adlai

I was thinking today that middle and high schools should teach bicycle mechanics. Especially for a lot of young people, a bicycle would be a great way to transport without having to worry about insurance, gas, and the rest. Anyone know if their local high school teaches it? Frankly, I think that the bicycle industry should be subsidizing bicycle shop classes in high schools.

_ForceD_

Is there interest in something like that in your area? It would be awesome, but I think kids just don’t ride bikes that’s much. Or…perhaps eBike maintenance would be more practical.

Dan

wheelreason

Nope, the trades makes more sense. HVAC apprentices make $40k to start.

WGB 

https://www.niagarathisweek.com/news...5deeecc2a.html

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Massive bike donation wheeled into Broken Spoke in the nick of time

This guy teaches kids at school how to service a bike and then the collect an rebuild bikes for charities.

Please note the program has delivered 18,000 bikes around the world

mstateglfr 

My kid's school has a bicycle section of learning where they work on refurbishing bikes- tear em down and rebuild, basically. They learn about gear ratios and simple machine processes while gaining some real world task skills.
It's a 7th and 8th grade lesson segment.



Back in 2020 during covid spring, I had my then 13yo build up an 80s road frame with me. She had to do all the wrenching and I would only help if more force was needed.
That was part of her school lessons. I then had her read about some physics concepts and write how they applied to the bicycle. Another lesson was understanding gear ratios.
Teach what you know, I guess.



As for a class in bicycle mechanics, it can be a 2 week section of science or practical life. It doesn't need to be a full semester.

Maelochs

Pretty sure there are not a lot of career opportunities there ...... I hear a lot more about bike shops shutting down than opening up .....

Also, to be meaningful, there would need to be some industry standard ... plenty of bad mechanics at bike shops already.

50PlusCycling

As a former bicycle mechanic who worked in a well-known shop, I wouldn’t recommend bike repair as a career. If you like living with roommates to share your rent (or living with your parents), and eating lots of instant ramen, you might get by on a bike mechanic’s wages. If you are reasonably bright, you can learn the trade in a year, it doesn’t require a great deal of training or experience. And, because it doesn’t require that much skill, it doesn’t pay that much.

I went to work in a bike shop without any formal training. As a kid I had learned to patch tubes, install tires, as well as replace broken parts. The rest of the trade I learned on the job, but even the higher arts of bike repair, like wheel building, are not that difficult to acquire. I earned a princely $4 an hour to start, and as shop manager, I earned $10 an hour, about one-third what a car mechanic earned at the time. Your average Joe can fix 90% of bike problems with access to YouTube and a $50 bike tool kit from Amazon.

That said, there are some people who love the trade, and can make ends meet despite what it pays. If you love what you do, and are happy with what it pays, you are blessed.

Kabuki12

In the mid seventies , after high school , I took a cycling class at a local community college . The idea was to teach basic riding skills and maintenance for personal use. It was not a vocational class. Even back then , bicycle mechanics was not a common career choice. I’m not sure if the wages paid are a living wage.

SurferRosa

​​​​​​Seriously? The op is 64 words.

wolfchild

Bike mechanic is not a job, it's a hobby...Working as a bike mechanic is not going to pay your bills and save money for retirement...Skilled trades are far more interesting and profitable and that's where young people should be going into. There is future in skilled trades, there is no future working for minimum wage as a bike mechanic.

indyfabz

I know a guy who had a job as a bike mechanic for a long time. He built up my custom road frame.

He now owns his own shop, which is very popular. Don’t believe everything you read on the Internet, especially from certain people.

https://www.twistedcog.com

Jughed

A few thousand high school kids in a big city learning the trade - every year, year after year... out of that you get a handful of opportunities like the guy you know. The big city may support 10-20 guys owning their own shops - vs the 1000's that are trained. Now you have a saturated market of trained bike mechanics, bringing the pay even lower. The demand simply just isn't there, nor is the pay.

A parallel - when you hear people say things like "don't work for the man", "control your own destiny", "start your own business" - sure, they have a point. A point that is relevant for a few people. If everyone did it - then the business would be worthless.

