I had someone ask me, "Why are you going to motorcycle school?". Then I starting thinking to myself, why am I here?
Why am I here............
Have you ever asked yourself that and honestly gave it thought? Really, truly thought about it?
I think I'm here for a few reasons. I like motorcycles. I like riding them, I like being around them and I like the feeling I get when I sit on one. What does that mean exactly? What does that mean to me? I hate to sound cliche but when I sit on a bike I feel free. Not the type of free that you find in an advertisement in a magazine. I get this feeling that I can be better than I am. That I can free myself of the troubles of my mind. Maybe that's what the ads are selling.
I'm also here to prove something. I could say that I'm here to prove something to my mother or my friends or just about anyone but I'd be lying. I'm here to prove something to myself. I've screwed up just about every good opportunity I've had and I need to, no, I want to finally finish what I start.
I've got a lot of work to shake all those bad habits and lose some of the attitude I've developed. Why do I need to challenge and fight everything? I don't know. I do know that, for some reason, I need to though. Maybe the thing or person I really fight and challenge is myself. I'm my own biggest critic and I bash myself the hardest. I suppose that can be good when I use it push myself to improve. What have I been trying to improve though? What are we all trying to improve?
The people I've respected most have been people who could fix or build things. For years it seemed all I ever heard was "you don't have the mechanical ability" and I think it's the reason I gave up on my pursuit of auto mechanics after high school. My favorite times growing up were when I got take something apart or build something. I know I'm good at it and the person or thing I will fight from now on is the one who stands in my way. I've finally found something I enjoy and makes me happy. I feel sorry for the one who gets in my way now. I include myself in that. I will not give up this time. I will not settle for anything less than what I want.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Course 3- Done
I finished out the course tonight with a 97.8. It's not as good as I wanted but it's what I got.
I scored a 88 on the final exam missing 3 questions. Two of them were from topics we covered in lecture but that we didn't do anything with in practice or lab so I didn't think it would be on the test. Was I wrong on that. There was also a question on the test that was not only not covered in lecture, in our papers or done in lab but it didn't have anything to do with our class at all. It was from Course 1. I got that one correct though. The last one I missed was just an incorrectly checked box. I knew the answer but just got excited that I thought I was going to get a 100 on it and just screwed up. Slowing down and taking my time is something I obviously need to work on.
Monday we're on to the first electronics class. I'm really looking forward to this one, partially because I have some experience with electronics and also because I'm afraid to touch the electronics on a bike. I know what happens when you start playing with wires and don't know exactly what they do so I've been afraid to touch the electrical system on my bike. It'll be nice to learn how the systems work so I'll feel confidant to work on mine once the warranty is up.
Hopefully it'll be as fun as I think it will and I'll have a few updates next week.
I scored a 88 on the final exam missing 3 questions. Two of them were from topics we covered in lecture but that we didn't do anything with in practice or lab so I didn't think it would be on the test. Was I wrong on that. There was also a question on the test that was not only not covered in lecture, in our papers or done in lab but it didn't have anything to do with our class at all. It was from Course 1. I got that one correct though. The last one I missed was just an incorrectly checked box. I knew the answer but just got excited that I thought I was going to get a 100 on it and just screwed up. Slowing down and taking my time is something I obviously need to work on.
Monday we're on to the first electronics class. I'm really looking forward to this one, partially because I have some experience with electronics and also because I'm afraid to touch the electronics on a bike. I know what happens when you start playing with wires and don't know exactly what they do so I've been afraid to touch the electrical system on my bike. It'll be nice to learn how the systems work so I'll feel confidant to work on mine once the warranty is up.
Hopefully it'll be as fun as I think it will and I'll have a few updates next week.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Course 3....almost done!
I didn't get a chance to post last weekend as it was my birthday and work decided it was gonna tack on a few hours as a present! Sorry about that.
Course 3 has been running fairly smoothly. I've reconditioned some valve seats, bored a cylinder and honed it, cooked a head and popped out the valve guides and replaced em, pushed out another set of valve guides with a press, taken apart 2 crank shafts and trued them and got to do a few bolt extractions which was cake walk work.
