Bike Gremlin

Sorry if it's a stupid question. I did use the search button. Anyway: started working part time at a LBS (after work I do 4 hours in the afternoon/evening). Are there any tips from experienced people who worked at LBSs?

I do mechanic work. What I want to do is get more quick. I can do all but wheel building and truing which is what I want to learn. In may it is a real mess - loads of bikes, but I expect and hope that in june there'll be some time to learn from experienced mechanics at the shop. For now I just do the rest work as fast as I can. In order to do a good job, it takes me about 45 minutes to change cables and housings, tune brakes and derailleurs for example, hope I'll get faster with time. I'm payed almost minimum wage per hour so I make about 3 times money I get paid, so no loss for the owner, and my main goal is learning skills and working on my own later, for fun and extra money.

chriskmurray

Ask the more experienced mechanics for tips.

Think everything through, wasted steps cost a lot of time. Even things as simple as thinking about what to do next can add up as far as time goes. Especially for common things like tune ups and building bikes, develop a pattern and always follow it. Not only will you become quicker but you will be less likely to forget a set. I usually start from the front of the bike and work my way back when building a bike. Tune ups I will always drop the wheels first, clean everything, adjust brakes/drivetrain followed by going through the wheels.

A good evaluation of the bike before you start takes less than a minute to realize if you need to replace cables/pads or bearings, doing this BEFORE you start to adjust them makes a lot more sense because you do not waste time trying to make bad parts work and then having to replace in the end anyways. This happens surprisingly a lot, especially with cables.

Don't focus too much on being quick, just try to be efficient by removing unnecessary steps and the speed will come in time as adjusting/replacing stuff becomes almost like muscle memory.

ClarkinHawaii

I'm a little confused here--the wheels need to be reinstalled before you can adjust brakes/drivetrain, so why would you not go over the wheels while you have them removed the first time?

mconlonx

Part of a tune up should include truing wheels, so if you aren't down with that yet, get another mechanic to show you. You could also pick up the basics off YouTube. Same with swapping out a broken spoke. There's not much call for wheel building, so no worries there.

Do have an experienced mechanic check out your work and learn from what they tell you. Skills and quickness come with time and experience.

Alleycatdad

Slow is fast. Smooth is fast. Rushing means you'll get to back up or do things twice. Speed comes with experience.

SA

deacon mark

Learn to build a wheel start with the front they are easy. Then go to the rear that is the only way to do it. Frankly you can buy some cheap wheels and take them a part then do all the measurements and see if the spoke calculator comes out as to what the wheel actually is and the spoke lengths. Then build the wheel back up. There are mechanics at the LBS that cannot build wheels and true them and everyone has to learn sometime if they are a true bike mechanic. I really do not consider a person a full mechanic till they can build and true wheels.

The difference between myself and a real pro is the speed at which they work. I can handle almost anything but I work slow and since it is my bike it does not matter. Working in a shop requires some speed along with skill.

chriskmurray

As you should be.... Don't reply to forum posts late at night while exhausted! See how even posting is inefficient when you do not think everything through, this was just a lesson....

Not sure how I mixed that up but I do drop the wheels first followed by cleaning everything I plan to clean, and then go through the wheels, put them back in the bike (making sure completely bottomed in the drop outs by putting the bike on the ground and opening/closing the QRs) and go through the rest.

ClarkinHawaii

Thanks, Chris--I enjoyed looking at your website--do you recommend Weebly?

chriskmurray

Thanks! I actually really like the layout and how easy it is to use/edit. This is good for me because I am much better at building wheels than I am building websites! Right now I just use the free version because my side business is mostly for fun but you can pay a little extra and open up a lot of options like a proper URL. Happy to answer more but at that point I would ask that you just message me so we do not hijack the thread too bad!

Andrew R Stewart 

To my view ( and I've both worked for others as well as owned a shop for 15 years) a good mechanic isn't a fast one. They won't be slow either. But they do the job in an order which saves steps/time and don't leave stuff out, then do it again and again for their day's clocking in. In time a mechanic can look mat a bike (say, during the ticket write up) and mentally view it at different states of service. I see the work flow and note the points of hindrance and mere conformation. But all those points need to at least be confirmed. I see many bikes that were recently tuned up by other shops and are in our shop (say for a fitting or flat fix) and the hub bearings are too tight. So either the other shop's tune up doesn't adjust hub bearings or their mechanic didn't bother to fully follow the shop's policy. Andy.

Looigi

+1. Wrenching is a deliberate process and not rushed. With some experience and thought, you streamline the work flow and process eliminating extraneous steps and doing things right the first time. And of course, keep your tools and supplies reasonably well organized so you don't waste time searching for one.

Bike Gremlin

Until the end of May, there will be loads of bikes every day. So mechanics don't have the time to show me anything. I was told to fix what I know and leave the rest to them. So I do all but wheels truing/building. After may, I will sign for 3 instead of 4 hours if they are willing to show me how to build/true wheels. I also asked if it will be possible to get some written off bike to practice on for free. But it will take time. For now I'm happy as long as they are pleased with the bikes I finish, so they don't have to fix what I worked. But I'd like to get faster.

dscheidt

I've never made a living as a bike mechanic, but I have as an auto mechanic. I worked flat rate (which means if the shop book says a job takes an hour, I get paid (and the customer pays ) for an hour, whether the job takes two hours or 10 minutes. So there's an incentive to work fast, and correctly (because you don't get paid to fix your mistakes!). The keys to working fast for me were:

1) experience. Once you've done a job a number of times, you know how it goes, you know what parts you need, what tools you need, what fasteners will need replacing, and the right way to do it. Can't do much about that one, except by practice.
2) organization. Figure out a way to lay out your tools, your parts, and other supplies so that you can get to what you need quickly, without having to rummage through a pile. You might not have enough space for that, but do the best you can. If you have to leave your workstation to fetch a special tool or a part, think about what else you need to get to finish the job, so you can leave just once.
3) tools. Having the right tools, and good quality tools, saves a bunch of time. A set of Y shaped hex wrenches gives you the most commonly used hex wrenches, without having to go look for the right one. Things like that can save a bunch of time. Tools can be expensive, and figuring out which ones are worth spending money on is part of experience.