Motorcycle Instructor...

wasabi wrote (see)

I'm guessing thw work is fairly seasonal, mostly May to Sept? And with a lot of the DAS trainees wanting to do weekends you've got unused bikes sitting about for long spells.

I'm honestly surprised there are so many small outfits around - the overheads and economies of scale seem so much against it. Then again there aren't any obvious big players (I know of) so you get a level playing field.

All the best of luck to those who can do it. Half an hour of teaching the other half U turns and I was bored senseless and desperately trying not to show it or my impatience. Doing that for a full day - no thanks. I learned a long time ago not to make your hobby your job.

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"Force has no place where there is need of skill" Herodotus 450BC :burnout:

Yep, bike schools are always looking for new instructors . . .because pay is crap !

I've been an instructor for over 3 years now, I provide my own bike, radios, pay all my own fuel and running costs and I've been on the same level of pay since the day I started (which incidentally is exactly thesame as the down trained -that is not qualified - instructors. I get paid £60 for a cbt out f which I pay for my fuel, my tax, my NI contributions and the depreciation of my bike/equipment. I asked for a £10 pay rise as fuel has gone up a lot in the last 3 years and I was told I wouldn't be needed anymore !!

My advice would be, don't bother. Get a job stacking shelves in Tesco, better pay and you don't have to stand in the pissing rain trying to teach someone to ride while the freezing cold rain trickles down your back and your boss is at home watching the footie on his 99" flat screen HD tv.

Bike instructors get a shit deal and no thanks from their employers And if you're going to do a CBT or DAS course spare a thought for your instructor because he's getting very little of the wedge you're handing over.

Haha Slow Coach you obviously didn't work for a decent school.

 I can earn 160 quid a day just doing CBT, you should try a school which is good with money. Sounds awful.

I think you're right spin doctor, some schools are run by people who just know how to ride bikes, not how to run a business. But the schools that last a long time tend to make more money, work more efficiently, and pay well.

My record week was 1020 pound. Not bad for messing about with bikes for a week!

Top tip: Buy some decent bike gear, you won't get wet. If you're skint just get waterproof overkit. Doesn't look great but it'll keep you dry.

If anyone would like to know how tro make decent money out bike instruction let me know. It's not easy, but it can be done.

 Does anyone know of a decent instructors forum?

Your on a good thing 'Cancel your signal' it's 6 to 8 pounds an hour is a guide for employed DAS instructors.  The best I got payed was 100 pounds a day, so yes please I would love to know how to make decent money.  Top tip is a good top tip but I look great in my gear.

 To 'spin doctors' point on the BSM bike school, was taken out of the market when the company was brought by a Germany venture capital company. The school had made no money for lets say a number of years!!?  It also had only three schools, Birmingham, Bristol and Silverstone, but made a lot of the brand.  Motag on the other hand has a number of sites but all are not active, I could knock of at least 5 without much research.  I would also say that it not just the small schools that have a problem running a business.  

 Out of interest both gentlemen that ran / run the schools above are members of the Motorcycle Industry Trainers Association - MCITA committee.  The people representing the training industry as a whole. http://www.mcita.co.uk/CmsPages/Trainers%20-%20Committee.1037797.1272185.cms

 There was a instructor forum can't remember where but I started OK but  then mainly involved people arguing and bitching. We could start one here?   

Ta for the heads up on BSM - I'd wondered why had happened to them... "in like a lion, out like a lamb" would be apt.

Don't get me started on the MCITA... they certainly DON'T speak for the industry!

PS - there are a few typo bloopers on your website... 

"Live to Ride's soul aim"... you mean "sole aim", unless you are offering spiritual advice

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* Non-Commercial. You may not use this work for commercial purposes.
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"Force has no place where there is need of skill" Herodotus 450BC :burnout:

Oops, that will teach me for building the site live.  May be a new service as you say, sometimes I think it's needed?!

 Do you know what makes me smile about the MCITA, I'm on the website. Do you know what a shock that was.... http://www.mcita.co.uk/img.aspx?OBJ_ID=1429742  (Ducati, look possessed) don't blow it up it's scarry?!!?

How do you make over £100 a day just on cbt, who is paying, who is booking and providing the business?

thesiknik7@googlemail.com

I have been instructing now for twenty years, I have had ups and downs, through the years but all of these caused by the Double Standards Agency, (DSA) a complete waste of space. a quango government attached to the government very losely just in case they get in trouble and the government has to blame somebody for its mistakes. Now I chose this as a job when we had or children, The job is wonderful, it is great to see a young lass or lad go from, an excitable giggling mess, to a happy comfortable fairly relaxed rider. All schools would pay better wages if they could afford too, however there is not a great  deal of profit, I have run at a loss for the past ten years, and have taken another job to keep my company, our instructors get paid a fair wage for  what they do and get far more money than I do. Theylove their jobs and we all get on well as a team. I may be the governer but I am just their mate at work and I am happy with that.

in short, dont go into it thinking you will make vast  amounts of money, or be recognised as a great trainer, The DSA will soon put oyu in your place, We will all be gone soon if the DSA have their way. They are incompetent, arrogant, and still owe the government a lot of money. all I will say that in all my years of instructing, i have had pass rate here of about 85-95 per cent. now I have a failure  rate of about 45 per cent. Do the maths and read between the lines. Nuff said

Sounds to me like it's almost worse than being a car instructor. A colleague of mine sacked off instructing and now makes more driving a bus then he ever did before. He reckons that to earn basic bus wages (39 hours plus a little for shift allowance etc) he'd have to have students for 43 hours a week. That doesn't include a break, time getting between appointments, cancelled lessons, car being off the road etc etc. List goes on. Seems to me like it's a serious risk becoming self employed as a rider/driver trainer. If this is gonna be your only source of income then good luck. If this is going to be your weekend job then it seems training as a football referee will be more rewarding.

There's a bike school near here who use their showroom and garage services o prop up their training.

I guess pay also depends on where you work.  Saying a school has shit pay but you live and work in a town, you won't get huge amounts of customers as the population isn't a dense as a city.

Local schools round here must work for the love of it,  2 or 3 people A DAY IF YOU ARE LUCKY! 

Its all in perspective