View Poll Results: Are you a Pro? - or a hobbiest?
Voters: 97. You may not vote on this poll
Are you a Pro? or a hobbiest?
05-28-12, 06:16 PM
#51
Senior Member
Phase 1: Trash-picking bicycle hoarder
Phase 2: Volunteer mechanic/mentor at co-op
Phase 3: Ph.D. student studying bicyclist behavior
Phase 2: Volunteer mechanic/mentor at co-op
Phase 3: Ph.D. student studying bicyclist behavior
05-28-12, 06:18 PM
#52
Senior Member
You have to add a little humor..much more interesting.
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05-28-12, 08:33 PM
#55
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This forum has a great number of "Experts" that do not receive a paycheck from a bikeshop. Also, I would say that a great number of BF's experts are self-employed bike professionals.
05-28-12, 08:43 PM
#56
aka Tom Reingold
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Jeez, no one got my punny joke? Or did you all just think it's lame?
I'm a hybrid. I made my complete living as a bike mechanic when I was young. I even paid my way through college that way, somehow. I don't know how. I must have lived cheaply. In fact, after a year of doing it, I had saved enough money to take my bike to Europe and wander for three months.
Last summer, I worked at the local bike shop two days a week for about two months, so I guess I'm a pro in some ways. I also collect and restore bikes and sell them, so that's sort of pro. And sometimes neighbors twist my arm and get me to fix their bikes, and they toss money at me. They also drop bikes off for free or tell me to come pick them up. Some life, huh?
My main gig has been as a computer consultant, but it's not making enough, so I'm back on the path looking for a salaried gig.
I'm a hybrid. I made my complete living as a bike mechanic when I was young. I even paid my way through college that way, somehow. I don't know how. I must have lived cheaply. In fact, after a year of doing it, I had saved enough money to take my bike to Europe and wander for three months.
Last summer, I worked at the local bike shop two days a week for about two months, so I guess I'm a pro in some ways. I also collect and restore bikes and sell them, so that's sort of pro. And sometimes neighbors twist my arm and get me to fix their bikes, and they toss money at me. They also drop bikes off for free or tell me to come pick them up. Some life, huh?
My main gig has been as a computer consultant, but it's not making enough, so I'm back on the path looking for a salaried gig.
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Tom Reingold, tom@noglider.com
New York City and High Falls, NY
Blogs: The Experienced Cyclist; noglider's ride blog
“When man invented the bicycle he reached the peak of his attainments.” — Elizabeth West, US author
Please email me rather than PM'ing me. Thanks.
Tom Reingold, tom@noglider.com
New York City and High Falls, NY
Blogs: The Experienced Cyclist; noglider's ride blog
“When man invented the bicycle he reached the peak of his attainments.” — Elizabeth West, US author
Please email me rather than PM'ing me. Thanks.
05-28-12, 08:56 PM
#57
What??? Only 2 wheels?
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Ha! Not lame. Subtle. Perhaps too subtle. We've all spent too much time either riding till we fall over or sniffing BB grease.
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05-28-12, 09:03 PM
#58
Senior Member
I was a bike messenger for 4 years in the 90s and and then a bike mechanic for 6 years subsequently before I gave it up. Salad days...
05-29-12, 11:05 AM
#61
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definite hobbiest... throw in newbie too.. but its taken hold of me and now is a part of my day to day life...
05-29-12, 11:57 AM
#63
Vello Kombi, baby
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Hobbyist. Although local shops call sometimes to borrow the VAR30 or some other obscure tool I have.
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05-29-12, 11:59 AM
#64
You gonna eat that?
You need a third category. Hacker or something. I probably come in there.
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05-29-12, 12:01 PM
#65
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Where is the option for simple hoarder?
05-29-12, 12:06 PM
#66
Hogosha Sekai
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Where's the mad bike scientist option actually?
05-29-12, 12:30 PM
#68
Banned.
