motorcycle engineering schools

[prgrss]

Hi. I have a degree in physics and am looking to get into motorcycle design. specifically road racing machines. I figure the thing to do is go get a post-bac ME and start talking to yamaha/honda/... anyone know of a good engineering school in the states that has a good program for people interested in motorcycles?

Thanks,
prgrss

 

[BrianPetersen]

Unfortunately not, and good luck with getting into the engineering department at a Japanese company if you are an "outsider". All of the core bike design engineering at those companies, without exception, is done in Japan.

If my guess as to what you want to do is correct, you will have a better chance at getting involved with club roadracing, getting GOOD at something (you decide), offering those services (you decide) to the roadrace / track day crowd, then getting *really* good and/or picking the right up-and-coming rider to partner with who happens to be good enough to be a top-runner in the AMA (now DMG) professional roadracing series, and then maybe get noticed by the factory teams. Right now, things are difficult due to the lousy economy, but you've got lots of time to work through this process.

I will leave it to you to estimate the probability of success at this. It's not zero, but it's contingent on you having valued skills. It would be a useful head start to take something like the UTI Motorcycle Mechanics Institute course so that you can be licensed as a mechanic, but plain ordinary licensed mechanics are a dime a dozen, you need to have a skill that stands out from the crowd.

By the way, I have a professional roadracing license. I ride, I fix my own stuff, I pay my own way, and in many years of doing this, I have only ONCE came home from a weekend with more money in my pocket than I started with and that's because I cherrypicked a class that had scant entries.

 

[uGlay]

probably an engineering school near winsconsin would get you good chances of working at harley-davidson/BUELL.

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[Timelord]

Check out M.S.O.E. (Milwaukee School of Engineering) They have a stellar reputation as an engineering school and they are in Milwaukee. I don't know, but they may have some sort of arrangement with Harley Davidson. It would be worth a call to see.

Timelord

 

[tripleZ]

I live in WI about 30 minutes from the Buell plant...H-D/Buell hire from all over the country when they're hiring, which unfortunately isn't right now. The H-D job board will list opportunities and job descriptions at both Buell and H-D, so that might give you an idea of what skills they're looking for. H-D is currently running HD University (or some similar name) from the UW-Whitewater campus. I'm not sure of any affiliation with UW-Madison, UW-Milwaukee, or MSOE, but that's not to say it isn't possible.

If you're just looking for ideas as to what skills would be required, Fischer motorcycles in MD doesn't appear to be hiring anymore, but someone there may be willing to give you some advice on what it takes and what their background is in. Same for Buell. I know a few folks over there have LinkedIn profiles up.