2008 klr650 tall windshield

[roncriswell@sbcglobal.net]

That is what I did here taking 2 or 3 classes after riding bikes for years and not really knowing what I was doing working on them and screwing up a few things. Sure helps to know the right way or approach to a particular mechanical problem. I figure those classes probably have saved me $3000 in things like valve adjustment, carburetor jetting etc. and knowing they were actually done. I still need to take the electrical and some other things. I realize I could never make a living doing it as I am slow (but careful). Criswell

On Dec 12, 2008, at 1:45 AM, E.L. Green wrote: > > > EEEP! > > Assuming that your purpose is to become a professional motorcycle > mechanic, check out > your state's community college system. First of all, they're local > to you. Second, the tuition > is *much* cheaper, typically around $500 per semester if you want > to get a 2-year degree, > half that if you just want a certificate. I just looked at the 2- > year curriculum over at > Central Carolina Community College and you'll pay around $2500 > total tuition (if you're > in-state) for one heck of a curriculum -- you'll learn welding, > basic machine shop, and all > sorts of stuff like that as well as in-depth motorcycle technology > in a curriculum that is > supported by most of the major motorcycle makes. You can take all > those courses > piecemeal, of course, or even learn many of those skills on your > own, but they pulled > together all the various skills I'd consider necessary to being a > master mechanic, the kind > of mechanic who can grab a buncha tubes and shit and weld his own > motorcycle together > if he felt like it. > > Not that any coursework will make you a master mechanic. It'll give > you the foundation, > but a lot of that is experience. And don't think you'll get out of > school and get hired as a > motorcycle mechanic right out the door, unless you apprenticed at a > motorcycle shop > while you were in school and they know your work and need a > mechanic, you'll start out as > an apprentice unless you go to work for a really unethical scumbag > who doesn't care > whether you know your sh*t or not. But paying more than a year's > salary to train for a job > that's gonna pay you $10 an hour to start is just ridiculous. Your > tax money (and mine) > goes to support your public community colleges and trade schools, > you'll pay far less > money for a certificate or diploma from one of the public community > colleges or trade > schools, and I'll tell you a secret: They generally are far, far, > FAR better than the private > ones. God's own truth. The private trade schools are money mills > that care more about > raking in dough for their owners than about teaching anything > significant to the students. > Private trade schools are by and large a scam, and to be avoided at > all costs. Seen too > many of the kids I grew up with who got ripped off by those > scumbags, while the guys > who went through the public trade schools got what they paid for > and much more in most > cases. Don't confuse glossy brochures and ads with quality of > education. Ain't so. The > public community colleges and trade schools tend to be pretty > gritty places, no gloss in > sight, but they do a d*mn fine job on not a whole lot a dough, and > don't bankrupt you in > the process. > > -E > (Who just realized the other day that he's the only one of the guys > who grew up together > in his working-class neighborhood who went on to get a college > degree). > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Jeff Saline]

On Fri, 12 Dec 2008 07:45:58 -0000 "E.L. Green" writes:

> EEEP! > > Assuming that your purpose is to become a professional motorcycle > mechanic, check out > your state's community college system. First of all, they're local > to you. Second, the tuition > is *much* cheaper, typically around $500 per semester if you want to > get a 2-year degree, > half that if you just want a certificate. I just looked at the > 2-year curriculum over at > Central Carolina Community College and you'll pay around $2500 total > tuition (if you're > in-state) for one heck of a curriculum -- you'll learn welding, > basic machine shop, and all > sorts of stuff like that as well as in-depth motorcycle technology > in a curriculum that is > supported by most of the major motorcycle makes. You can take all > those courses > piecemeal, of course, or even learn many of those skills on your > own, but they pulled > together all the various skills I'd consider necessary to being a > master mechanic, the kind > of mechanic who can grab a buncha tubes and shit and weld his own > motorcycle together > if he felt like it.

