Folding Bikes - Anyone worked for Bike Friday?

I am thinking of applying for a job there as a bike builder/mechanic and I want to see what the culture is like there.

Do they encourage cross training? Say I want to learn how to build frames, would they be willing to apprentice me?

How big is the company? How many bike builders are there? How satisfied are the employees with their jobs there?

How much do you think the bike builder/mechanic job would pay?

What is their history with layoffs?

Anyone have firsthand experience with Bike Friday?

Call them and ask them. I have visited their shop and they are open to all and any questions. Even better take a trip up there and visit them. It would take less than a day to drive to Eugene from the Bay area.

I have several friends that work/have worked there and know one of the brothers that owns the place. They are a very "Green" company and hope to go off the energy grid. Everyone is expected to do more than one job and they will train you for the jobs so you are qualified to do them. They do a lot of group things like lunch time bike rides. Owners are very nice people and are there most of the time. It isn't a very big company as far as staff is concerned and they use an interesting manufacturing system. It is based loosely on Toyotas "just in time" system so there are not piles of parts, frames, wheel etc. sitting around as those items are made/bought as needed. The more skills and and things you can do the happier you would be there. I have no idea what they pay but believe they have a dividend system where all get more if the company makes more. Roger

I'd recommend taking a tour. They are very friendly and open to answering questions. If you are honest about your desires and expectations from a job there I'm sure they'll give you straight up answers as to how you'd fit into the organization.

A call first would get you the basic info needed to decide if they are hiring and if the travel to Eugene was worth it.

I visited BF HQ 3 times and it seems to have a good vibe with employees happy. I'd be happy around all those Minty fresh Bike Fridays.

that the 'Full Monty' Vic? :D

You'd have to understand and like Eugene to work at Bike Friday, IMO.

If I had to work (fortunately, I don't) I'd seriously consider a sales job - with cross-training in Mfg/Repair - at Bike Friday. (I spent 25 years selling tele-communications equipment.)

We live part of the time in Vancouver, WA (Portland Metro area) and get by there several times a year to purchase parts/merchandise. Our daughter and son-in-law also graduated from the U of O and as a part of that, we owned a large, old house in Eugene from '86 to '92 (it was college rental housing). Eugene is where hippydom went after Haight/Ashbury and still resides.

I also worked in a 15 employee trailer furnace factory in the late 50's-early 60's, and Bike Friday has the same small company, metal-working smell. Bikes are BIG in Eugene (just like in Portland), so YES, as previously recommended, visit Eugene and Bike Friday and see if it is a fit for you.....and GO DUCKS!!!

Lou

P.S. Our daughter and son-in-law, who are the U of O graduates, also ride Bike Fridays.