Becoming an instructor

Any instructors on here? I'm thinking about trying to qualify as a bike instructor. Not with the aim of making a career or anything out of it (though you never know) but possibly with hope of doing some occasional CBT training for schools.

I'd be interested to hear people's thoughts, especially if they are qualified.

i thought about this at the beginning of the year and spoke to a few guys up here and basically got told that its not really worth it. by the time you take the money of the rent of the bikes you ain't left with much. though it would be worth checking your locla school and see how it runs

still thinking i might do it tho!

I looked into it and asked and got this email. Still unsure but leaning towards not doing it now.

There are two ways of doing it. You find a school that wants to downtrain you. Then you work for them doing CBTs and maybe some 125 stuff. After a while you go to Cardington and do the 2 day assessment which then still only allows you to do what you have been doing except you can now also train others. But more importantly it gives you the prerequisite to do the Direct Access assessment. You are then fully qualified. This can be a long drawn out way of doing things and could take a year. But I blieve it would give you more skill and experience tha the alternative.

The other way is to do a course and pay for it your self . You COULD be fully qualified in 5-6 weeks. I combined both of the above , so I had been downtrained for about a year and then went on a course with Probike in Essex for a week to prepare for Cardington.

Downsides
The wages are not great , around £450-£550 per week, on a self employed or employed basis.
You have to deal with DSA and teenagers.
Regardless of how cold and nasty it is , you will be out.
Biking can stop being your hobby
Its particularly ****ty when someone hurts themselves.

Plus sides.
You meet loads of people , all different from all different walks of life.
You are responsible for them.
No one is breathing down your neck
You ride your bike all day.
You make a silk purse out of a sows ear.
Sense of achievement

Mate, pop down to BMW Woollaston and have a word with the Karmenz guys, as you go through the door next to the cafe to the bike section they are on the left. Forgotten the guys name, but he's a big built bloke. They will give you some info.

If you're currently unemployed, my other half is an instructor and the company he works for took on a chap through the jobcentre to train him up, I think the programme was called ReAct, so it might be worth contacting your jobcentre, who would finance your training if your application is granted.

[anna]

Perhaps check out in your area how many bike instructors there are in your area before you commit to doing something that perhaps is an already saturated market. I´m only saying this because in Bristol there used to only be two schools and then all of their instructors went off to become self employed and then built up their own schools... now you are spoilt for choice.

I was an instructor in the Army but that doesn't count because the rules were different. However, I found it laborious, tedious, repetitive and the days were long. On the flip side, to see the smile on the students face when they have been informed they have passed is brilliant. You feel a sense of achievement for them and for yourself.

I also used to be a tank driving instructor. Much more fun.

friend of mine does it.

loves it!

does all bike training, and transport, employes another instructor and manages to go on more holidays and trackdays than most people i know.

Id suggest contacting your local bike training school and having a chat with them. You might even be able to shadow them for a day to get a taster of what its like.

If its something you want to do then go for it Happiness is more important than money IMO. Id rather do something I liked with less money than something I hated with more money.

All jobs become repetitive and boring, I dont think anything is brilliant 100% of the time.

Good luck!

[dizzyblonde]

I looked into it a year or two back. I visited my old school, who gave me everything I needed to know. I passed on the idea, as being self employed wasn't for me. They really wanted me to join as theres not too many female instructors. They said you didn't need to a super duper rider to train people either, which I thought was odd, they wanted people with a nack for getting the information right, and getting people to enjoy their training, amongst other things. You shadow them in yor free time for a while to see if you like the idea.
Its best to go to your local training centre and go from there. I know mine also were very dubious of the new tests, and at the time weren't hopeful about people learning, so they were looking at tough times ahead...probably changed now though. The new test here involved only one test centre which was in Rotherham, which hacked down their choice of test centres by a good half. They used to to test in Bradford, HX, Sheffield?, Barnsley, and to be cut to one in the area.