Topic: Getting to work in the motorcycle industry

[BomberMann650]

Thanks DonR - thats awesome how things worked out for you.

Honestly have no idea what my future holds.

[HondaMan]

When I interviewed here at the local BMW shop, they had just hired a guy the hour before I got there to answer their ad (this was back when "Wanted" ads ran in newspapers...). I asked the interviewer (i.e., the shop manager) "What questions did you ask the guy before hiring him?" (after I told him I had my own highly successful Honda/Suzy/BMW/H-D shop for several years, and he said he was sorry I didn't come in before the other guy did), to which he replied, "I asked him which way do you tighten a screw?" - his response was, "righty-tighty, lefty loosey, why?". I was dumbfounded, and said so. The manager then just told me: "We work on mostly new BMWs here, and the computer programs we get from BMW have us type in the symptoms we find, and it tells us what to do to the bikes to fix them."

Needless to say, I've never been back to that shop...

[BomberMann650]

Wow hondaman, thats definitely a confounding story.

The bmw tech assistant app sounds like a pretty useful digital trouble shooting tool. The modern bikes with so many onboard computer systems makes it harder to rely on the 5 senses.  But a laptop isn't a replacement for a multimeter and sound judgement!

The phone interview questions I've encountered have been like "what do you ride?", "do you have your own tools?, "What did they cover in school?", "What are your long term goals?" - never too much technical stuff. 

I've been secretly toiling away for the past couple weeks on a portfolio project.

The Norton listed in my signature.  It sat for a couple years while i was away.  A bike that was once rusty and neglected.  Covered in grime, chipped up, bearings shot, and part of a brake caliper lost in the world.

Before Arizona, the bike came apart.  Got mechanically sorted, polished, powdercoated, and souped up a little - carb kit and a powerArc.
Fast forward 2.5 years.  Welded up an exhaust system, finished the wiring harness, added keyless ignition, fitted the tank, bled the brake, added a electric start primary kit with new stator.  Crossed our hearts and pushed the button.

A near perfect first fire. 

A no frills, no gimmicks, all in cafe classic.

They don't teach this in school 😉

[Alan F.]

They sure don't teach that in school! Looks like some updated front brakes too maybe?

I'm wondering if they're looking for some version of wanting to climb the company ladder to achieve the highest training they can offer, and to stay there loyally until retirement absorbing every factory update into your personal knowledge base.... Maybe portraying yourself as forever loyal to their marque would add something.

[Don R]

Thanks DonR - thats awesome how things worked out for you.

Honestly have no idea what my future holds.

I'm a lucky guy for sure, the harder I worked the luckier I got.

[BomberMann650]

Thanks DonR - thats awesome how things worked out for you.

Honestly have no idea what my future holds.

I'm a lucky guy for sure, the harder I worked the luckier I got.

Thats one way to look at it.  The youth these days are more in the mode of thinking "everything is hard, choose your own hard.". Whoo boy it goes without saying the upper esceilon of trade work and design is full of mind blowing stuff

[BomberMann650]

They sure don't teach that in school! Looks like some updated front brakes too maybe?

I'm wondering if they're looking for some version of wanting to climb the company ladder to achieve the highest training they can offer, and to stay there loyally until retirement absorbing every factory update into your personal knowledge base.... Maybe portraying yourself as forever loyal to their marque would add something.

In francise dealership, management is the top of the ladder.  Would need more degrees of education in order to take the stairs in the headquarters offices.

Dealer tech work though.  The kind of work from different shops put out varies.  Regional aesthetics and interests that crop up in different markets.

As detailed and thorough the Norton build was, its not everyones cup of tea.  The owner loves it.  And with a little fine tuning, it actually runs pretty damn nice!
Its got a whole catalog of aftermarket parts on it.  Norman Hyde Fork Brace, Tomasselli clip ons.  A few things made by the owner and myself.  The 6 piston brake caliper and floating rotor was a score from an entrepreneur in the Philippines.  It's all m-unit switching.  An OMP reg rec for the starter/alternator kit.  Some indian and chinese stuff.  We got our ignition and oem parts from old britts, and a bunch of billet from NYC norton with more coming from Colorado Norton Works.

Hopefully a good dealership management will recognize the passion.

[scottly]

What are all the sparks and fire coming out of the Norton exhaust about??? BTW, do you know the power-arc ignition has been abandoned, due to it's unreliability?

[bear]

What are all the sparks and fire coming out of the Norton exhaust about??? BTW, do you know the power-arc ignition has been abandoned, due to it's unreliability?

That's an understatement. I think those POS just about broke Johno's heart a couple of years ago.

[grcamna2]

There's an excellent Norton/British vintage cycle parts supplier called British Cycle Supply Co. up in Nova Scotia and Maine whose been in business over 40 years.They're still shipping orders and have been all during the pandemic.

[BomberMann650]

What are all the sparks and fire coming out of the Norton exhaust about??? BTW, do you know the power-arc ignition has been abandoned, due to it's unreliability?

That's an understatement. I think those POS just about broke Johno's heart a couple of years ago.

Hadn't heard any discouraging words on the cenex optical ignitions.  My buddy has one on his guzzi and they were pretty popular in his niche.

Don't worry about the afterburner effect.  Had been turning the starter to draw down some oil before connecting plug wires.  Touched off a little fuel that had cycled through the cylinder.  Where the sparks came from might be hard to say.  Leftovers from cutting and grinding to fit the muffer expanders probably.  Good times.

Was trying to set the idle speed and noticed the left bank was groovin and the right side was funkin.  Double checked the tappet lash, float levels, and after tinkering with the af mix screw, it idles really nice.

Jetting is a bit on the rich side.  Where's the oxygenated fuel?!