bicycle mechanic program ?

[bikeb]

hi,
i'm seriously considering taking some bicycle mechanic courses (leaning toward BBI). could you give me any info. on being a bike mechanic? i'd be interested in knowing about the following:

*basic job description (day in the life)
*pay range (average starting > top)
*likes/dislikes about the job (hazards?)
*job security (is a bike mechanic in always in demand?, should i plan on finding something else to do in the winter if i'm not in Fla.?)
*do you need to be an avid biker to fit in with a good bike shop? (i like casual bike rides whenever it's nice out, but that's about it.)
*what qualifications (specific certificates) should someone have to start out in the field?
*what are the more respectable programs that would get me hired?
...anything else you'd feel would be important before enrolling in a bike program.

any answers to any of these questions would be much appreciated.
Thank you! :)

[Pickle Head]

It's been a while since I worked in them (spent time in 4 different NoVa shops), but can maybe answer you.

1. basic job - if your lucky it's just the shop (wheel truing, basic maintance, bike building (with exception of the shops that bring in contractors to do this) only occasionally do you get the high end custom job). Other wise you wind up helping out on the sales floor, taking out the garbage, cleaing the crapper, etc...

2. Don't know where it tops, but I was only racking in around 12.50 an hour. This wasn't my lively hood, if you need to do this to put food on the table, I'd look else where.

3. No real hazards. Also depends on the kind of people you work with. I spent time with drug dealers, ex con, high school drop outs, a PhD that couldn't find work. If you don't mind that environment its fun, but it gets old listening to the drug dealer talk about his hummer in the parking lot and the drop out talking about how they are homelss (call me shallow). Biggest downside for me was the burnout. You spend 8-10hrs a day wrenching, riding and talking shop. After 4 yrs of it, the last thing I wanted to do at the end of the day was touch my bike.

4. don't need to be an avid biker, just atleast like riding. See above about the gamut of people working in shops.

5. you can take the school, but unless a shop has a need for a highly skilled person, you wind up just being an entry level until you work your way up.

I'm planning on taking some of the course in Colorado, but only for my own personal fun. Maybe a side business rebuildilng forks or the like, but I don't plan on buring out again.

My $.02
Pickle Head

[bikeb]

pickle head--THANK YOU for your knowledge that you have shared....really cut through some of the more sugar-coated descriptions that i've heard elsewhere.

[Pickle Head]

Bikeb -
I reread my post and thouht I sounded a bit synical. I did have fun. It's probable like all jobs. Its fun at first, but the moment it turns into "work" it isn't fun anymore. I did learn a lot, met some really cool customers and got some nice discounts.

And I've got stories about theft (other's thieving, not me!!!) that I could write a book on. An entire mountain bike, an entire campy record groupo, serotta frame, clothing, tires, c02 cartdridges it was crazy. Makes for good camp fire stories. I watched the manager of the once open nashbar in Falls Church rebuild his bike before every weekly race and then write off the parts as stolen/repairs.

[drevil]

Going to a bicycle mechanic school may help you get a job, but might not raise your pay much more than the guy who wasn't "professionally" trained but has a lot of years under his/her belt. It's definitely a labor of love.

Pickle Head described very well what it is like working in a shop. I was a college dropout working full-time in three different shops for a total of seven years. If you are going to do this as your main job, you either have to learn to live meagerly, or move back in with your parents. :o