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Where can i find information on how to become a bike mechanic? |
i am a senior in high school and am required to do a 1000 word report on a vocation of my choice that i want to pursue. i chose to study the area of bicycle mechanics and maintenance. does anyone know where i can find this information specifically? -general qualifications -educational background necessary -salary ranges and dependability of income -additional benefits -potential for advancement -potential future -impact of family life if you know anywhere to find info like this or have some insight yourself, i am open. please dont recommend my bike shop though. i do have to set up an interview with the owner of the shop, but i am supposed to have this info before then. thanks for your help As a mechanic/salesperson and bike geek for MANY years now, you ask a good question and I will do what I can to help you out. First off, general qualifications would be... a) a cycling background, so you are familiar with the parts and products in the cycling world. b) a mechanical nature... the kid that takes everything apart just to see how it works. Bonus points if you could put everything back together functionally without any extra screws! c) a willingness to give up a good portion of your cycling time. I used to ride 10,000 miles per year in my high school days, but once I started at a bike shop, that shot dramatically down, to about 1500-2000 miles per year! Educational background necessary... a) At LEAST a high school diploma... Trust me, a high school dropout bike mechanic is not exactly... appealing to the ladies, so to speak! b) If you want industry respect, the Barnett Bicycle Institute in Colorado Springs, Colorado is THE name in mechanic schools. http://www.bbinstitute.com/ c) Once established in the industry, start looking at the US Olympic Training Center (Colorado Springs, CO) to get your USCF (US Cycling Federation) professional race mechanic certification. This opens the door to possibly doing professional wrench work for professional racers... maybe even Tour De France stuff?!?! d) Use the standard retail hours to further your education by going to college at night, its better than bartending your way through school! Salary ranges and dependability of income... a) very market dependent, if you are in a big city with a large bicycle sales market share, you can expect a qualified experienced mechanic to make $15+ per hour. In smaller towns or smaller shops without much market penetration, you can expect $9-10 per hour. Additional Benefits... a) DISCOUNT b) DISCOUNT c) DISCOUNT d) you can make money on the side at races. e)You can do "bike rodeo's" at local schools to help kids with riding techniques and safety instructions. f) You can start talking "tihs" to all your huffy owner friends by showing them what a piece of crap their $65 "investment" really is! g) You can make fun of the customers that come into the shop with their bike frame in 7 different pieces and their wheels bent like pretzels, when they start the story with "Well, I was JUST RIDING ALONG when...." this is the JRA story which basically says that nothing the rider did could have possibly caused the amount of damage that has been done, and therefore, they aren't responsible for the damage done to the bike... LOL h) you meet some VERY interesting people in the professional cycling industry! i) you might get your foot in the door with a company like Trek, Mavic, Giant, etc... and go international with your skills! Potential for advancement... a) not much. Once a mechanic, you become the backbone of any professional shop and you are relied upon to continue doing that very job to the best of your ability. The only advancement for most mechanics might be to "Lead Mechanic" or "Mechanic Dept. Manager". Other than that, you would be looking at starting your own shop. That is the logical progression... Start at the bottom (cleaning bikes, changing flat tires...) and work your way up to mechanic, then after several years of saving, start your own shop, using the knowledge of the company you have been working for against them. Whatever you think they don't do well, you might want to make a focus in your own business! Potential Future... a) if you are savvy, you might be able to turn your one off shop into a small local/regional chain and might make a good living after many years of dedication. Some good examples of that might be Bicycles West in the Seattle Washington area, http://bicycleswest.com/index.cfm... (the company I started with many years ago) Impact on family life... a) It is a pretty flexible type of job, but benefits like health/dental/vision insurance are usually either not offered, or fairly expensive to maintain on most mechanics income. That can make having a family a bit challenging, but that may be some years down the road for you, and may not be a concern. b) you WILL meet HOTTT women in this industry... I mean melt your eyeballs out of your skull, dunk your head in a vat of liquid nitrogen to cool off kind of hot... so you might meet your potential future love interest in this industry, or at least you will HOPE you do! Source(s): Hope this helps! I have been in and out of the bike industry for about 15 years now, so I obviously love it, but I need a break from it once in a while as well! Josh W. this is out of my lead sorry Find a bike shop in your area, and talk to the mechanic and shop owner. - only qualification is love of and desire to work on bikes - no educational requirement, however there are bicycle mechanic schools that teach and certify - salary $8-12/hr - possible benefits if you work at a shop that does alot of business - you can make of it whatever you want, but most will not make much money I agree with Jawa & Pro both, also if you don't have the resources for formal training I recommend buying Barnetts & Southerlands manuals they are not cheap but well worth the cash. also invest in GOOD quality tools, most shops have their own but it is a real plus if you have your own personal tool box. As for future potential factory sales representative is another choice. I'm a bike wrench |
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