ARider2

To get an ideal of what shops are paying all you have to do is check what bike shops are offering on CL. Pay varies dramatically based on location. Today I saw three different shops in the LA area looking to hire experienced bicycle mechanics (one ad said at least one year experience) for $15 to $18 per hour. I would expect bicycle mechanics with several years experience can expect a fair amount more per hour. Moreover, a chief mechanic (or "head mechanic") that manages a large bike shop's service department would have even higher pay.

Cyclist0108

Which is very unfortunate, because we, as a society, would all be much better off wherein someone in your position (or high school teachers, paramedics, etc) could afford to do so. Whatever became of rewarding honest, hard work?

Cyclist0108

BTW, today's New York Times reports the median (middle) home price in the whole state of CA is over $700K.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/30/r...ket-price.html

Moe Zhoost

So, to put things in perspective, what were they paying 3.5 years ago?

DiabloScott

Friend of mine says that when he opens his bike shop, I'll be the token old guy greeter who can talk silk sew ups and Binda Extras with the customers for credibility when necessary.

Koyote

I keep waiting for more people to discover rural America. We are on a 3000+ square-foot house on 2/3 of an acre surrounded by forest land. Paid $155,000, put in about $30,000 for improvements and it’s a beautiful property. Quiet destination neighborhood in a city of 5000 people, almost no traffic, no crime, etc. I get on my bike, and within one mile I am in farm country with rolling hills and quiet roads.

Thomas15

I have quite a bit more yard four acres but a smaller home. Paid a little less than you 17 years ago, then school taxes were not too bad but I expect to see them go up quite a bit in the future. Anyway I can start a ride from my house and see it all, rural, farm and small community, but my hills are bigger than rolling. Pennsylvania Road Bicycle Route "L" (North/South) is part of my everyday exercise loop. The D&L (rail) Trail runs through my township. NE PA has tons of technical single track.

What most in America would consider a negative is a private water well and septic system that the homeowner is responsible to take care of, lack of natural gas hookup, power outages are low priority fixes for the utility, snow plowing waits until it stops snowing and a large yard requires either a lot of time to keep in shape or a large wallet to pay someone to keep in shape for you. But the peace and quiet is worth it.

I like to work on my bikes and have always worked on my cars and fixed up my home. Around here for all of the bicycle opportunities there are few bike shops. There are businesses that rent bikes for use on the D&L and they usually hire several to keep the fleets in working order but the COL around here is low and so are wages. I would consider a part time gig in a few years when I retire from full time employment but I doubt a per wage bicycle mechanic could support him/herself as a full time occupation. Same goes for the whitewater rafting, paintball and ski resort kinds or work.

hokiefyd 

Be careful -- the more people who discover rural America, the less rural America becomes!

hokiefyd 

This thread prompted me to look at a neighborhood where I lived as a kid, in Morgan Hill, CA (just south of San Jose). My dad was in the Navy, we had a modest 3-bedroom house on a cul-de-sac. I had tons of friends in the neighborhood...it was a typical middle class place. One of my friend's dad was an HVAC mechanic. Our pastor lived across the street and down a few doors. I imagine that house traded for $100-150k back in the 1980s.

I looked at it on Zillow and it last sold in 2014 for about $300k, and the Zillow estimate today is just shy of $1m.

Wow.

coupster

Ain't that the awful truth. Moved to the back of beyond to get away from concrete and asphalt and in less than 10 years its found me again.

Cyclist0108

...................

TiHabanero

Been in the bike biz since 1982 and have never seen wages for any shop employee high enough to support a family of any size without living very, very frugally. This is why I left the Bay Area back then. Just no way to have a quality of living on bike shop wages.

In my area encroachment on rural areas is in full swing, especially the past 3 years. Was able to ride with just a few cars passing me on my favorite climbing road, but today it is almost a steady stream of vehicles headed to their new developments down the road. Beautiful hunting grounds plowed under and paved over, more scars upon the land.

Andy_K 

I work for a big tech company headquartered in the Bay area. A few years ago we relocated a bunch of people from outside the U.S. to that location. I've talked to several of them who have around 20 years experience in this well-paying field and they tell me there's no way they can afford to buy a house there. Honestly, I have no idea how the Bay area even has bike shops and other basic services. Are the employees commuting from Madera? I asked my boss why we didn't give these people the option of relocating to Oregon instead (we have several very large campuses here too). She replied, "Why would anyone want to live in Oregon?" Well, for starters, the median home price out here in the suburbs of Portland is a third of that in the Bay area. Of course, I am required by strictly enforced social conventions to tell anyone in California that Oregon is a terrible place to live.

mack_turtle

as nice and frugal as that sounds, some people like the relative seclusion, while others like being in the middle of a crowd. more importantly, how far do you need to drive to get to work? I've worked with people who want "the quiet life" and while they save a ton of money on living expenses, they literally spend 3–4 hours each day driving to and from work. I used to live in San Antonio where the cost of living is (was) relatively low, and they worked in Austin. on a perfect day with zero traffic, that drive takes at least 60 minutes. with crowded I-35 conditions, that could be 2.5 hours each way. but it's "worth it" to them. the same goes for any job in a city while living far enough away to enjoy rural seclusion. what kind of life is that? (not saying that is your situation, but it's the main reason why most people want to live in a city.)

