Sixty Fiver

I am a professional amateur... I treat every bike I work on as if it was my own or belonged to my wife or daughters.

Mr. Beanz

I honestly don't believe the "rush the mickey mouse job" theory myself. Being an inspector, I have worked along side many inspectors that accept junk just to be done with the job. I can't do that myself. Doing weld destruct inspection on rear axles, I was expected to measure weld penetration on a comparator, 5 dimensions each at 44 points of the assembly. I could not get myself to do what the others were doing, pulling out a ruler to measure while the boss wasn't looking. The correct way was to inspect the parts on the optical comparator. Some people just suck and don't give a darn no matter what the situation.

I tell you, I have one god bud that works at a shop. If and if he ever has to touch my bikes, I can count on it to be correct the first time.

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comes in at 30 seconds into the video

My buddy Mark at Competitve Edge Rancho (for the locals)

Rowan

I don't buy this argument. The professional has a huge advantage -- or should -- in having access to quality tools, and s/he should have up-to-the-minute knowledge on almost every aspect of bicycle wrenching.

Like any job, repetition of tasks produces efficiencies. The amateur wrench is not doing the same job day-in, day-out and therefore is naturally going to be slower in any given task compared with the professional counterpart.

And often in a shop the simple solution is to instal a new part and to not strip down and service what's already there. It means (or should) that inventory in the shop will be much much more comprehensive than most home mechanics will have, and the pro mechanic only has to lay his hands on the required item to be ready to install it.

There are enough bad-service stories on here to suggest that a lot of mechanics don't care enough, as Sixty Fiver points out. But at the same time, I am sure there are a number of very good, careful mechanics who are equally efficient and proficient... it's just that we don't get to hear the happy customers extolling their virtues very often.

cyccommute 

Therein lies the problem. A happy customer isn't going to complain or post on the interwebs. An angry customer is. That biases the results.

Additionally, how many home mechanics are really going to talk about all the times that they have done something wrong? How many are going to admit to twisting off a bolt, installing a headset wrong, cross threading a bottom bracket, etc? It takes a lot of time and a lot of ruined parts to become truly proficient at being a bicycle mechanic, especially the home/amateur/shade tree/whatever-you-want-to-call-them variety. Often, in a shop environment, a mechanic can't afford to make those kinds of mistakes because of the shop's bottom line. But mistakes are often more instructive than doing it right day in and day out.

bradtx

Mr. Beanz, I'm not one that works on my bikes because of a lack of professional talent in my area. I just like it, mistakes and all. One upside is that I can work on the bikes in the comfort of my living room, rather than in the garage as with my cars and motorcycles.

Building my first touring bike earlier this year was great fun as the build was out of my road/mountain bike comfort zone. As usual planning and research minimized my mistakes. This was a timely build as it happens the exceptional drought we're experiancing in Texas has played havoc on our country roads. With it's 35 mm tires the touring bike has been used extensively in place of the road bike.

Brad

Mr. Beanz

That's prolly the biggest part! Not to mention the biggest reward of all, looking down at the shiny spokes spinning and smooth running bike thinking "did I do that?"

NCbiker

That line cracked me up