SNIP

> -E

<><><><><><><><><><> <><><><><><><><><><> Eric, Out here the tuition for the local tech institute is about $12,000 for each year of the two year welding program. I think the automotive, diesel and body repair courses are a couple of thousand dollars less expensive. The school would have to have some really deep pockets to survive on $500 a year tuition or even $2,500 a year. South Dakota teachers are some of the lowest paid in the nation and you'd have to have at least 15 students to cover just the tuition per instructor at tuition of only $2,500 per year. And that's about the max amount of students one instructor should have. Just the high school program that I'm working with equals at least $900 per student per semester to cover one instructor. When you start adding in facilities and equipment the cost jumps up pretty darn fast. All the mechanic courses I've seen that include some welding shouldn't. : ) The limited amount of welding experience and understanding given in a few weeks or less just allows the students to feel like they know what they're doing without actually obtaining the skills to consistently make quality welds. Same for learning to use a lathe and mill. A couple of hours each week for a semester won't allow you to do much more than turn the machine on and destroy some repairable parts. Learning to make stuff from scratch that will work in a customer's vehicle is probably at least 6 months of machining experience out if not longer. If it's a critical part the amateur should probably really understand their limitations before they decide to make something where failure of the part might result in damage, injury or death. Best, Jeff Saline ABC # 4412 South Dakota Airmarshal Airheads Beemer Club www.airheads.org The Beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota 75 R90/6, 03 KLR650, 79 R100RT ____________________________________________________________ Visa, MasterCard, AMEX & Discover. Compare Offers & Apply Online. Click here! http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2141/fc/PnY6rw2Oq4YEvU7YDnXZVccFeKrqUIPJGKfhSwI7je000jPopN99C/

[E.L. Green]

--- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, Jeff Saline wrote:

> On Fri, 12 Dec 2008 07:45:58 -0000 "E.L. Green" writes: > > EEEP! > > > > Assuming that your purpose is to become a professional motorcycle > > mechanic, check out > > your state's community college system. First of all, they're local > > to you. Second, the tuition > > is *much* cheaper, typically around $500 per semester if you want to > > get a 2-year degree, > > Out here the tuition for the local tech institute is about $12,000 for > each year of the two year welding program. I think the automotive, > diesel and body repair courses are a couple of thousand dollars less > expensive. The school would have to have some really deep pockets to > survive on $500 a year tuition or even $2,500 a year.

That was $535 per *semester*, and that was the actual, posted, in-state tuition for 12 semester-hours at Central Carolina Community College. Out-of-state tuition (the full cost you're talking about) was significantly higher. The deal being, of course, that CCCC is a taxpayer-supported institution that provides education for North Carolinians out of school tax money (the community college district levies property taxes just like K-12 school districts), and does it for a pretty reasonable cost assuming you're one of those taxpayers. It helps that they beg equipment from various equipment manufacturers so they don't have to pay full freight. But you are of course correct that the facilities are rather old, dingy, and somewhat run-down, amortized over decades of time rather than being bright and shiny and new. And your point is? WTF does shiny facilities have to do with learning? Regarding welding and such, I suppose it depends on what you're trying to do. I did not need a two year welding certification to weld the top of my Chevy Chevette's shock tower back on or weld new sheetmetal panels into my old VW van, just an everyday wire-welder and a little practice with scrap sheetmetal. Structural welding would be a different story altogether, as would be pipeline welding and aluminum welding and other specialty welding, all of which gets taught in a two-year welding program, none of which is going to be done by a motorcycle mechanic, who at best is going to do some thinwall tubing welding with either a wire welder or an oxy-acetylene rig. Remember, there is no such thing as a "motorcycle body shop", unlike with automobiles. So a competent motorcycle mechanic is expected to know this stuff because there isn't the difference between "body shop" and "mechanic" that there is for cars. In any event, my basic advice stands: Check out public community colleges and vocational schools, because a) they'll give you a better technical education than the private vocational schools, and b) they'll be much, much cheaper, assuming you qualify for in-state tuition and are in a state that treats their community college system as an extension of their K-12 system (i.e., it's largely supported by state tax money for in-state students). -E

[Kyle]

I`ve been down that road before. Sorry to be a bummer. What the other guys are saying is absolutely correct. That $22,000 class will kick you in the balls when you graduate and you`ll start out at $10.00 hr. Right off the bat they will expect you to start paying like $500 a month. Impossible at $10.00 an hour. Spartan School of Aeronautics graduate. $22,000 loan has grown to $60,000, now back down to $40,000. Anybody got a spare dollar?

