Thanks for reading. The goal here is to share knowledge and give insights into bicycle culture from the side of the bike shop that doesn’t generally get heard from as much as I like. Here we go!

Assistance

Helping people is a built in feature of retail business. That is what we’re here for, to help people get what they need. This assistance can take the form of advice or sharing repair tips. In any case it’s always cool to lend a hand when you can. A common theme I see among cyclists is offering their $0.02 when conversations are happening in the shop. The dynamic of people from dissimilar walks of life creates friendship and camaraderie like no other place. We often get retirees discussing downhill trails with much younger people that have never stepped foot on a mountain bike. Then there are the curmudgeons like me that gristle and grunt at the full suspension 130mm travel trail riders but that’s a whole other topic I’m not stirring up... yet.

Knowledge

Bike shop customer, as I mentioned previously, come from all backgrounds and industries. Software sales, medical field, warehousemen, you name it, we know them all. There is one driving force behind each of these people and that’s the desire to have fun on a bike. It doesn’t matter if they ride a $1,200 ATB or a $8,000 electric trail demon. Their goal is to have fun and the tool they choose doesn’t matter. You can go even deeper and dig down to the component level and you’ll find that someone with a modestly built bike, by bike snob standards, that is running a cable actuated derailleur can have the same fun as a Bluetooth controlled robotically shifted race machine. The experience of the ride is the goal. Take a step back and ask yourself if your bike attitude mirrors your ethics in life. I bet it does.

Morality

Does cycling have a morality issue?
Looking down on others seems to a trait that is exacerbated by cycling. What do I mean by this? For some folks, not all of course, base their riding partners on the level of bike they ride. It’s hard to see or hear but it is there. By no means am I saying you should ride a cheap bike. The whole point is riding what you have with other cyclists should be the goal, rather than turning away from a ride because someone may not have the latest carbon bike.
From the workbench we see and feel the moral struggles daily. Customers come in with bikes that should be gently placed in dumpsters or violently thrown into recyclers to be turned into truck bumpers and toasters. Not judging at all, it’s just a clear vision to the end goal that we can see as mechanics that bicycle owners get clouded over. The customer wants their bike, their “good” bike, to be repaired so they can ride it. Very understandable for both sides of the transaction, however, from the workbench side we see more heaps that just aren’t worth fixing than you can imagine. But the moral debate becomes “your bike is not worth fixing, but we will fix it if you choose to” and more likely than not we end up doing a nice solid tune-up and get it going the best it can be.
I’m really struggling to not sound like a pompous clown when it comes to budget bike repairs. It’s just an internal struggle from a mechanic’s point of view that a customer has a problem and we, the shop, have an obligation to solve that problem. The pickle arises when the cost of repairs exceeds the value (actual, not perceived) of the bike and the customer becomes conflicted on whether to pay for repairs or simply by the same bike again. This cycle (no pun intended) gets repeated across the land at all bike shops. And I’m sure it happens in other industries too, maybe auto repair shops? Touching base on perceived versus actual value of bikes, we get a lot of questions from customers about how much their bikes are worth. Lately the used bike market has been rough on sellers. You really have to have a desirable frame or bike that is on the rare side of things to get top dollar. The number of low-ballers that ask for ridiculously low prices are all part of the game, frustrating to say the least. So, when a customer come in and wants to know what their bike is worth, we walk around the counter, and bam! We get an eyeful of shoddily welded, filthy, clapped-out piece of junk. Sorry, it happens more often that not. The reality of the bike shop couldn’t be anymore clearer when it comes to this perceived value question. Does it get frustrating? Absolutely. Do I care that it takes up time that could be spent doing other things? No. Why is that? Simply put, it’s all part of the job. In the beginning of my bike shop experience I thought I would be working on Dura-Ace drivetrains and carbon Colnagos all day. This just does not happen. Most of the time we’re working on department store level bikes. Bending parts and making them work the best they can makes you a better mechanic is every sense. Malleable derailleur hangers and grip-style shifters will test your mettle in ways you cannot imagine. It always seems to happen that a customer will be looking over the divider while you try to change a cable on their grip-style shifter and the detent spring will fly out and disappear under the work bench and you know in your heart of hearts that the shifter will never go back together correctly so you make the walk over to the wide-eyed customer and gently explain that the piece of sh!t your holding in your hands needs to be replaced for $15. Rant over.

Thanks for reading. Go ride your bike and check in next week for more thoughts on bikes.

Peace,
Paul