August 9, 2013 - NFL Hopeful Switches Gears to Pursue Childhood Passion, Building Custom Motorcycles

MMI-Phoenix grad Kevin Fix sits on a custom chopper he built – transformed from a sport bike.

Kevin Fix had already been building sport bikes for 15 years by the time he enrolled at Motorcycle Mechanics Institute (MMI) in Phoenix, in Dec. 2009. Having learned the skill from watching his brother and picking it up on his own, he developed a hobby that would – though he hadn’t known it at the time – eventually become his livelihood.

Fix and his brother grew up building bikes in their spare time while they worked as brick layers. When Fix finished high school, he took the opportunity to play football as an outside linebacker and defensive end at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa. At the time, he was a criminal justice major with hopes of pursuing a career as a police officer.

During his freshman year, Fix injured his right knee during a game and sat on the bench for the rest of the season. Undeterred, Fix stuck with the sport and was placed in the starting lineup his junior season and received an invitation from the Detroit Lions inviting him to participate in tryouts – but Fix didn’t get that far. Later that season, Fix injured his left knee and was forced to leave the sport, altogether.

After having both knees replaced, Fix focused his attention back on his childhood passion – building bikes – and enrolled at MMI-Phoenix in pursuit of formal technical training. Motivated to graduate quickly, Fix eventually doubled up his course load, attending class from 1:00—11:30 p.m., five days a week. He finished two years’ worth of courses in 14 months with a 3.73 GPA, perfect attendance and received several Student of the Course (SOC) awards.

With formal training under his belt and determined to get back on a bike despite his injuries, Fix set out to start a business remodeling sport bikes, which he could no longer comfortably ride due to his knee replacements, into choppers, which allow riders to extend their legs forward.

“You adhere and adapt,” Fix said. “If I couldn’t do it one way, what way could I do it? There’s nothing like rolling down the road with the wind in your face – there’s nothing that can replace that feeling. It’s one of my great loves.”

In 2011, less than a year after he graduated, Fix opened the doors to Quad City Cycle Parts (QCCP), using the frames of used sport bikes and transforming them into custom choppers, making it much less expensive for his customers. A new sport bike can run $13-14,000, whereas Fix offers the same thing, but customized, at a fraction of the cost. While he only advertises locally on the radio, in the yellow pages and by word of mouth, business is doing very well.

Having gained so much experience building bikes prior to enrolling in courses at MMI, Fix was skeptical about how much he would actually gain from the program. However, looking back, Fix credits the technical training he received from MMI for his across-the-board knowledge about motorcycle repair.

For more information about MMI, visit www.uti.edu/programs/motorcycle. Follow MMI-Phoenix on Facebook at www.facebook.com/mmiphoenix and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MMItweet.