As a group you seem to have a wealth of knowledge and suggestions that I love to read so thanks for posting!  Now, as much as I enjoy reading your posts I don't have a knowledge base to build on so I'd like to find a course out there somewhere that offers basic motorcycle maintenance/repair skills.  I don't have anything locally so do you know of any place that offers a short, daily program (weekend, week or two-weeks) that might cover the basics?  I'd like to make a holiday out of it if I can just find the right school.

Thanks for your help,

Karen
(in Pickle Lake, Ontario, Canada)  

HI. WASHINGTON state here..  I found a repair site on the voulisariders.com site a while back. It had every make of bike from the 60 -2000's . The site was free and all the information..I will try to find it again and let you know.
As for schools I dont' have any idea. . I have helped several guy with their bikes at my shop and try to give some the basics on just the maintaince and some repair work..
The best thing that you may want to do is get a good service manual for the bike you have. Some are very $$$  but most are between 60 and 100$$ . It will be a very good investment. The next thing is some good tools.  You don't need to spend tons of $$$ for them. There are a lot of places to get good tools SEARS , Johndeer ,Harbor freight, local parts stores. Just a few that carry good tools.  
The only motorcycle school I know of is in Arizona . Sorry I don't know of any in Canada.  I am sure that there is some.. good luck ...scruffy    

Now there's an interesting idea. I've never heard of such a school, but I bet if there is one, it does a booming business these days. I've seen quite a few sites on the net, posting detailed directions for basic maintenance, but nothing that is well organised enough that I'd consider it a good substitute for formal training. Then again, I haven't looked for that.

No doubt, half of the class time would be need to be devoted to how to use mechanic tools. Most of the people buying bikes today have never had to use them before.

regards,
Joe  

Hey there!  Washington, here - I've seen classes offered by locals at Meetup.com or SoundRider.com, or at the Motorcycle Safety Foundation web site, but there's nothing like a session with Dr. Grease and a buddy with a beer.  Start with a service manual - Ryder, Clymer, Haynes, or whatever - and just start doing the service procedures.  I like Haynes, 'cause it gives you an idea of the 'difficulty' level before you get into difficulty.  That's when the buddy with the beer comes in handy!  

Where's the beer I'll be over.. You'r right  and I have done that very thing bring beer and I will help repair your bike, car, or what ever..I'm the go to guy here.  I don't buy much beer..
You are right  about get a service manual and read it... scruffy  

I know that thumbing through a manual (already ordered) with a buddy and a beer is a great way to learn and I plan to do that too but I hate not even knowing where to start.  Without some kind of knowledge of the basics I won't even know what questions to ask or what to look out for when I'm riding my bike.

Anyway, in case anyone is interested I've found a program in BC that I think I'll take advantage of. The British Columbia Institute of Technology offers a basic motorcycle maintenance course every semester. It's 18 hours long and intended for local people because it's in five sessions over the course of 2 weeks but wouldn't that be a great holiday?  I have cousins in BC so I thought I could ride out, take the course (with some time in between sessions to digest the information) explore some beautiful country in BC and maybe even check out Washington state.

Apart from this I found a couple of one-day courses (Texas and Toronto) and a bunch of four hour introductory sessions but if I'm driving hundreds or thousands of kilometres ... I want more than 4 hours.     Besides, while I may live in Ontario I'm faaaaaar away from Toronto.  I'm halfway between Toronto and Calgary.

They haven't released dates for the spring session yet but it will be between April and June of next year:

http://www.bcit.ca/study/courses/mcmx0115