How do i get into the bike mechanic scene?

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How do i get into the bike mechanic scene?
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flag jibbyguy
Posted: Feb 4, 2010 at 10:46 Quote
just wondering how i could get this as a career or what site i could check out about this cause i'm doing a school project on it and i'm in need of some answers,

thanks,

JibbyguySalute
flag
Posted: Feb 4, 2010 at 10:59 Quote
go and talk to your lbs, they should tell you some stuff. If you were planning to become a bike mechanic it helps if you have basic Cytec training but that may be different in Canada.
flag Gsnickets
Posted: Feb 4, 2010 at 11:32 Quote
honestly man, unless you get a job with a big time chain store(and even then it'll be tough) being a bike mechanic isn't really a career choice(unless you own the store). It is a ton of fun though, if it wasn't, I would have stayed in a shop for that last 10 years. working in a bike shop was my first job at age 12 sweeping floors, hanging up product, and taking bikes out of the boxes. the different training programs out there are alright, but by no means are required. if you're seriously interested in getting a mechanic job, get the park tools big blue book to get a basic understanding of how to do things. what you'll find is every bike is different, even for the same repair. I don't know about all shops, but the ones I've worked in will usually hire a couple of young kids in the spring to help out during the heavy season and we'll let them shadow us when we're not busy to pick up some skills. I would say it takes 3 to 4 years of part time work to really know what you're doing at a shop. if have any questions, feel free to PM me or look up davemudd on my profile, he's a real cool guy and we've bounced some info back and forth, I've found him to be very helpful.
flag hampsteadbandit
Posted: Feb 4, 2010 at 11:51 Quote
wrenching is kinda cool...but not something I would want to do as a full-time job


in our store, I get to do a bit of everything, although I do spend quite alot of time wrenching, mainly on high end bikes, doing custom builds and wheel builds, which is kinda nice Wink


learn how to work on your own bike, offer to help out at your local bike shop, definitely learn the skill of wheel building, and shadow an experienced mechanic to learn how to "troubleshoot" and "innovate" when it comes to solving problems, often when working on older bikes, or bikes which have been badly treated

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flag Gsnickets
Posted: Feb 4, 2010 at 15:07 Quote
hampstead knows the game, the biggest part of turning wrenches is knowing how to problem solve new things that come up, especially on older bikes. after you've spent some time in a shop you'll notice they have some 'custom' tools for certain things that have come up. I personally have found spokes to be very useful for those types of jobs, especially fishing out internally routed cables, without guides.
flag brigand
Posted: Feb 4, 2010 at 15:26 Quote
or changing seals on forks Wink
flag blind123456
Posted: Feb 4, 2010 at 16:00 Quote
I started working on my own bike hardly ever went to a bike shop to get my bike fixed always just got parts and did it myself.
Had a coop when i was in highschool so I went to the local bike shop and asked if they would mind if I could Co op there and they said yes obviously who doesnt want a free worker. Once my semester was done got offered a job.
flag
Posted: Feb 4, 2010 at 20:46 Quote
Despite what others have said above in the thread, I think it is an extremely rewarding career choice! You get to work with very like-minded people every day, there are lots of one-on-one moments with customers who are very passionate about the sport, you got lots of cross-training (depending upon the shop you might learn how to work on various other sports-equipment, or even doing reno jobs), and there isn't anything like the feeling of coming home at night, and knowing that you've made a difference in someone elses life (either they're able to stay fit, keep up their favourite hobby, or even just allowed them to keep commuting to work and back).

I've been in the business for ten years now, and don't plan on leaving it any time soon, if at all. Yes, I want to do more than just wrench, but I don't want to ever put my spanner down for more than a couple days for the rest of my life. It's a passion, and it is something that I go to great lengths for.

In the year two-thousand, at the age of fourteen, my sisters boyfriend owned his own bike shop, and invited me along so I could help out during the busy season, as I already had an affinity for bikes, and knew my way around a spanner. After two months of intensive training and working my juvenile knuckles to the bone without any sort of monetary compensation, I was cast off to the world, set on making something of this. As such, I decided to start my own practise in the small town I resided in at the time.

You might be thinking at this point that a fourteen year old punk that knew how to hold a spanner couldn't make much of it... However, given that my family was absolutely destitute, without my mother having any hope of being able to pay the bills, I was left to "bring home the bacon", as it were. Needless to say, I worked my ass off over the following couple of years, and managed to turn an alright profit of it, working out of my basement, doing minor repairs, and custom builds.

Nothing big ever really happened with it though, as certain family members frowned upon it, and forced me to pack everything up, and leave. Unfortunately, this meant that I had to look into other lines of work, seeing as there wasn't anywhere in town that would pay me enough to support myself at seventeen. But despite working in a factory, and injuring my back rather badly, I still stayed true to my passion, and continued to work on bikes on the side whenever I could. Even when I was forced to move to another city, again due to personal reasons, I did my best to align my jobs with my passion.

