dedhed

People in general

Polaris OBark

For selfish reasons, I wish you were still here, but it sounds like our loss is Northern CA's gain. I am glad it has been rewarding.

Calsun

I have often encountered people who are expected to deal with customer interactions that are not equipped by their temperament or experience to do so. Their businesses suffer and one need only read the reviews by customers of businesses on Yelp to realize how widespread the problem can be.

A customer at a restaurant will write a negative review because the waiter took too long to bring them water and ignore mentioning the quality of the food and it is based on one visit and one interaction. They will come at the busiest time of the week and then expect "normal" service. The same applies to a bike shop customer who arrives without bothering to do any online research before arriving and expecting the shop employee to provide this as a free service. Many of these people will then go and buy a bike elsewhere to save a little money.

I have been dealing with local bike shops for the past 50 years and have never had a bad interaction. I find skill levels in my area to be very high and prices to be very reasonable. I added a PNW dropper post to a hardtail bike and the work was completed in an hour and I was charged $50 for the labor. I could have done the work myself but I preferred supporting my local bike shop.

cpach

Also, I think one of the biggest frustrations is that the quality of service at shops is really inconsistent because none of the attempts (in the US at least) to regularly certify mechanics to some set of standards has really taken off in the US. I very frequently find things wrong that I know were the work of "professional" mechanics. Mostly it's little stuff--like one of our best customers had an $10kish ex-demo bike, and the B tension was set wrong--which on Shimano 12 speed MTB, literally means turning the bolt until the largest cog aligns with a mark on the back of the derailleur, taking all of 5 seconds to do to spec. It probably shifted fine, but I'm sure it shifts better now. This can make customers distrustful, and it sucks when you're genuinely knowledgeable and offering good, frank advise. One of the best feelings is when you have a customer who trusts that you both know what they want, and trust you to take care of their bikes appropriately. Insufficiently trained mechanics kind of poison the industry for those of us who take it seriously, both in terms of customer trust and in a drive for livable wages.

Steel Charlie

Rude has become the default setting in our society for reasons that we are all aware of. My wife, a rather aggressive redhead, has on several occasions suggested to entitled Karens that they STFU and show some consideration for the sales person they were ranting at.
Rude is everywhere all the time. Many years ago Mr. Zappa noted, "Do you love it, do you hate it? There it is the way you made it."

Have a day

RoadWearier

That's true of sharing most stories on BF.
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Jeff Neese

Very true. The guy in the video makes it sound as though all mechanics are very competent experts, and at one point he says something to the effect of "We know more than you do." I have horror stories of things that I've seen come out of a bike shop, and probably most of us do too. I think if we started a thread to give examples of shoddy workmanship or outright mistakes committed by "professional" bike mechanics, that thread would end up being pretty long.

I have all the respect in the world for truly good mechanics, but more and more it seems those guys are in the minority.

Paul_P

A truly good mechanic can probably fetch a much higher salary in something like the aerospace industry than in a LBS.
When I worked as a mechanic (a while ago) I got paid just a bit more than minimum wage, and I didn't stay there for very long.

Not saying there aren't any good mechanics in bike shops, but they're probably not there for the money.

Kontact 

I am not aware of any effort to regulate or train bike mechanics. Sure, there are schools and there are chains that have standardization training, but there has never been an expectation that specific education is necessary to work on bikes any more than we expect the kid at Subway to have attended culinary school.

I learned to work on bikes by reading a book. Then I read the specific instructions for components I was working on, if available. Up until recently, this should have been sufficient to make a reasonably mechanical person be able to assemble and adjust something as basic as a bicycle.

The problem now is that all sorts of stuff doesn't work as advertised from the factory and requires techniques that aren't in manuals to be serviced. So the best mechanics are no longer mechanically competent people that can read, but witch doctors with prolific memories.

For bikes mid level and above, I would say the effective quality is much lower today than it was 20-30 years ago. The need for things like disc brake mount facing tools should alarm bike consumers - why are frames leaving the factory like that? Why does a DA hydro lever not work right if you clamp it too tightly to the handlebar? Why do Shimano shifters still eat cables after all this time.

Mechanics are dealing with a lot of junk, and the public might be reasonably upset that new bikes are much harder to get right than old bikes.

CrimsonEclipse

Nah, we're just better than you.

TobyGadd

Since I'm a cyclist, I suppose that means that I'm better than myself as well? Or something.

mpetry912 

so true ! a friend who is a helicopter mechanic, flies all over the world working on helos that service oil rigs - makes 300K a year.

got his start wrenching in a bike shop.

which tells me that there are important skills that are taught / learned by fixing bikes - but there are more rewarding and renumerative ways to use those skills

which is sad

/markp

Kontact 

Well, that and 2 years of on the job aviation training and an extensive exam.

RoadWearier

After wrestling around with a front brake caliper I gave up and took it to a shop. He replaced it for $75 and appeared to have it working. When I got it home it wasn't working at all and was rubbing terribly on the wheel. So I ended up having to readjust it. Next time I'll save myself $75.

Calsun

If a repair or servicing is simple and only requires a special tool, like a brake caliper offset wrench, I will buy it. It may take me twice as long as a professional but I do not bill myself by the hour. I also have relied many times on the youtube videos that so many generous people have posted on the internet.

Trakhak

I went from working on bikes to copyediting articles for scientific journals. (Speaking of which: it's "remunerative," not "renumerative.")

mpetry912 

I looked it up and you are right ! learned something today !

renumerativer - Search (bing.com)

/markp

CrimsonEclipse

Yea, but you're not a(n) [insert sub set here] cyclist, therefore (ergo) I'm the more pure cyclist or something.

*whew*
being that snarky takes a lot out of you!!

Come hang out in the "not cool" section.... a lot less pressure here

CrimsonEclipse

Troubleshooting skills transfer well to more complicated sectors.
(also, how to NOT smash your <explicative deleted> knuckles!)

Trakhak

It's an easy mistake; for some reason, people don't make the connection to "remuneration." (I haven't encountered anyone writing or pronouncing it as "renumeration," anyway.)

I once pointed out the same mistake to an architect friend while visiting him in his loft. He insisted that he was right and I was wrong. He then began kindly explaining that, while his private school education was not perfect in every way compared to my public schooling, it, etc. Meanwhile, I found his dictionary and showed him the definition. He took it well.

mpetry912 

it is the sign of a mature and confident person to be able to accept information that may point to corrective action - opportunities for improvement and growth, not a threat to their self esteem

thanks for pointing it out. It is counter intuitive as you say !

/markp

Paul_P

That's got to be the most awkward word I know to pronounce. My mouth just wasn't designed for it.

I used to think it was renumeration and it made sense, coming from numeration - numbers - cash - making some. A renumeration of my bank balance.

I've avoided the word ever since I learned how it was spelled.

choddo

Yep. But it is from “munerari” (to give), not “numeralis” (relating to a number)

Yes, I just had to look the latin up because I’d always wondered…

wheelreason

Or 4 years with a "fixed wing" squadron, NAVAIR is so different than the real Navy, brown shoes are special...

88ss

If you can not repair your own bicycle, then you are not a real cyclist.