“If you’re a technical school, you should be doing technical,” says Bernie Thompson, Campus Director of Power Sport Institute. Having said that, Thompson and the Power Sport Institute backed it up by starting with a bare frame to build a complete custom motorcycle, including custom paint, over the course of the 3 1/2 days during the SEMA trade show.

Thompson explained the training program that operates under the Power Sport Institute’s banner, “The Power Sport Technician program is designed to create the most complete technician in power sports. There are two main parts to the training program, the basic core module and then a manufacturer specific module.”

The training program is a full 72 weeks that starts with the fundamentals and then goes deeper into enhanced trouble shooting skills and diagnosing fuel and electrical related issues.

The core module covers:

• Engines
• Fuel Systems
• Suspension and Chassis
• Electrical Systems

Along with the motorcycle training, students receive instruction on ATV, snowmobile and personal watercraft to round out their powersports certification.

Different modules are sponsored by different motorsports companies and the students can get trained to become a Honda Technician, Yamaha Bronze Level Five-Star Technician, Kawasaki Level One Tech, Suzuki ServicePro tech, Entry level Polaris technician and a certified Arctic Cat technician.

Thompson explained that the facility “is set up like a full service environment and that gives the students a chance to experience what it takes to work in a service type environment. Our method of training provides students with the experience of working in a dealership service department. We show our students how to utilize their technical skills to become productive and efficient maintenance specialists.”

The best way to show how well the program works was to perform the live custom motorcycle build over the three and a half days of the SEMA show. From bare frame to completed, running motorcycle, the crew pulled it together in time and proved their mettle against the clock.