I think the trend is starting to shift that way. with more and more jobs going "remote," there's less and less need to live close to the city. that's not an option for everyone, but for the privileged few who can, they can live the lifestyle they want and keep their income without having to live in a crowded city.

Koyote

Takes me about 11 minutes to get to work on my bike...About 13 minutes to get home because there is a long hill. Before moving here, we lived in another rural city of 25,000 people, where I bought a beautiful old bungalow for $90k in 2004; my commute was so short that I rarely bothered with the bike - I could walk it in about five minutes. In addition to the affordable housing, this lifestyle allows my wife and I to get by with just one car, which saves a lot of money.

I get your point. However, there are still plenty of nice-sized cities with reasonable housing costs...They just won't be in glamorous places like San Francisco. Lincoln, Nebraska comes to mind, and it's actually a very nice place.

ARider2

It's nice reading about differences in cost of living in different locations but I thought this thread was about pay for bicycle mechanics which unfortunately like many other trades is too low in most cases.

vane171

Bike servicing should be and mostly always is a supporting part of a shop that sells bike sporting equipment and that's where I think the money is made, that is not in the servicing section. Most or maybe all such shops convert into ski equipment selling and servicing outlets in winter seasons - unless it is always biking season where you are located, like in CA?.

I think bike servicing part of such selling outlet even when it breaks financially just even or even works in a deficit is worthwhile for the outlet because it draws in customers who also buy what you sell. Seen that way, it is worthwhile for the outlet to keep the bike servicing section even if it is losing proposition taken on its own.

This also ties in to how large salaries bike servicing jobs can pay. Pay is also related to if you are a mechanic assembling new 3k and up (?) custom bikes or if most of your time is spent adjusting brakes on family type bikes when the biking season starts. And it all also depends if such customers are middle class well off ones. For such, you charge a lot even for relatively simple jobs and such folks are mostly OK with it.
----------------
Someone above here mentioned middle class leaving CA, the same I hear about NY. I read about it in the context of the politics of the presidential election. It is said to be due to them being 'blue states', more particularly the 'blue' agglomerations in big cities there.

And very aptly someone compared it to third world conditions.

Capitalism of early 20th century lifted working class from poverty, culminating sometimes in 1950s rising democratism from 1960s on is returning them to it. Ho hum....

Cyclist0108

It's a necropost from someone who posted a question about a proposed salary in CA (and never returned).

In the following three years it has evolved into a conversation, one which in many respects is more interesting and important than most we have here, i.e., we expect a lot of our bike mechanics, but we don't seem to pay them as much as managers and McDonalds.

DiabloScott

Why do you think that? Word from shop owners I've talked to say the money's in the service and the products have low markups... plus people come look at the stuff and then buy on-line.

squirtdad

people in Montana are calling Bozeman Bozeangeles

rossiny

if you don't mind me asking , how did you survive in the business ,so on have you owned your own shop or what services that you offer??

Cyclist0108

A personal favorite:

rossiny

I would guess if you're going to support a family you need to open up your own bike shop and be successful at it. I looked at 2 bike shops for sale.
One was in a very good location in Chicago , the other one was also in a pretty good locations in southeast Wisconsin. Both came with the property .( good )
I just have no experience in that business and just could not work up the courage to make an offer . Both were established businesses that had along history and had been in business 50 and 80 years. One had been handed down to the son, the dad originally had worked for theeSchwinn factory in Chicago.
my suggestion would be get a following by doing repairs , then open up a shop .

As far as working for an owner? ?
I guess if its a super busy shop and you can be the manager also , if the owner is getting close to retirement ,,, could work with the right owner if he wants to step back and just do the books a day a week and if he gives commission .. But all has to be in writing ...

Koyote

Okay, let's get back on track.

Though I have only examined it from a casual consumer's perspective, the labor market for bike mechanics looks fairly competitive -- meaning that there are, in a reasonably populous area, enough potential employers that no single employer will be able to dictate the wage; rather, the wage should be set by the market forces of supply (number of qualified job candidates) and demand (number of potential employers). I can't think of any other market imperfections that should move the wage from the competitive equilibrium, though perhaps someone will point something out. (Market imperfections often take the form of professional certifications that limit participation, government-established entry barriers, very large employers who are able to sway wage rates, etc.)

In such a market, the prevailing wage will tend toward the level that equilibrates the number of job seekers with the number of available jobs. In the terminology of economics, it is an "equilibrium."

Unless there is something that I am missing, the wage for bike mechanics is probably about "right" from a market perspective: any lower, and there would be too few people willing to do the job; any higher, and shops wouldn't be willing to hire all of the available mechanics.

curbtender

https://www.ziprecruiter.com/Salarie...-in-California