A new(ish) venture

[twain]

at the moment, my working life revolves around my email inbox. (and occasionally the retrobike forum )

i want to change this as i hate sitting on my posterior all day.
i'm a far more practically minded person and i love bicycles.
so i just answered an ad for a bicycle mechanic.

all sorts of thoughts are running through my head, but i guess what i want to see is if anyone has done something similar to this?

who here makes their bread doing this kind of work?
where has it led you?
one of my concerns is the pay. at the moment, im being paid the most i've been paid since graduating (back in 2005). its not amazing, but its helping me along with this 'saving money for a house deposit malarky'.

i have no idea what kind of basic salary to expect with this kind of job, nor do i know its maximum potential......
i'd like to get a clearer picture of exactly how this job shapes up (if thats possible) or at least gain more of an understanding of the culture of it.... if any of that makes sense.

maybe just comment on what you think of your job as a bicycle mechanic and we can go from there...

So, who does what on here then?:?:

 

[FluffyChicken]

LGF batted for teh otehr side for a while err I mean worked in Halfords.
Some others do.

Andy B works in an independent bike shop.

Some others run there own.

So they should have advice coming along.

My guess and from what I gather, they don't pay a lot, well in the UK.
May be once you get out to working with team, say like Red Bull, I don't know ?

Though what sort of mechanic in what sort of position ?


EDITl: though I would probably add something in the title to attract the bike mechanics to this thread.

 

[jamabikes]

i am a part time bike mechanic. i am on 7.25/hour in north essex. i am only contracted for 9 hours a week. i am cyctech level 1 qualified but am doing levels 2 and 3 this year. most places wont touch anyone for a decent wage without some formal training. most places say formal training isn't worth a hill of beans. its a real catch 22 job.

 

[jamabikes]

realise that comes across as quite negative.

good bits:-

you learn how to maintain your bike and will never need to pay workshop prices for repairs

usually a good deal on buying new parts/bikes

get to spend your days talking about bikes

work at your own pace

get to stock up on all those fiddly bits that always come in handy during a build

in summary if they offered me a full time job i'd have trouble saying no, even though my main job (cycle instructor) pays more.

 

[cyfa2809]

^ how do you get paid that much?!

 

[jamabikes]

^ how do you get paid that much?!

I am the nuts.

 

[cyfa2809]

Me also. Hmmm. ? Haha.

 

[greenstiles]

I might be going back as a mechanic (was a cycle shop manager 3 years up until 2006 and mechanic 3 years previous to that)

Feel a bit out of touch with newer stuff, but if your mechanically minded and worked on many bikes before it's easy enough to work out and product websites are great these days if you need to find something out.

Take your time, if you have to rush only rush knowing that you have still double checked things and ridden the bike before it goes out, NEVER take shorts cuts without telling the customer or having their permission to leave a job half done or in your opinion unsafe.

The quality of the repairs reflects on the whole of the shop, reputation is everything !

Cash wise £7-£8 per hour if your just doing basic stuff and some sales. If you become a work shop manager £16-18k if your lucky in a big town.

 

[claret73]

All I can add to that is DON'T Apply to any 'Electrical' Short course training! You won't earn the 40-50k...

I've just applied for 2x positions into the bike Trade. One in Technical Support and the other linked to Marketing...I got 2 replies almost straight away for the 2 jobs I applied for. Been banging away at Sparks doors & not even a Thanks for your application...so, I feel the bike Trade at the mo have the morales...least on my experience.

 

[firedfromthecircus]

in summary if they offered me a full time job i'd have trouble saying no, even though my main job (cycle instructor) pays more.

This bit sounds interesting. What do you do as a cycle instructor? Who, where, how much? (if you don't mind me asking?)