Beginners maintenance courses

Hi

I've been searching the web for a part-time (evening or weekend) beginners motorcycle maintenance course. Can anyone recommend a college or workshop to go to?

Ta, Lib

A route would be to: Look at what a course would cost you, then try and find a basket case (preferably and SV and as many of the bits there as possible) and then if it's one piece pull it apart and put it back together, if it's in boxes - well that's probably too much of a challenge so pass on buying that one.

There are some books on this subject, quite possibly by Haynes. I'll have a look see if I can find mine.
Ok two books (there are of course others) that might be of interest\use.
Haynes Motorcycle Workshop Practise Techbook ISBN 1 85960 470 6
Haynes Motorcycle Workshop Practise Techbook ISBN 1 85960 471 4
Neither of these is the one I was thinking of though (will hunt again)
Found it (how many edits now?)
Haynes Motorcycle Basics Manual ISBN 1 85010 083 7
It's a bit old I think and lots of modern things like FI don't feature. But a still I belive a lot of good basic info in there.

The old college course for this was City & Guilds 3890 which was 4 x Level 1 modules and 8 x Level 2 modules. In my experiance they were taught part time as 4 modules a year over 3 years. I don't belive many places taught the course though I'm only talking about my area. In London you've probably got a much better chance of finding some place that teaches a course like this. C&G3890 was killed off a few years ago and replaced by something else (don't know what) which I belive had a much more practical emphasis at least on the assesment. Trouble with it was as I understand things it was going to make it very resource intensive to teach and assess. This might have made places drop it as a course.

Trouble with courses in my experiance is that the type of person likely to get a lot of them is probably the person that doesn't need to go on them. If you know people that can give you help and advice then there really isn't any substitute for getting your hands dirty and asking for help when you get stuck.

Looking at your post count (2 atm) you're new to the site? Well there's a London group - very active socially and from what I've met of them a great bunch - I intend to get my rrr down there to meet up with them again soon. Also more to the point of this thread they represent a massive amount of knowlege and experiance. There are people there who've lost more knowledge in trimming their finger nails that I'm likely to ever gain on the subject of m\c mechanics.

I see you have a W reg'. Ok so you've something to work on already. Do you already do stuff like adjust the chain? If not that's a good place to start along with the other regular maintenance checks that should be done. Then you can look at servicing basics, changing oil, filters & plugs. It's gonna need new tyres from time. Taking the wheels out isn't too difficult (tricky bit is supporting the bike) and more good experiance. And it's a Suzuki so the brakes are going to need attention - again something that with a little knowledge and patience you can tackle yourself. Basically start somewhere, slowly and methodically. Once you start you might not be able to stop (though if you reply on it for transport it's a good idea not to strip it down over one weekend).

Of course everything I've said my be a load of rubbish and someone authorative will hopefully be along shortly to put you back on the right path...

Wow thank you! Lots of useful stuff there to get started on.

Yeah, I am new to the site and fairly new to biking.

I have been changing the sparks, oil n filter myself but that has been the extent of it! Oh and fitting a new regulator/rectifier - the trickiest bit was working out how to get the seat cowling off! Aside from that I have had a couple of bits replaced at garages and been mercilessly ripped off and/or had dodgy work done These were things I could have done myself in hindsight, hence looking for a guru to guide me out of the murky depths of my ignorance.

I've since found one course in London, which is a 10 week evening course for £90. Something else to look into.

I must admit I've not met up with any bike groups, although this is another thing I am planning on doing. Sounds like I'm gona be busy!

Thanks 2mths; I'm new to motorbikes - that was very helpful.

Originally Posted by lib-biker

Wow thank you! Lots of useful stuff there to get started on.

Plenty more dribble where that came from

Originally Posted by lib-biker

Yeah, I am new to the site and fairly new to biking.

So much to see and do and learn - exciting times

Originally Posted by lib-biker

I have been changing the sparks, oil n filter myself but that has been the extent of it! Oh and fitting a new regulator/rectifier - the trickiest bit was working out how to get the seat cowling off! Aside from that I have had a couple of bits replaced at garages and been mercilessly ripped off and/or had dodgy work done These were things I could have done myself in hindsight, hence looking for a guru to guide me out of the murky depths of my ignorance.

Sounds like you've made a good start. I can empathise with your garage experiances and the desire to then look to improve your skills. If you hadn't guessed already I've done the nightschool in m\c mechanics thing. There is a supprising amount you can do for yourself with bikes with some common sense (though some tools help too).

Originally Posted by lib-biker

I've since found one course in London, which is a 10 week evening course for £90. Something else to look into.

Sounds like it could be a good intro and not too expensive. Bug the teacher with as many questions for as much info as you can. Best way to get the most out of it (but let them say what they want to say first, then bug them )

Originally Posted by lib-biker

I must admit I've not met up with any bike groups, although this is another thing I am planning on doing. Sounds like I'm gona be busy!

A life full of bikes and biking - what could be better.

Originally Posted by sv650sfan

Thanks 2mths; I'm new to motorbikes - that was very helpful.

No worries. There are a number mechanical gods on this site, I'm not one of them. However I do know better than many what it's like to be frustrated by a lack of knowledge and or confidence; how difficult it can be to get past that; and how enlightening and joyful it can be to learn and do something new. Quite happy to take questions by PM if peeps don't wanna post. If I don't know the answer I will tell you to post.

Clydebank college do a "leisure" course in basic bike maintenance & more advanced bike maintenance. 12 weeks 1 evening a week. £60 I think it was. Very good for the complete novice, perhaps a little too basic if you've any experience.

Basic course was all about bleeding you brakes, changing oil, changing plugs, pre-MOT checks, basic theory of how an engine works. Some basic info on carb tuning and battery charging circuits etc. All good stuff. Only strange thing was you were shown how to do it on YOUR own bike!? So there was a garage with 8 - 10 bikes in it with everyone doing an oil change, or whatever was on the agenda for that evening!

"Advanced" course had us taking engines out of bikes, stripping down completely, rebuilding, and sticking them back in the bike! Very good fun, and very interesting! Thankfully we used old heaps the college used with the apprentice Mechanics, and not our own! Although the offer was there if you wanted to work on your own project under guidance.

No certificates of exams with this one...just a leisure course!

Clydebank would be a bugger of a commute from London though...

Merton College do a C&G evening course in basic m/c mechanics - i did it myself quite a while ago, though it has changed a bit now.

I found it a really useful intro to how things work on a bike, and basic maintenance. We were mainly working on single cylinder 125s though, so while some things are transferrable, obviously it isn't going to take you step by step through servicing your SV. But it certainly gave me more confidence with certain tasks, and with trying stuff out of the Haynes manual too.

I think Merton also do a year 2 course which covers IL4s (and possibly twins as well), plus another in m/c electrics. Chingford used to do courses too.

PS. Make sure you check out the Soho Massive part of the forum for London meets, etc!