work on commision in major dealerships and make six figures. I know two of them.
They bust their butts for it though.
I was making 4$ an hour as a service manager though when I first started out.
I have never been so deluded to think that I do this for the money though.
There is a vacuum for good techs.
I always thought that school was too slow, geared for the lowest common denominator.
My first teacher in building stuff a maintenance mechanic who told me "behind every great mechanic is a pile of blown up motors".
Start blowing stuff up, and don't feel bad about it.
Experiment and research your failures turning them into learning experiences.
Refine your goals with each project as it progresses.
Have fun and build stuff, then there is no one to blame when it doesn't end up quite as you expected.

 

[Moto Squid]

Originally posted by TRexRacing
It can make it hard to have the motivation to work on your own bike when you get off work.

that's what I really dislike about my job...I fix other peoples stuff and/or junk all day then when it comes time to fix my toys, the motovitation can be seriously lacking :(

 

[nephron]

Didn't mean to offend anyone. For me, it was simple. I did what I did because my greatest desire was to learn. Especially about the human body, chemistry, physics, physical chem, you name it. The philosophy, terrorism classes :laugh: , Middle English/Tolken :eek: , the beer, raising hell, making some of the best friends of my life, and creating the most unbelievable memories were all just a bonus . If you are more interested in working on bikes fulltime, that's great. Do it. My problem was my father worked my ass into the dirt on the farm far harder than I work now. Some of the @#$% he had me doing would be considered child abuse today. And I'm not kidding. Pretty much why everything beyond the farm was fairly easy for me. And I enjoy it.

So, in summary--do what you desire , and do it at all costs. Don't do something because it's what you *think* you want to do, based on your current hobbies, or such. A high-falootin' education isn't for everyone, but just keep it in mind. Maybe you're more interested in revalving a fork, and would never get anything from isolating caffeine from tea leaves or synthesizing aspirin. Just make sure you REALLY want to be a mechanic for the rest of your life (like SFO--who obviously enjoys his work and as a result...kicks ass), and remember that as TRexRacing said, it WILL reduce your desire to be around bikes after noon on Saturdays.

 

[gixer]

I went to MMI. It’s a good school. I actually helped set up the Suzuki program there. I had some good teachers there as was able to learn allot. You are not going to get rich being a mechanic and if its any thing by you like it is here there are not may openings around. Well I also have not looked in a long time. You will start off as an entry-level mechanic but you will be better off than some one who starts off sweeping the floors. There are short cuts ( and I don’t mean in cutting quality of workman ship ) that you don’t learn in the school that are model specific so you have to learn that on the job. For example to change the stator in a gold wing if you follow the book it will take you a while unless you know the shorter way to do it. Any way like I mentioned in another thread on this subject just because you pass does not mean you will be good. I interviewed at a dealer and they manager told me he had another MMI graduate the day before and that guy did not know any thing. I on the other hand blew the guy away with what I knew. I studied and ended up on the deans list while being the youngest at the time to go threw their program. So it really depends on you what becomes of it. People have graduated from there to land very nice and well paying jobs and others have left and still could barley change a tire on a scooter. I had seen it in my own class. But all in all I thought it was a very good school and will help you learn the basics. I have seen people get jobs right out of school also.

 

[nephron]

you will be better off than some one who starts off sweeping the floors.

...that's encouraging.

 

[gixer]

The reason I say you would be better off than some one who sweeps the floors is because for some reason every one thinks the best way to get into a dealership is to start at the bottom and work your way up. Granted you start at the bottom of the mechanic food chain and can work up. But to start sweeping the floors and think that eventually you will become a mechanic that is any good……. Well your just dreaming. There are enough parts swappers out there. Just swap out parts until you get it right. There are more mechanics needed you can diagnose the problem first then fix it right the first time. Bikes have come a long way. Do you want to limit yourself to just working on easy bikes or do you want to be able to work on a big full dressed touring bike with all the gizmos? The more you know the better off you are at making more money than the guy standing next to you.

