Motorcycle Maintenance Course in London?

[slanty]

Hi All,

After seeing this thread, it got me thinking that I would like to do a course if there was one available.

Can anyone recommend any similar motorcycle maintenance evening courses around London? I'm based in Greenwich the only one I've found so far is in Hammersmith (although it may be an option as it's not too far from my work).

Cheers,
Slanty

[Aubrey]

Just done the same thing myself for Glasgow. A little bit of direction would be great...

[Redbus]

Try Merton College, wimbledon /morden area.

I know its been doing them for years.

Might even sign up myself next april. (retirement from shift work)

[slanty]

I'm doing this course at the moment and we are about 5 weeks in... It's a great course... thanks for the recommendation... it's really good, I'm learning loads

[Redbus]

Glad my info helped and your enjoying yourself. the instinct that it might be good from its years of existance made me mention it.
do you feel like giving us all some more informed feed back to make those like me who really should go, drool.

Les.

[slanty]

do you feel like giving us all some more informed feed back to make those like me who really should go, drool.

I have been meaning to reply to this for a while... anyway here's some details of the course...

Each of the lessons begins with a very comprehensive explanation of the theory of what we are covering. This is done in a casual manner and the instructors are very welcoming to any questions. The practical part of the class is then demonstrated and then everyone does the task themselves, sometimes teaming up with another student depending on the amount of equipment available.

The first week (which I missed) did not involve much as only a few people turned up. They showed the class how to use the equipment such as the lifts and how to safely secure the bikes for working on them etc and then they demonstrated how to remove the rear wheel.

Week 2 showed how to change tyres with manual levers and with the mechanical equipment in a garage. This is fairly straightforward but there are some tricks and techniques that they taught that make things so much more simple... If only I had known these techniques before

Week 3 was for serving a drum brake. This required removal of the back wheel and taking apart the drum and removing the shoes so that they can be cleaned or replaced. We also then cleaned and lubricated the unit before reinstalling and testing it.

Week 4 covered serving a disk brake. This lesson was done with sample callipers that were already removed from the bike. They explained how to examine the callipers and how to service (remove and clean or replace) the pistons. Removing the pistons with an air compressor is great fun although it can be done with grease and a mallet, two screwdrivers and a pipe or specialist tools.

Week 5 was about brake fluid. We discussed about about hydraulic properties of brakes and brake fluid etc, what to look for and when to change it etc. Then we bled the brake lines, and refilled them using techniques to ensure no air is in contained in the lines.

Week 6 was about how to do valve clearances. This was the class I found most useful so far. We discussed a lot about the four stages of the combustion engine and they had a demo engine with the case cut away so you could exactly what happens when the engine is running, it really made things clear. Then we adjusted the tappets on an engine and we were shown how buckets and shims work.

This week we will be doing Carb Setup.... I'll post up more as the course continues.

It's a really good course and I'm really glad I'm doing it. The other people taking the course are really sound as well

Cheers,
Stef

[dirtyden]

Can anyone recommend any similar motorcycle maintenance evening courses around London? I'm based in Greenwich the only one I've found so far is in Hammersmith (although it may be an option as it's not too far from my work).

Cheers,
Slanty

Hey i've been thinking of a course like this . I live in Hammersmith do you have details of course you mention in hammersmith.

[slanty]

Hey i've been thinking of a course like this . I live in Hammersmith do you have details of course you mention in hammersmith.

Hi,

Yep it's this one, more details are here

Cheers,
Stef