Changing career; how to become a motorcycle mechanic in TX?

  • Thread starter Thread starter MISTY S
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MISTY S

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My husband is interested in becoming a motorcycle mechanic but of course we cannot move to AZ so that he could attend MMI. We have a house payment so he'll have to continue working full time while attending school. (or at minimum, part time if I added a job to my full time day job but he doesn't want to put us in a bind)

Here's the problem: We were on the web all night & he discovered that Harley Davidson only hires graduates from MMI. This discouraged him greatly because we have a dealership right down the road! Is it true that Harley only hires out of MMI?

Also, we cannot seem to find any vocational schools that offer courses in bike mechanics in our area. We live about an hour's drive north of Austin, TX and he'd be willing to drive to Austin if night classes were available but we can't seem to find anything anywhere. That, and MMI would be impossible.

Do you suppose it would be possible to get part time work at an independant shop & learn on the job? He's built a couple mini bikes from scratch so he can already weld (both) but he's no mechanic.

I'm looking for serious, honest answers. Please don't respond just to get points. We're having a hard time finding any info on this so if can provide any it would be greatly appreciated.
 
Misty,

take tomcotx up on his offer and contact him. (I might contact tomcotx too to find out where his shop is and give him some business or point some his way). can alway shoot me an email or message here for more info.

likewise, I live between you and Austin. I have a number of contacts in various shops both franchise & private. you also might get involved in the Austin MotoSport Association (AMSA) to get even a bunch more contacts with various shops. AMSA leans more towards dirt bikes but alot of the members also have street bikes and will have even more contacts with those types of shops.

a couple in the Georgetown / Round Rock area

the new location for Central Texas Power Sports (franchise Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki, etc.) http://www.ctpowersports.com/

Georgetown Honda http://georgetownhonda.com/

Hog Alley http://www.hogalley.net/home.html

then the new Central Texas Harley in Round Rock http://centraltexasharley.reachlocal.com/coupon/?scid=889305&cid=216952&tc=08091114185746931&dynamic_proxy=1&primary_serv=centraltexasharley.reachlocal.net&se_refer=http%253A%252F%252Fsearch.yahoo.com%252Fsearch%253Fei%253Dutf-8%2526fr%253Dslv8-tyc7%2526p%253Dcentral%252520texas%252520harley%2526type%253D

might be worth a try to check and see if they have any mechanics helpers needed as a starting point... but I am guessing the salary would be pretty low to start.
 
Misty,
Harley dealerships are independantly owned. I have not gon ethrough all their tape but possible franchise, In any case I saw no diretive that mech's must come from MMI, In addition, The job search page at Harley corp for jobs like ;
MOTORCYCLE TECHNICIAN
Service Staff
Service Technician
Service Technician Expert
Master Service Technician
Service Writer
Master of Service Technology
Shop Foreman

Dose not speak of them either. I would believe it would be upto the dealership. What I would suggest is the following...
1st... dont guess, call dealers in your area if your not willing to move
and find out what they want him to have before they would
hire him.
2nd... What does the current mech make, MOST dont make what
you think. Normally 1 top dog and the rest make alot lees.
3rd... If he really wants to do this, get a second job and save up
enough money so that you can take that time off. Lets say
school is 6 months, you live on 50,000 year now so you need
30,000 to cover 6 months PLUS you wont have a job right
away so you need another 3 months pay so you need to save
45,000.00 so he can take the 6 months off for school, and dont
forget the loan for the school. They offer it online at MMI.

did this help ?
 
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