Bike shop vs electrician or plumber - the latter pays more, much more, has more available jobs, more room for growth - work your way up to general foreman and you flat make a good living. And for the few like your buddy, the ones with what it takes to move into ownership positions - now you are talking about building wealth.

I do heavy industrial construction engineering and management - good craft are worth their weight in gold. Foremans make $$$, superintendents make $$$$$, business owners can make $$$$$$$$.

dedhed

I know very few guys who don't knock down $100K in a 9 month highway/underground construction season here. Many contractors paying over scale to attract/retain employees. Lots of guys retiring on $5-7K/month pensions.

Jughed

And the majority of that work can't be automated, can't be done by AI, can't be done by "high value" employees overseas.

Ironfish653

I don't think there's enough career value to devote the necessary resources to present it as a high school class in a typical public school system; unless you get into the isoteric fields like frame building, shock maintenance, or E-bike drive maintenance, the latter two of which probably require tp"Train-the-Trainer" type certification (again, more resources)

Something like the Broken Spoke program, which sounds more like an extracurricular Club or outreach program; or a not-for-credit class at the community college Kabuki12 mentioned, would face fewer obstacles getting off the ground, and attract a broader student base.

I was in Scouts growing up, and we would usually plan a Bike-Hike as one of our monthly activities; generally as part of the Cycling Merit Badge program.
A couple of years, in the run-up to the Bike-Hike, we had the owner/manager of the LBS as a "guest presenter" at on of the Troop meetings to do a presentation on maintenance/safety.
I think that got more of us into the shop, when it was time to move up to "grown -up bikes" much to the chagrin of our parents
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BTinNYC 

I strongly disagree with the premise that HS classes should lead to a career. The kids should be learning to manage their minds and bodies. History, science, civics, math, sports and arts. Corporate America will get ahold them soon enough.

chaadster

It might be nice— and a source of an easy A— to teach kids basic bicycle maintenance in the schools, but it’s scarcely important or significant. It only takes about 2 days to learn all one needs to know gor that, so not much impediment to picking that up anytime, say off YouTube videos.

What would be great would be a section on how to ride roads, so that people aren’t going around like idiots. I’m sure it could prevent deaths and go a way towards converting some to commuting or to making short trips by bike rather than car, so I’d argue such a class is more important and significant than bike mechanics/maintenance.

indyfabz

Thanks for confirming my point, which is that it can happen, which is contrary to what the person I was responding to asserted. You see, he often trolls in absolutes and defernites, which are usually incorrect.

mpetry912 

learning to fix a bike helps kids learn some really valuable skills for life

- observation and analysis
- critical thinking
- experimentaion and problem solving

these are all valuable life skills that a short course in bike maintenance can help young people learn

note that these skills are bard to teach, but they can be learned thru experience and exposure to situations

/markp

adlai

That is a bot/spam account. It should be banned and deleted.

adlai

I also mean as like general usage for bicycles. Not necessarily a career at all, more for general transportation. A lot of people simply don't know the intricacies of cycling, don't know any maintenance. As a result, they drive everywhere. It's a very useful life skill to have.

One Wheel

Bike mechanics is a great thing for kids to learn. Old, beater bikes are cheap, every parent should spend $100 to pick up half a dozen, a set of Allen keys, and a couple of crescent wrenches. My brother-in-law started with wrenching on bikes as a teenager, now he uses the skills that he started to develop doing that to earn a good living as a mechanic at a local car dealership.

Maelochs

Well, wouldn't it be more relevant and more effective to teach people to driver wisely?

chaadster

Ostensibly we have that, although now that drivers’ ed has been largely (totally?) privatized, who knows what is being taught and who can change it? Are they teaching bicycle safety, and if so, it is particular to your city or area, or just general principles?

Whatever the case may be in one’s state, county, city or township with regards to driver training, that has nothing to do with whether cyclists are riding like asses, idiots, or whatever, so I thing some bicycle riding training would be a good thing on that count.

RidingMatthew

i am in the wrong line of work.