[dooden]

--- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, Tengai Mark Van Horn wrote:

> > At 3:51 PM -0600 12/11/08, Kevin Powers wrote: > >My understanding is that this is a training school for professional > >motorcycle mechanics. If you are interested in a career as a

mechanic, you

> >might ask your local dealership where they get talent from... > > My large local Honda/Yamaha dealer gets thugs of the street and pays > them $8.00 an hour to work on bikes. i don't know if that's the > exception or the norm, but my guess is it's the norm. > Unless that trade school can guarantee placement with a racing team > or something of that magnitude, $22K is a lot of cash to risk. > Might be better off investing it in wheat futures. > > Mark

Thats about the normal me thinks... My Techs got a bit more than $8 depending on what certs they had of course, but still not worth 22k of school IMHO. Many times if the guy shows talent, the dealership will send them to the schooling provided by the manf. Merc. Marine example would hold courses that would earn them Certs on the training, which is required for Warr. work by some manf. otherwise the warr. work would pay at a much reduced amount to the shop. Warr. work is not a money maker for you folks that do not know that, normally it is a loser for the shop, if the manf. says it takes 6 hours to do a complete engine teardown and rebuild that all the shop gets paid at warr. rates. ( not posted hourly amount by far ) unless the Service depart. can jump through flaming hoops and suck up to the regional service rep to get more. I always tried, but it depended on the manf./ regional serv rep. sometimes I got it, but not often. Most of the times the serv. manual just did'nt include time to actually remove all plastics/mounts/ect or removal of the said engine from the unit, just how long it took factory guy to teardown a engine on a bench with all the tools lined up ready to go next to the engine. But as a dealer/shop you have to do right by the customer so its an expense you absorb. ( Really sucks when your pay is commission based let me tell ya, btw I no longer work there ) and some customers were always claiming things were wrong that were not wrong, so there is more time spend doing diag. and testing to find nothing wrong and of course there is more time ( $$$ ) poured down the drain, cause if nothing is wrong, nothing is paid to the shop. There is my learned lesson I share with ya'll. Dooden A15 Green Ape

[greg saunders]

In Barrack Obama's book, "The Audacity of Hope" he states on page 62 that in 1980 the average CEO made 42 times what his average worker made. In 2005 that had climbed to 262 times the average worker. That is trickle down Reagan-nomics at work. The attitude among the power people today is get EVERYTHING for the top dog and screw everyone else along the way. And it doesn't stop with the private sector. Last year the president of the U of MN made over 700,000.00. Why does he deserve that kind of money? Every student is paying inflated tuition costs so the president can rake in money like that. There isn't anything about this that is trickle down. It is simply welfare for the wealthiest and capitalism for the rest of us. How can any student be expected to repay that kind of debt on the salaries offered? To: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.comFrom: cb750fs@...: Fri, 12 Dec 2008 19:09:46 -0800Subject: [DSN_KLR650] Re: MC Mech school quest. I`ve been down that road before. Sorry to be a bummer.What the other guys are saying is absolutely correct.That $22,000 class will kick you in the balls when yougraduate and you`ll start out at $10.00 hr. Right offthe bat they will expect you to start paying like $500a month. Impossible at $10.00 an hour.Spartan School of Aeronautics graduate. $22,000 loanhas grown to $60,000, now back down to $40,000.Anybody got a spare dollar? _________________________________________________________________ Send e-mail faster without improving your typing skills. http://windowslive.com/Explore/hotmail?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_hotmail_acq_speed_122008 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Adam]

--- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, "gbennett69" wrote:

