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Motorcycles and Mechanics

Motorcycles and Mechanics. One is a passion that I love doing, and the other is a result of how my brain works. For a very long time motorcycles have seemed so cool to me and have been something I wanted. It probably started when I was a kid and my dad would take me out on rides on his motorcycle. The engine roaring between your legs, the wind flying past you at 70 miles an hour, the thrill is unlike anything I had ever felt and I was hooked. So in February 2017 when I turned 18 I decided I was going to get one.


After 9 months of working two 12.5 hour shifts over the weekend I had saved up enough money to get my first ever motorbike. It was gruelling working that much on top of school but to me it was worth it to experience that feeling I had felt so long ago. I got my CBT (motorcycle learner license) done, got all the gear and finally got that bike I wanted.

I was ECSTATIC! I couldn’t get enough of riding a motorbike, it was the best feeling ever. Now I have driven all kinds of cars, fast and slow, big and small but nothing quite compares to the freedom of riding a motorbike. It was all going great but once the high of having my own motorcycle wore off a couple of realities set in.

  1. Motor vehicles are expensive to maintain
  2. I knew nothing about how to maintain them
  3. I had very little money left

What that meant was if I wanted to continue riding a working motorcycle that I needed to find a way to maintain and repair it that wasn’t expensive. I loved my bike and I wasn’t willing to let it go and so I set out to learning everything I could about motorcycle mechanics and how my motorbike worked. I joined motorcycle Facebook groups and online forums, I googled and YouTube’d and I learned a lot. It wasn’t enough because reading about things just isn’t the same as doing it, so I needed someone to teach me. I found a local motorcycle mechanic and made him an offer, if he taught me then I would work for him for free.


I worked with that mechanic for over a year and learned all about car and motorcycle mechanics. It was a great experience and it let me develop the skills I needed to maintain and repair my bike myself. With those skills, I even went on to modify and improve the performance of my bike.

The point of this story is that I had a goal to do with something I was passionate about and that even with the obstacles I faced I found a way to reach it. Working that much through school, the lack of any mechanical experience, the weather, my parents, money…there was a lot that stood in the way of me getting and keeping a motorbike but with help and perseverance, it was possible.

Thanks for listening!





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Location: Scotland, UK

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