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General Topics/Tech TipsDiscussion on break in periods, rider comfort, seats and pad suggestions. Tech tips as they become available will be posted here.
Last night some dude drove his F150 into the open bay floor. We have a 6 bay garage and I was working on a car in bay 1. The action happened on bay 6. First there was a horrible crashing sound. I looked up in-time to see the passenger side front tire go over the lip. Then... the truck began to list like a boat into the pit below. We had a packed garage and the manager was on it. I got back to changing oil while hushed tidings of "holy ****ing ****!" were whispered between techs. Safety net and skid plate prevented serious damage. That dude driving the truck my never recover. The tow truck driver had a **** eating grin on his face that was unmistakable. Made the moment.
When I worked at the Olds dealer, an older lady came in with some issue. She was in the front bay next to me. The service writer asked her to put her foot on the brake and give it a little gas. Well she stomped on the gas and drove her car into the car in front of her in the hoist bay. Drove that car thru the door and into the lot hitting another car. We ran to the damaged car looking for the mechanic who worked that bay. Fortunately he had just walked away and was not injured! What an idiot that lady was!!
When I worked at the Olds dealer, an older lady came in with some issue. She was in the front bay next to me. The service writer asked her to put her foot on the brake and give it a little gas. Well she stomped on the gas and drove her car into the car in front of her in the hoist bay. Drove that car thru the door and into the lot hitting another car. We ran to the damaged car looking for the mechanic who worked that bay. Fortunately he had just walked away and was not injured! What an idiot that lady was!!
Yep, pretty similar situation. "Sir, do not pull forward. Please go backwards." He had a 50/50 chance and chose wrong lol. Unrelated, my wife & I had an Olds Intrigue years ago and I loved thar car. Today I was almost run down by an elderly woman entering the bay from the wrong direction. My shop is also in a high traffic area of San Diego, so the people watching is 10/10. When was the last time you saw someone walking an invisible dog and you weren't even at the state fair!?!
A quick search online shows the starting salary for a H-D technician is just over $17k nationally, but the average is about $90k. Where I am the figures are $45k and $135k respectively, but you can't live here on $45k. So this is hard to get into as a second career, you really need to be young enough to still live with your parents I think.
A quick search online shows the starting salary for a H-D technician is just over $17k nationally, but the average is about $90k. Where I am the figures are $45k and $135k respectively, but you can't live here on $45k. So this is hard to get into as a second career, you really need to be young enough to still live with your parents I think.
Deceptive numbers, you need numerous certs and a healthy record & reputation to get into the average wage zone and it won't be immediately. Entry level guys are going eat it for several years making their chops in a shop and the old hands are going to get the fast gravy jobs off the top, getting pigeon holed is real for young or just starting folk. How it is in any closed tight knit industry like that. Everybody knows everybody or knows someone who does and the good old boys club is alive and very real. Good word of mouth rep takes time to build and counts.
So this is hard to get into as a second career, you really need to be young enough to still live with your parents I think.
I left a corporate career making $200k base salary plus bonuses and stock options. I carried my family for 25 years, self-destructed and burned out. It was suicide or stop working my white collar job so my family supported me changing careers. Unfortunately we can no longer afford our old life. We had to sell our house or risk foreclosure etc. because we couldn't pay the mortgage on two service industry jobs. (my wife works at Trader Joe's) So, we sold our dream house that I had recently sunk my life savings into (as an investment) for more than we paid & owed but not what we put into it. ****ing myself out of my life savings is a bad beat but I'd still rather be changing oil than huffing some ********'s *** in an office. We are prepared to be broke and need to rebuild. When we sold our house we had to rent here in San Diego to take a breath and not pull our kids out of school. After this 12 month lease is up I suspect we'll be moving to somewhere a bit more affordable.
In the meantime I'm really enjoying leaving at the end of the day and not giving a **** about it until I come back tomorrow. When something major happens it's done and over by the next day / shift. I don't have to go to 12 meetings to analyze why something happened and form a swat team to fix it. Everyday is a new day.
Yep, pretty similar situation. "Sir, do not pull forward. Please go backwards." He had a 50/50 chance and chose wrong lol. Unrelated, my wife & I had an Olds Intrigue years ago and I loved thar car. Today I was almost run down by an elderly woman entering the bay from the wrong direction. My shop is also in a high traffic area of San Diego, so the people watching is 10/10. When was the last time you saw someone walking an invisible dog and you weren't even at the state fair!?!
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Slideshow: A standard cruiser becomes an intricate metal canvas in the hands of a Swiss custom house known for pushing Harley-Davidson platforms far beyond their factory brief.
Slideshow: Harley-Davidson's challenges aren't abstract; they show up in dropping shipments, shrinking dealer traffic, and strategic decisions that aren't yet translating into growth.
GARAGE ACTION UPDATE 
Unfortunately we can no longer afford our old life. We had to sell our house or risk foreclosure etc. because we couldn't pay the mortgage on two service industry jobs. (my wife works at Trader Joe's) So, we sold our dream house that I had recently sunk my life savings into (as an investment) for more than we paid & owed but not what we put into it. ****ing myself out of my life savings is a bad beat but I'd still rather be changing oil than huffing some ********'s *** in an office. We are prepared to be broke and need to rebuild. When we sold our house we had to rent here in San Diego to take a breath and not pull our kids out of school. After this 12 month lease is up I suspect we'll be moving to somewhere a bit more affordable. 