> > hi > I was looking into going to MC mech school at a place called MMI > http://www.uti.edu/Motorcycle/tabid/59/Default.aspx > I was interested in taking the basic course plus BMW and Kawasaki > specialised training. > The cost i was told is 22,750.00 bucks. > is this type of fee normal for a trade school. > Do any of you have any training in this area and can recomend a school > Thanks > Garrett > 08 KLR > Bayonne,nj >

TRUE STORY: My brother - in - law went to the MMi in Arizona, took it very seriously, graduated 2nd in his class last May. Now he is building engines and porting heads for Yoshimira racing in Chino CA. They sought him out at the school. FWIW Adam

[Mike Hilton]

TC, what are you considering, I'm 6'2" and looking? Mike H Louisiana

----- Original Message ----- From: tch@... To: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com Sent: Tuesday, December 16, 2008 2:36 PM Subject: [DSN_KLR650] 2008 KLR650 Tall Windshield Hi all. I'm selling a genuine Kawasaki 2008 KLR650 tall windshield in excellent condition. It was used for less than a 100 miles -- I'm 6' tall and need a windshield that's just a little bit taller. $65.00 plus shipping and it's yours. TC ________________________________________ PeoplePC Online A better way to Internet http://www.peoplepc.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[E Hines]

I would look into the Military if I was wanting to learn about being a mechanic. I learned two trades through the military. When just 17 I learned to be a mechanic in the Army National Guard. This eventually worked into a service manager at a fairly large shop. I than made a career change into electronics, thanks to the Air Force which has worked into a military retirement and a very good IT job in the transportation industry. If you apply yourself you can learn alot from the military schools. You also get full pay and benifits while you learn. ________________________________ From: gbennett69 To: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com Sent: Thursday, December 11, 2008 3:40:46 PM Subject: [DSN_KLR650] MC Mech school quest. hi I was looking into going to MC mech school at a place called MMI http://www.uti edu/Motorcycle/ tabid/59/ Default.aspx I was interested in taking the basic course plus BMW and Kawasaki specialised training. The cost i was told is 22,750.00 bucks. is this type of fee normal for a trade school. Do any of you have any training in this area and can recomend a school Thanks Garrett 08 KLR Bayonne,nj [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[dooden]

Not to mention GI Bill for continued education, stick it out for 20 yrs or whatever it is now.. draw pay rest of your life. As said if you apply yourself you can go far. CLEP your way through alot of stuff you already know, at Zero cost no less. Many times I wish I would have used more of the benefits while serving, but I always put my family / job first, alot of good high marked evaluations did me alot of no good, other than awards and alot of pats on the back for no $$ gain, but pride runs deep and having 3 daughters turn out to be "good" people means more than anything else. But with todays younger I want it now gen... who knows. I know alot of higher educated people who are just plain "Dumb as a Rock", but have papers many employers want. Go Figure Dooden (20 Yrs, 00 Months 00 Days - Out exactly 20 yrs USN-Ret) A15 Green Ape

--- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, E Hines wrote: > > I would look into the Military if I was wanting to learn about being a mechanic. I learned two trades through the military. When just 17 I learned to be a mechanic in the Army National Guard. This eventually worked into a service manager at a fairly large shop. I than made a career change into electronics, thanks to the Air Force which has worked into a military retirement and a very good IT job in the transportation industry. If you apply yourself you can learn alot from the military schools. You also get full pay and benifits while you learn. > > > > > ________________________________ > From: gbennett69 > To: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com > Sent: Thursday, December 11, 2008 3:40:46 PM > Subject: [DSN_KLR650] MC Mech school quest. > > > hi > I was looking into going to MC mech school at a place called MMI > http://www.uti edu/Motorcycle/ tabid/59/ Default.aspx > I was interested in taking the basic course plus BMW and Kawasaki > specialised training. > The cost i was told is 22,750.00 bucks. > is this type of fee normal for a trade school. > Do any of you have any training in this area and can recomend a school > Thanks > Garrett > 08 KLR > Bayonne,nj > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] >