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05-29-12, 01:06 PM
#69
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i got into C&V a couple years ago because i had gotten sick of my swimming career after 21 years and wanted another way to be active without staring at the black line at the bottom of a pool. i went back to cycling, where i had been through the middle part of the 80s. back then, i was a racer and stopped riding a bike when i stopped racing. coming back to it, i decided i wanted to have fun messing about with vintage steel, and made what i thought was a firm commitment to not return to racing.
that fell apart pretty quickly, and i sold off a good deal of the C&V stuff i'd acquired and picked up a CAAD9-1/Dura Ace machine and jumped back in to the race scene and have been having a good time the last couple years. i still have the Grandis with Campy Victory gruppo, to be changed at some point for a black Veloce set .....
i'm not much of a wrencher, and racing does nothing but cost me money, so....i guess i'm a ....hobbyist?
that fell apart pretty quickly, and i sold off a good deal of the C&V stuff i'd acquired and picked up a CAAD9-1/Dura Ace machine and jumped back in to the race scene and have been having a good time the last couple years. i still have the Grandis with Campy Victory gruppo, to be changed at some point for a black Veloce set .....
i'm not much of a wrencher, and racing does nothing but cost me money, so....i guess i'm a ....hobbyist?
05-29-12, 01:42 PM
#70
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05-29-12, 01:57 PM
#71
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Does paid coop mechanic count as pro? Because that's how I voted.
Definitely not a profession at 10 hours a week, but first refusal of what comes in the door and some walkin' around town money makes it enjoyable.
Definitely not a profession at 10 hours a week, but first refusal of what comes in the door and some walkin' around town money makes it enjoyable.
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05-29-12, 02:03 PM
#72
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Note the uncanny resemblance:
Coincidence?
Ha! I think not!
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05-30-12, 08:01 PM
#73
Ride, Wrench, Swap, Race
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When I raced motorcycles in the late 1980's, there were guys who corpor'ized their gig into "So and So's Racing Enterprise" or similar title, in order to itemize their expenses against taxable winnings. Other guys may have just given a phony SS# to the guy taking their entry fees, but I think the others enjoyed their pro status emblazoned on their trailer, perhaps even more than their profit.
I worked through my 9 years of schooling as a mechanical engineer, with, among other jobs, a few relatively short stints at bike shops and a metro "commuter bike-station", positions that got me entry into almost 20 Interbike "vacations". And when I was finally an M.E., I still did the 5-day show (vacation) in Anaheim or Las Vegas, 2 days outdoor demo and 3 days inside, the third (last) day spent stocking up on sundries from distributors int'l and domestic.
Mostly though, bicycle mechanics and riding/training/racing keeps me busy when more-lucrative jobs get outsourced, re-contracted to another vendor or just plain finished.
I could relate to Robbie's summary:
"I'm just:
"that guy in that house over there-he fixes bikes."
"that guy over there on that steel bike, ask him..."
"the guy in Nashville may have some parts for that...
"..if he doesn't have it, you'll have to look on the internet."
"that old guy over there, he may buy that thing.."
"the bike shop told me to call you...."
"why are those women laughing?"
And possibly explaining any untold laughter: "that dude that raids the dumpster every other day".
I worked through my 9 years of schooling as a mechanical engineer, with, among other jobs, a few relatively short stints at bike shops and a metro "commuter bike-station", positions that got me entry into almost 20 Interbike "vacations". And when I was finally an M.E., I still did the 5-day show (vacation) in Anaheim or Las Vegas, 2 days outdoor demo and 3 days inside, the third (last) day spent stocking up on sundries from distributors int'l and domestic.
Mostly though, bicycle mechanics and riding/training/racing keeps me busy when more-lucrative jobs get outsourced, re-contracted to another vendor or just plain finished.
I could relate to Robbie's summary:
"I'm just:
"that guy in that house over there-he fixes bikes."
"that guy over there on that steel bike, ask him..."
"the guy in Nashville may have some parts for that...
"..if he doesn't have it, you'll have to look on the internet."
"that old guy over there, he may buy that thing.."
"the bike shop told me to call you...."
"why are those women laughing?"
And possibly explaining any untold laughter: "that dude that raids the dumpster every other day".
