BBassett

That's an obvious point but people that love bikes still work on them. Great gardeners usually can't make a living out of it but have stunning gardens. Not everything people do is for money... unless it's "real" money. Also, I am willing to pay well for a great gear head. I do for my cars and motorcycle and lawnmower! Even if I really had nothing else to do I would prefer an artist maintaining my bike. I am a great cook but can't bake bread as well as I can buy. I ride and maintain her on the road but once a year I want fluids dropped, shocks rebuilt, pads, hoses, gears, chain, and rubber replaced. And don't even get me started on the idiot savants that can balance and true a wheel. I just want a great mechanic that enjoys wrenching bikes. It would nice if he could weld like a #$@^)!" wizard too.

BBassett

See, that's what I am talking about. So there have to be guys/gals that are pro mechs. how do I find some close? Craigslist has ever produced anyone for me that I was comfortable with. At least Yet.

BBassett

I agree. He made a ridiculous statement so I just ignore his comment(s). It is a demanding, precise set of skills not easily found. I imagine it's difficult to pay someone skilled a good wage and still stay in business. The reason I am looking for a "guy" is the shop I go to is closing its doors soon. 2 years and over 8800 miles and now I have to explain my babies to someone new.

BBassett

Yeah, what's the point? I use a smartphone to tune a Gates Belt Drive carbon belt but all it does is monitor not repair still takes someone with skills to replace and set it.

BBassett

Ya really know how to cheer up a room Joe.

shelbyfv

Judging from this classic thread https://www.bikeforums.net/manufactur...te-cycles.html you haven't had much luck with the "artisan wizard" type. And since it's an electric scooter you ride around on, a bike mechanic might not be what you need.

BBassett

Maybe you are on to something there. Maybe trying to find a "high quality" bike maintenance chain of stores is the answer. I have been in a couple REIs that impressed me with the trivial part selection but haven't had them touch my baby. I stopped at one Performance Bike shop and the head mechanic, standing in front of 3 or 4 trainees, looked at my bike and said, "No one needs a full suspension tour bike like that." Hopefully, his trainees saw him for the moron that I did. But a chain that is conscience of the reputation of it mechanics, is well staffed and well stocked in tools and quality parts. Some of the responsibility for changes in the bike industry has to be placed at the feet of the bike manufacturers too. Their sales model doesn't seem to be small shop owner friendly. I know that most "old-time" tuners are dead set against working with ebikes and that is another hiccup to this scenario. Thanks for the input.

3alarmer 

...I can do all that stuff. Believe me when I tell you you couldn't afford my rates.

If you do asomething well for the simple joy of doing it, nothing ruins it quicker than taking on paying customers.

And I can tell you from five or six years of running Saturdays at the bike co-op here, there's little reward in trying to help people who are as demanding as you appear to be. Honestly speaking, I seriously doubt you would be willing to pay for the level of services you seem to require. And even if you were, there would not be enough others in a similar circumstance to make this some sort of worthwhile endeavor.

There just are not that many people willing and able to pay the labor rates charged at today's auto repair facility in order to get a bicycle repaired or maintained. And you really ought to learn to fix your lawn mower yourself.

Andy_K 

I didn't really have a point. Someone joked about computers fixing bikes, so I shared a story about an app that's meant to automate what's already a pretty basic maintenance operation. Just having a little fun.

SHBR

Joe is right though.

I'd love to have my own shop, but here in Shanghai rental bikes have completely killed most of the market.

There are dozens of shops that have failed directly because of this.

I hate to say it, but its coming soon to a big city near you, and even if you live in the countryside, that lifestyle will be increasingly less common in the future. Slave wage jobs are here to stay as well.

BBassett

I have found over the last few decades, all over the world, that people that over value their skills and/or capabilities are often the people you want to leave foundering in their own self-import as you search for a true gem. Someone that has been damaged by an unforgiving life, now living with broken dreams, simply gets bitter and old. I "can" and "have" performed all these tasks out of occasional necessity, like most riders. I choose not to, just like I don't service the 6 cylinder connies that come out of my Cessna 180 float plane either. Thanks for your lack of real input but the question is where I Can find a great mechanic, not how to spot mediocre mechanics.