 

[Joepro9]

Only advice is I can give is them same thats been given. Dont be a know it all when you get out. My dad sees it with the val-tech and wyotech graduates. they get out come in for a job interview and are like, weres my station....He just tells them is out the front door. For what ive gathered its a good school, and if you got the money go there. Maybe you could get to know some mechanics at your local shop and maybe they would let you hang arounf if there manager didnt care. Just get a slight feel to the buisness. Gixer also makes a great point. All of the mechanics my dad has under him are grads of a school. As always the lot attendents want to get in the shop, so my dad lets them do tire changes and the little stuff. Next think you know there a top A mechanic and can take out the master tech in the shop. A few of them went to see mechanic jobs in other shops.....no good. they were back a month later asking for there old job back.

 

[Uchytil]

A guy that worked for me started there last August...HE LOVES IT! He was working for me in the Coast Guard as a mechanic apprentice, did his 4 years, got out (with some tuition assistance from Uncle Sam) and is now living in Florida, going to MMI, and working at a local bike shop. If I was younger (I'm 44) I'd go. I'm envious. It's a growing market for sure and there are many avenues besides dirtbikes, you've gat watercraft, snowmobiles, streetbikes, etc. Not to mention specialty schools for each manufacturer.

Take it from a career mechanic such as myself. If you are mechanically inclined, want to be involved in the trade, start saving your money for tuition and GO FOR IT. Take care...John

 

[Can Can Kev]

i plan on going into the mechanics field but i intend on attending UTI Universal tecnical Institute many many of the factory mechanics for our great riders in supercross have come ot of that school the school spechalizes in everything to cars to Marine i plan on doing motorcycle and marine as this would not just limit my work to motorcycles and atvs it would also allow me to work on another hobby of mine Oersonal Water Craft but i am yet to decide i might just go into automotive mechanics ive been considering becoming a diagnostic tech for liek a high end car dealer ship lie Audi, Porche, Mercedes ct those guys make mucho bucks....

 

[Barbarian]

I used to want to be a motorcycle mechanic but I've since realized that it's a hard way to make a living. If I was going to do the mechanic thing, I would rather be an auto mechanic or maybe a diesel truck mechanic. More $$. I love working on my bike for an hour or so after work but I don't know about doing it all day long.

 

[SpeedyManiac]

When I was around 13 or 14, I thought I wanted to be a mechanic, but after working on my own bike enough, I found that while I enjoyed working on it, I liked to learn the design behind it. Now I'm 18 and in first year engineering at the University of Alberta. I plan on going into mechanical engineering, and hopefully ending up with Honda designing bikes, or possibly doing something similar to BBR. If you can, I definitely think engineering is the way to go over mechanic. The best mechanic I know is a mechanical engineer that got sick of engineering so he went back to what he loves. Also, engineers can make the $$$. Good luck with what you decide to do, and make sure you do something you enjoy.

 

[Lonewolf]

i went to to auto/diesel mechanics school after i gruduated high school. for 2 years and earned a degree. i was like you and i didnt know what i wanted to do with my life, i figured i liked tinkering around with cars and motorcycles and maybe a mechanic would be a good job for me. when i went and toured the school with a recruiter told me that i would earn a dergee, ase certifications and made it soud like i would be making really good money. well i can honestly say i learned very little, got no ase certifications, and blew $14000. on tuition. i work at a local service station and i have talked to the snap-on tool guy about a buch of mechaninc schools, he is a industrial sales rep. and travels around a lot of schools, he basically told me that most of the schools make a lot of promises make give you a bunch hype to get you in the door, especially schools like hot rod u, and mmi, you see these ads on tv making it sound like you will be working on race cars or working for race teams. im not trying to hurt your confidence but my advice is to just do the best you can in high school ecpecially in math and go to collage. i wish i could go back in time so i could go through high school over again, this time i would actually try my hardest so i could get into collage.