Bicycle Mechanics - A great mechanic

I hear a constant moaning and complaining about really bad mechanics but nothing about the good ones. So, I'm posting about a real positive experience I had recently. I live in the Cleveland OH area and couldn't find a competent Campy wrench anywhere in the North Ohio area. I called every shop from Akron, Clev, Youngstown and Lorain/Medina County. I'll bet 90% of the shops I called didn't have a wrench who knew anything about Campy or stocked their parts. Finally I stumbled on Mike at Parkside and he fixed me up real nice. He was the only mechanic who was willing to upgrade my Campy Chorus 8 speed wheels to 9/10 speed. He really knows Campy and bikes in general. If you are ever in the area and need to special order a part or get your Italian bike worked on he's the guy.

http://www.parksidecyclery.com/

Phone 440-260-0639

Tim

I'm surprised that no one has responded to a post on a good mechanic. Had this been about a bad experience there would have been 100 post so far. Doesn't anyone have a story on a good mechanic?

Tim

I think it is great to post the good ones.

My mechanic, whose also a good friend, is the only person I let touch my bikes. The bad part is he's not in the bike business fulltime anymore... :( At least I know how to get in touch with him (he is my friend afterall)!

Nice to hear some praise towards a mechanic. On behalf of all mechanics: Thank You!

Yeah, I posted something good that apparently the owner of the store got ahold of...But no replies here? WTF?

Ok, I'll bite. The mechanic I go to is the Head Mechanic for the Latvian National team. He's an ex-racer from way back. He was showing me a set of wooden rims he used to race on last time I was there! I'd say he's the best wrench in Latvia. He's as honest as the day is long, has the least expensive parts around, and is completly unpretensious. I've seen Magnas' next to Merckxs' on his repair stands. His attitiude is "Well, if it's all you can afford at least you are riding!"

Most of the hard core commuters (you need to be pretty hard core to survive the Latvian winter on a bike!) and messengers go to him as well as the racers. Last time I was there I had him do a complete tear down on a bike. When I asked him how much it cost he just kind of looked at me like; What do you mean how much does it cost? You bought it here didn't you? After careful consideration he asked me for 1 Latvian Lat, which is about two dollars. That place rocks!