BOVISIO MASCIAGO – The Bicycle & Business Academy's training activities resume in full swing in October, the professional center wanted in 2023 by the Lombard commercial company RMSThe final objective of the Academy always remains to raise the competence and professionalism of those who already work daily in the bike industry but also to create a qualified path for those who wish to start a career in this sector.
During the recent Italian Bike Festival in Misano we had the opportunity to talk about it with Stefano Aresi, Managing Director of the Academy. To find out more, however, we thought it would be useful to make an appointment directly in AcademyOur visit took place last week, so still in September, and to our great surprise we discovered that the training activities had already begun.
Entering the Academy we were surprised to see a teacher and three students “working” around a bicycle…
In fact, our training activities have already restarted in September. The kids you see here at the Academy today are part of a project that started in July and created in collaboration with the Chamber of Commerce of Milan Monza Brianza Lodi e FormaperTheir training at our Academy is divided into three days, each lasting eight hours. The first day is dedicated to the low-end range while the last two are dedicated to the high-end range.Our goal remains to help these kids find employment in the cycling world.
Your training activities will resume in full force in October. What are the first courses scheduled?
We will begin with technical courses dedicated to industry professionals. These are high-level training activities with 8-hour modules or intensive 24-hour masterclasses.. There is also no shortage of management courses for professionals. We have also planned single-brand activities with our following partners: Bosch, CaneCreek, Magura, SRSuntour and TQ.
Your Professional Bike Mechanic Masterclass, aimed at training specialized mechanics, will start again at the end of October. When exactly does it start, and what edition are we at?
The course starts on October 28th and we have reached its fifth edition. We can safely say that it is the most prestigious course of our Academy.It is highly appreciated by retailers but also by companies in the bike industry who recognize its value. In previous editions we had a total of 23 students and 14 of them are already working today.
Will anything change compared to the last edition?
The formula we developed remains solid. Following feedback from those who participated in our previous courses, we decided to increase the portion dedicated to high-end products compared to that dedicated to e-bikes. The course, which will start on October 28th, will last 100 hours spread over five weeks and will include, as always, a final exam over two days., one dedicated to low-end and one to high-end. There will always be a written and a practical exam. Upon completion of the course, we will create a personalized CV for each student and will work to share it with our network of workshops, shops, and companies with which RMS currently collaborates.
Can we add anything?
I would say yes. We recently started collaborating with Metropolitan AFOL, a professional school recognized by the Lombardy Region which will guarantee our students a certificate on workplace safetyThis is a very important step that will enrich the professional CV of each student, relieving future employers of a training burden that would otherwise have been theirs.
Next goals?
We would be happy to create a “Mechanic’s Book,” a sort of manual containing all the training materials from our courses. This would be a book intended not only for our students, but also in general for those who want to learn about the bicycle in all its facets. At the moment it's just an idea that we hope can soon be transformed into something concrete..
