The good and bad of being a bike shop employee (not a rant)

"ktw's" ??? known time wasters....

Good, infinite tools and places to work on your bike (i have to wait until after hours though)

Bad, in my case, pay, and stupid customers that cant recognize that a hardrock is not a blackmarket mob and a huffy isnt an enduro expert.

Good: people.

Bad: people.

the good: qbp, bti, ep, and all the wonderful hardware, misc chain links, solvents, and lubes youll ever need

the bad: as stated above - working in the summer while knowing your personal bike needs wrenching, and then not riding b/c you fixed bikes for 9hrs and want nothing more to do with bikes for the day.

also, people who dont know how to use grip shift bc nobody properly explained it to them and they complain and bring their bikes in several times because "it wont shift" or "ticks" and it turns out they cant fathom why when the gear indicator is 100% perfectly lined up with the "2" on the front shifter, it doesnt always work

you don't make sh1t. Making more money + no discounts will leave you with more money to buy nice/expensive bikes then making no money and having discounts.

Good: EP,EP, EP, and EP! The atmosphere of a tight knit shop, the shop dog, hot cycling chicks that want a bike fit(rare one there!), seeing wheels you've built that are still true and strong years later, TIRE BALL, the people who always request you to service their stuff, solving an issue that you've never seen before, pointing out the "Not Meant for Off-Road Use" sticker on Wal-Mart bikes, fixing a repair that another shop couldn't, GETTING TIPPED IN BEER, having a long list of riding buddies, turning a counter full of parts into an amazing bicyle, BIKE RODEO, showing an engineer how to mount a computer, tire changing races, Gore's incentive program, and, of course, GETTING TIPPED IN BEER!

Bad: "Well, I was just riding along...", recumbent fanatics, cutting your knuckles on chainrings and disc rotors, the sales floor, watching the weather get nicer as your riding time goes down, being overwhelmed out the ass in the summer, the pay, getting a repair that absolutely stumps you when you can least afford it, SLIME TUBES, tubeless conversion kits, seized/frozen spoke nipples, cheap ass mechanical disc brakes, FENDER INSTALLS, checking a new bike over for a test ride and finding out that it was assembled by a monkey, seeing bikes every day that are WAY nicer than yours, not getting tipped in beer, struggling forever to mount a really tight fit tire only to discover that you put it on backwards, cheap ass grip shifters, seized bottom brackets, people who pinch flat and want a warranty tube, people who don't understand what "Closed" means, talking to someone forever about a bike only to have them buy it somewhere else, that guy who has to try everything in the store and never buys anything, and, last but not least, trying to carefully explain to a fat guy why he keeps breaking spokes...always a tough one!


Ha...may have had more bads than goods, but I love the shop atmosphere! Been the best job ever and I will truly miss it when I move on to something else. I just wish I had some pics of the crazy crap I've seen over the years!

good: showing up drunk, being told by the boss to stay in the back (mechanic zone) and keep drinking all day

good: getting stoned on lunch break with every single other employee (and the shop manager)

good: using the bench grinder to turn spokes into spears, then launching them out of the air compressor at the cardboard cutout of lance armstrong

good: eating doritos while bleeding brakes with dot4 WAIT WHAT

bad: the whack pack.

bad: guy from the whack pack trying to sell us a kickstand he found on the side of a trail

KavuRider said:

Good: people.

Bad: people.

Click to expand...

Correct.

I love working with customers, even the dumb ones. I dislike some of my coworkers for their ethics, or lack there of. I like the EP... but I don't make much, so it doesn't really work out that well. A bike shop is one of the least growing jobs.. i.e. you can't go very high as far as promotions go. There are lots of girls that wander into bikeshops... with high skirts and low tops, which often makes all of the negative things about bikeshops not even matter anymore.