3alarmer 

...your loss, bub.

fietsbob

There is more money in high end Cars, that is where the better mechanics are .


check out Pitt row at the next F 1 race.

ph0rk

So, why are you so confused a good mechanic (by your standard) is hard to find? You seem to have all the answers already.

shelbyfv

That's why I suggest he learn to do this himself and save aggravation for himself and whatever poor mechanic he lands on.

3alarmer 

...everyone I know who has ever worked professionally in a mechanical repair field has got stories.

thumpism 

Oboy, here's one and this is what can happen.

Many years ago a grandmother brought her grandson in for a new bike. The kid was ten-ish and should have had a simple BMX bike but he really wanted lotsa gears so that's what granny bought him. Fitted him out and sent him on his way with a year's free adjustments and he was in weekly to get his ever-more-battered bike tweaked. Clearly beyond the range and intent of "adjustments," we kept him going and at one point I counseled him that a derailleur bike is a pretty sophisticated mechanism and that he should take better care of it and learn to do his own work in order to minimize costly repairs. Somehow, when he got home this got translated into, "Fix it yourself," with the attendant fallout.

Episodes like this can persuade any mechanic that javelin catching is an attractive alternative.

Phil_gretz

... once had an all-consuming passion for bicycle troubleshooting and repair, a great eye for detail, and unparalleled persistence.


... now is a lazy, no good, drunk.


I have always done all of my own work.

3alarmer 

...the therapeutic use of alcohol (for strictly medicinal purposes of course), is not in and of itself something that ought to be condemned as without usefulness. I mean, they used to amputate limbs without anesthesia, too.

Lars Honeytoast

Im leaving LBS to an actually field where I can make some good money and not be affected by harsh winters, also the LBS where I work is losing money and im the lowest on the totem pool. Not enough repairs, to many mechanics.

Its a shrinking field I think. Some people only want expensive bikes and care enough about them to bring it in the shop and learn form the mechanics how to do routine stuff and the other half wants a cheap bike that you can throw away after it breaks. Then a small amount of people who already know everything bring a bike to the shop tell us what and how to do it, then complain afterwards. Why do they even come into the shop, beats me.

3alarmer 

.
...almost all of my fave stories about repairing stuff for money involve the innate human tendency of people who have no clue assuming that you are cheating them, somehow, either in estimating cost or performing unnecessary work.

It's found in epidemic proportions in the USA of the 21st Century. I used to just refer these guys to someone I knew would overcharge them. Problem solved. I win, because they're gone. They win, because their expectations are fulfilled. The guy who charges them wins because he gets the work. I like to think of it as making America great again, but without the political angle.

onbike 1939

Now I do know that is true......if what you tell me is true.


I'm feeling pretty miserable knowing that I'm exactly what this guy needs but live overseas.........

squirtdad

in my area the great mechanics tend to be at long established, local shops.
I would start my search there.

If a shop is attached/associated with or or does frame building they tend to have good mechanics also

it is my experience also that like chef's the some really super mechanics/owners can be little eccentric so you may get a great mechanic, but less than polished customer experience

other than that don't know the OP's local market

personally I would not want to be a mechanic, other than all the stuff I do for my self. I can take the time to take a pedal apart and lube adjust etc, but at shop rates it is cheaper to just tell the customer to get new pedals adding to the throw away culture. I just got the shimano plastic pedal tool thingy so ca can do maintenance on a pedal, had to hit 3 shops to find one.....got it at the wizard/eccentric mechanics shop, and along with a rant on how other shops can't repair only put new parts on

3alarmer 

...you think you're safe, but this guy has a float plane.

mconlonx

Where are all the great bike mechanics?

We weren't making ends meet as bike mechanics and went back to other full-time professions making more money.