Regretfully, none of the bigger bike shops would even look at me, seeing as I hadn't ever worked in a bike shop at length before (not counting my own, as who is going to believe that a fourteen year old ran a shop out of his basement?), so I ended up working at places like Canadian Tire, and SportChek for a few years, while still doing small jobs in the side (mainly for couriers, friends, and family).

Over time though, I grew to know more people in the industry due to my reputation for impeccable quality, and top-rate customer service. So upon leaving the last SportChek I'll ever work at, I decided again to bother the local shops. Unfortunately, none of them wanted be because I had managed to set the bar for quality and price so high, that none of them could compete, and none of the managers would even speak to me.

However, it's not all bad though, I'm now gainfully employed at the biggest, independently-owned bike shop in canada (as far as we are aware), and I couldn't be happier. It took a lot of work, and nearly half my life, but I am exactly where I want to be, doing what I want to do. I can only see things improving from here.

To summarise, if you want to pursue this as a life-long career, begin now, and begin with one hundred percent of your effort, as nobody is going to hold a door open for you.

Make friends, get fanatical, but keep a level head. You'll get anywhere you like.


By the way, we're in the same city. Drop me a line if you'd like to know anything else.
flag iamamodel
Posted: Feb 5, 2010 at 17:40 Quote
I started working on my own bikes about 20 years ago. I have worked in a shop (I got the gig by riding with a guy that owns a shop) when my real career was on hold, but now my career is back on track. I would PREFER to be working on bikes, but it would cripple me financially.

These days I sometimes volunteer for race support, and perhaps you could look at this too. There isn't a enduro race team that wouldn't love a free mechanic. Choose a team that is associated with a shop or people in the industry. When a rider comes in at three o'clock in the morning with some catastrophic problem and wakes up at 5 am to find his bike is good to go - you will have undying appreciation and have gained something priceless - a great reputation! Ninety percent of your time will be merely cleaning drivetrains and adjusting gears. You'll need all your own tools.

Sometimes you could also volunteer with the organisers of an adventure race or some huge charity race and they are stoked to advertise that there will be a mechanic on duty. Adminstration/liability etc can be a bit of a hassle though, that's why I only do support for buddies.
flag jibbyguy
Posted: Mar 3, 2010 at 7:09 Quote
Hey guys! thanks for all the information! thanks to you i've applied at my local bike shop and i have my interview this thursday! super pumped if i get the job but thanks again guys i appreciate it! Salute
flag Gsnickets
Posted: Mar 3, 2010 at 7:27 Quote
jibbyguy wrote:
Hey guys! thanks for all the information! thanks to you i've applied at my local bike shop and i have my interview this thursday! super pumped if i get the job but thanks again guys i appreciate it! Salute

good job man, I wish you the best of luck!
flag jibbyguy
Posted: Mar 3, 2010 at 18:11 Quote
Gsnickets wrote:
jibbyguy wrote:
Hey guys! thanks for all the information! thanks to you i've applied at my local bike shop and i have my interview this thursday! super pumped if i get the job but thanks again guys i appreciate it! Salute

good job man, I wish you the best of luck!

thanks dude!
flag dannythekiwi
Posted: Mar 7, 2010 at 2:04 Quote
Theres a lot of good information on this thread!

This summer will be my forth with my LBS. I started of working for free (6 months without pay), shadowing the head mech and boss, learning how things work in both the shop and workshop. You will learn a lot if you apply yourself.

I have gathered many great experiences and lessons working at a bike shop and would recommend it to any one who is a hard worker and dedicated to the sport.

Having said that:

Prepare to live the simple life as a bike mechanic (like some other guys have said, you have to own the shop to earn well). Wages aren't the best, but hell, its an awesome job! You will meet about every single type of person there is on this crazy planet. You will meet some awesome people in the industry and gather many lessons of life.

You will also build the sickest bike you can, you'll never have any technical trouble with your bike, and you'll constantly find Park Tools AWS-10 around your flat.

What I've done is keep my job as a bike mech, part-time while doing a aircraft maintenance technician course at my college. This way I can choose if I want to fix bikes or aircraft. I will get trade cert on my AMT course, which is always good to refer to while applying for a job. This can also be a bikemechs downfall, there aren't really any schools (in Norway) that educate bike mechs, ergo: no trade cert.

Hope this helps.
flag jibbyguy
Posted: Mar 7, 2010 at 19:56 Quote
yeah for sure man thank you very much, the owner told me that i would start at the bottom of the totem pole, meaning just cleaning, organizing, etc. i'm perfectly fine with this position because hopefully if he can see my enthusiasm towards the job i could move to something better, such as a bike mech. i'm 16 so he said i was pretty lucky to even get an interview so hopefully all comes through and i can work for him to the best of my abilities
flag
Posted: Mar 7, 2010 at 20:10 Quote
Mind if I ask which shop you got a job at? When do you start? Don't think it was mine (the owner doesn't know most employees names, never mind doing interviews, heh).
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