Ah man, this thread is a gem. I just reminisced through the last 5 years of my life at warp speed.
Allow me to add, and reiterate:

The good: Mr. FixIt dad comes in with his son or daughter's 20in coaster and hand brake bike saying "I've tried everything, but the back brake is locked up, you take the bike, spin the handlebars around because the brake cable is wound up, spin the wheel to show him that it works fine now, and saying "there's no charge for that." A fridge full of nothing but tipped beer and maybe an old container of hummus. Passing the whack pack on the biggest climb of the Tuesday night "enthusiasts" group ride wearing cut off jeans on your fixed gear as the $7,000 bike riding lawyer trying to draft you says "jeans!?! You're gonna be hurting tomorrow," and joking with the other employees later "sir, this ride is 16 miles at 14 mph, I think I'll be okay." Getting tipped in beer. Watching someone come in to drool over a bike for months, then one day, after finally saving up the money, riding it out of the store. Giving that guy some free schwag, a surprise discount, or just meeting him for a ride that Sunday. Working at a shop who's hours Sunday hours are listed as "Sunday, we ride." Never, ever, ever paying retail. Your first wheel build. Your first "is (your name here) here?" customer.

The bad:
Switching from the tight knit, rider owned shop to the corporate outdoor retailer when you move away for college and can't get a job. Realizing that you're getting excited about bikes with XT rear derailers once you start working there because you're so used to sh!t-boxes and budget mountain bikes. The corporate outdoor retailer not having any beer in their fridge. Hangovers + needing to use rubbing alcohol to clean anything. Hangovers + the Saturday morning crowd at the corporate outdoor retailer . "Triathletes" and their budget mountain bikes. Folding bikes when not used for wheelying. Three wheeled bicycles of any configuration. No time for riding. No monnnneeyyyy.

Bad: answering the phone.. "So I ordered a bike from you guys the other day, but I can't remember which one it was.. can you figure that out for me?" Stubborn bolts that make a snapping sound and smell like burning when you finally get them loose. Having a customer stand in the shop area and hang over your shoulder watching you work on their bike until you have to say: "Please step outswide the shop area sir, it's against our insurance policy." (even though thats complete bs) Working on costco/walmart bikes, then having to politely explain to the owner that you couldn't do much to fix their problem because their problem was buying such a piece of sh1t in the first place. Not having enough room for bike boxes because your boss is too stingy to buy another storage container when he commutes 20+ miles via an F350 every day..

Good: The more bikes you build, the more test rides/breaks you get. Being stoned and working at the farthest workstand from the customers, thus not having to deal with any. Working with friends. Saving all the clear chainstay protectors/cable rub protectors and sticking them on your buddy's neck when they aren't paying attention. Roasting flies in the shop with an aerosol can + lighter. When business is slow, being able to work on your own bike while on the clock. Free parts/parts at cost.

The Good

• Cost on parts
• Making mistakes on someone else's bike
• Making fun of customers
• always the best parts on your bike
• always the right tool
• meeting some pretty hot chicks
• getting a bottle or 12'er from the occasional cutomer
• catching shoplifters
• shop pranks and shennanigans
• riding every bike known to man at least once
• Refusing to work on box store bikes
• knowing where all the trails are

The Bad

• Poor wages
• working indoors
• retarded co-workers
• mostly working on junk
• Fat chicks
• Cutomers who have to "watch you" work on thier bike
• Fixing other mechanics work
• Hearing the phrase "I was just riding along"
• UPS days
• ruined clothes

Good- working at a shop is fun for kids, but there are less than 20 shops in the country (maybe up into the NBDA top 50) where skilled adults aren't forced to get wasted and steal from the management to make the ****ty hours, low pay and lack of respect from customers and the boss worthwhile. It's a great way to start making connections in the industry, but it takes a decade or so until you really have much mobility.

I've managed 3 shops. Owners make all the difference. All 3 of the owners I worked with were cheap douchebags that seemed to want their business to fail. If you have any ambition, don't plan on staying long. Try to make connections for a rep job, or ideally leave with some of your friends and start a shop that doesn't suck. If you have a clear plan and a clearly defined customer base, you can run a somewhat stable shop with 2 or 3 guys that will give you more satisfaction and a little bit more cash in your pocket when you need it.

I see more and more service and specialty rider-owned shops popping up. If you dig the lifestyle, just start your own shop. Then when your life sucks, you can blame yourself!

It's retail. Unless you **** it up you should be profitable after a year.

It's a **** load more responsibility, but adding value to your lives and the lives of your buddies is ****ing sick. It's like building trails.

the bad is easy. spending all day working on crap bikes. nobody likes polishing turds

sealclubber said:

the bad is easy. spending all day working on crap bikes. nobody likes polishing turds

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throwing bolts through the spinning wheels of huffys was fun though.

The good: shooting ball bearings out of the air compressor
The bad: accidently puncturing the air compressor tube with the aforementioned ball bearings