The cylinder boring and valve seat reconditioning was the hardest part but mostly, I think, due to the fact that these are "training aids" as the school likes to call them. I call them motorcycle parts that are FUBAR. I spent 2 hours just trying to get the cylinder back in round so I could begin trying to make a smooth cut on it. The valve seats..well lets just say...umm..let's not say. It took me all night to get one straightened out and done. I'm no professional at this stuff by any means and I'm sure a pro could have done them both in an hour or so but I suppose it was a good learning experience. The instructor told me at one point "this is good so you can recognize it out in the field". My reponse to that was "if I see this out in the field I'm gonna take their bike away from them".
I've enjoyed getting my hands dirty and we've certainly done that in this class. I know the fun is just getting started though. The next step for us is the Basic Electronics class or Course 4. I'm really looking forward to this one. I have gotten my feet wet in electronics before. Not so much on motorcycles but through home theaters and such. Electronics are electronics or so I think. I'm sure there will be some surprises awaiting me and I look for a challenge in it. I hope there's one there. I do know that there are more and more electronics popping up on bikes every model year and if you're good at diagnosing and fixing a problem with it you'll be in demand. One thing I'm not looking forward to is seeing someone do the ol "cut and splice with electrical tape" method of repairing something. I know i'll see someone do it and I might have to slap em in the back of the head because i've had to troubleshoot and repair some wires like that before and it's not fun. All that fun isn't till next week though.
Friday night is our final exam for Course 3. I have all my projects already turned in and have gotten perfect scores on them all. This instructor is really helpful with them and doesn't rule with an iron fist when it comes to scoring them. You really have to try to get a minor, points off if you remember, and you practically have to drop something on his foot or break something to get a major, a lot of points off. His attitude has been "I didn't hire you to bore cylinders...etc. You're here to learn and if you learn then you're doing what you're here to do. If not then you lose points" He goes off in weird directions in coversations some times but overall he's a good guy.
I'll try to get a post in by Sunday, if not Friday night and let you know what my final exam score is. Until then........
Course 3 has been running fairly smoothly. I've reconditioned some valve seats, bored a cylinder and honed it, cooked a head and popped out the valve guides and replaced em, pushed out another set of valve guides with a press, taken apart 2 crank shafts and trued them and got to do a few bolt extractions which was cake walk work.
The cylinder boring and valve seat reconditioning was the hardest part but mostly, I think, due to the fact that these are "training aids" as the school likes to call them. I call them motorcycle parts that are FUBAR. I spent 2 hours just trying to get the cylinder back in round so I could begin trying to make a smooth cut on it. The valve seats..well lets just say...umm..let's not say. It took me all night to get one straightened out and done. I'm no professional at this stuff by any means and I'm sure a pro could have done them both in an hour or so but I suppose it was a good learning experience. The instructor told me at one point "this is good so you can recognize it out in the field". My reponse to that was "if I see this out in the field I'm gonna take their bike away from them".
I've enjoyed getting my hands dirty and we've certainly done that in this class. I know the fun is just getting started though. The next step for us is the Basic Electronics class or Course 4. I'm really looking forward to this one. I have gotten my feet wet in electronics before. Not so much on motorcycles but through home theaters and such. Electronics are electronics or so I think. I'm sure there will be some surprises awaiting me and I look for a challenge in it. I hope there's one there. I do know that there are more and more electronics popping up on bikes every model year and if you're good at diagnosing and fixing a problem with it you'll be in demand. One thing I'm not looking forward to is seeing someone do the ol "cut and splice with electrical tape" method of repairing something. I know i'll see someone do it and I might have to slap em in the back of the head because i've had to troubleshoot and repair some wires like that before and it's not fun. All that fun isn't till next week though.
Friday night is our final exam for Course 3. I have all my projects already turned in and have gotten perfect scores on them all. This instructor is really helpful with them and doesn't rule with an iron fist when it comes to scoring them. You really have to try to get a minor, points off if you remember, and you practically have to drop something on his foot or break something to get a major, a lot of points off. His attitude has been "I didn't hire you to bore cylinders...etc. You're here to learn and if you learn then you're doing what you're here to do. If not then you lose points" He goes off in weird directions in coversations some times but overall he's a good guy.
I'll try to get a post in by Sunday, if not Friday night and let you know what my final exam score is. Until then........
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