Becoming a motorcycle mechanic

[D1on]

Anyone here a motorcycle mechanic? Where's best to start learning? Can it be self taught? Obviously alot less to learn than on a car...
Always had an interest in mechanics and would like to gain more knowledge...

[Steve Bass]

As the saying goes..

F@#K around and find out....

That's how I got going. I don't do it for a living but I'm always faffing around with my bikes. Currently rebuilding a trials bike and have my new (to me) KTM 1190 stripped down and swingarm out to check all chassis bearings.
Heading to a friends spot on Saturday to help sort his TM enduro bike which has developed a bizarre running issue....

[Krikkit]

Buy a bike you can get a decent workshop manual for, take it to bits, rebuild it.

[Biker 1]

I wish I was 35 years younger!
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but I would love to be a Moto GP mechanic....

[trickywoo]

Perhaps a bit sweeping but a lot of car mechanics are actually fitters. Bike mechanics tend to do more than just fitting.

For example stripping a brake calliper right down and rebuilding it is common on bikes. Most car mechanics will just put a new one on. Likewise valve clearances, a lot of car mechanics would get the sweats if someone asked them to do a reshim.

Bikes are generally a lot nicer to work on than cars and you don’t need a lot of space or four post lifts etc.