RobbieTunes

My tool scamming required that I wrap a few bars, tune a few bikes once in a while on a Saturday morning while the proprietor actually sold bikes to people. It ended up with me buying his worn tools for pennies when he got new ones. I learned more in that shop than I did anywhere else. He never commented on any bike I brought in until I brought in a carbon Kestrel, and he said "now THAT's a bike." He just grinned at my steel bikes, but it was a friendly grin, and he'd been doing it for 20 years or more, so he'd been there, done that.

RobbieTunes

Man, I'd have gone right back out and run over it again, just to watch you work your magic.///

RobbieTunes

Before you arrived on scene, East Hill of the same Pacific NW was our mentor, and an excellent mechanic. Besides having cool bikes, she was an excellent marksman and kept us in line. She left the forum, and many of us still miss her. She was absolutely the first person to welcome myself and many, many others to the forum. She told me her name once, as long as I promised never to divulge it. I've forgotten it by now, but she will always be thought of fondly here. She really knew her mechanics.

79pmooney

Great story! I worked a summer at LifeCycle, Cambridge MA as a bike racer. We had a mechanic with the touch for bending metal. He would take in wheels with bent rims, tell the customer it would be ready tomorrow, wait until the customer left, loosen the spokes on one side, slam the wheel against a concrete step (with an inflated tire), tighten the spokes, spend 10 minutes truing and go on to the next job.

He was also the guy I trusted to do anything on my racing bike. He was good.

And while we are on the subject of bike shops we have worked for: One I have deep gratitude for - the Bicycle Exchange in Harvard Square. They hired me to assemble bikes spring of '78. The previous fall I had a head injury that made my instantly famous in the Boston cycling scene. 5 months later, I was back on the bike and training but was completely unskilled. No knowledge of tool use. Couldn't ever pick up a pen and write. And I was 24 years old.

The "BiEx" as it was known, sponsor of our club that year, hired me and placed me under Tony, the Greek mechanic in charge of a varying number of kids assembling the bikes. I tried his patience to the core, but he kept at it and by the end of the summer I was his best worker and I had a fair degree of tool skills back, enough that I could move on and start rebuilding my profession. Sadly the BiEx no longer exists, but I will have a soft spot for the shop, father and son owners Ben and Richard Olken and Tony. And bike cohort Joe Heaney who got me the job.

Ben

jjames1452 

I proudly worked st South Side Cycle and Mower at Sibert and Parsons Avenue in Columbus, Ohio. It was a Schwinn Shop back in the mid-80's. Good memories and a life long, if interrupted, love of cycling.

BigChief 

Worked as an apprentice in a Schwinn Raleigh dealer summers of 69 and 70. Had to get a real job after high school. Built a lot of Sting Rays and Choppers in those days.

tricky 

Worked at a local bike and ski shop that isn't around anymore waxing skis for the discount. I ended up also working at Performance Bicycle in sales and some wrenching. Not really an LBS, but it gave me a discount and a little bit of spending money when we were dirt poor after we first moved to Seattle. Working with some real mechanics made me realize how little I actually knew about wrenching on bikes. The whole experience also affirmed for me that I didn't want to work in the bike biz.

jacksbike

I grew up working in my Dad's LBS, which he owned and operated from 1952 until 1978, when he sold it to someone. I worked there after school and that was my job while growing up. We sold Schwinn, Raleigh, Fuji, Dawes, Ross, etc. I bought an existing shop elsewhere in the state in 1978 which I ran until 1994. I sold Trek, Peugeot, Univega, GT, etc. Have been a Federal employee since then, so I get paid every 2 weeks, not worrying about the seasonal money adjustments. Still do bikes on the side, but have a lot less time to do it, although I have all the tools still and still enjoy it.

nlerner

Yes, Mike was the owner, one of a set of identical twins, right? The other one managed the Redwood City shop? If I remember correctly, Mike was the uptight twin, and the other was a hippie sort. I think the sales manager at my shop was named Chris. I have a picture of myself somewhere from my first day at work. I'll scan it and post it here if I can track it down.

jimmuller 

I spent a summer assembling bikes at Harris Cyclery. (That was after I'd gotten my doctorate, duh...but was, um, between positions.) As a grad student I went quite a few times into the various shops in Cambridge. Probably met some of you.

I notice that the big winners in the poll so far are "I worked in a bike shop" and "I didn't work in a bike shop." I guess that makes sense because if you rule out working in a bike shop now there isn't much that falls outside those two choices.

repechage

Between high school and college, I got a second job, scooping ice cream. Starting wage at the Ice Cream shop was equal to what I made at the bike shop, and within a month I was earning way more, cut back on the bike shop hours. They were upset. I advised them calmly that I made more there than working on bikes, got tips from time to time and worked with attractive UCLA co-eds. "but you worked for us so long"…. indeed, not much to show for it either. They matched my other wage, I am sure it pained them, but I was probably keeping the service area afloat.

gugie 

Yep, Mike and Rick, and you've got the personalities down. Mike passed away a few years ago, had a heart attack going up Woodside. Rick sold the RC store and moved up to Oakhurst, CA and stared Yosemite Bike and Sport. The sales manager in the RC store was Paul. Please do post that pic! I don't have any of me working in a shop, unfortunately.

Sir_Name 

I've never worked in a shop. After a couple of years bagging groceries and working on a farm I started teaching drum lessons for some shops, then for myself. I'm sure that was much more lucrative. Then working in labs through under-grad/grad. Now I'm an eng-uh-neer as my grandpa used to say. I have, however, been wrenching since around 11/12ish. Made plenty of friends through LBSs - mechanics usually have some pretty cool bikes.

I didn't see that answer as an option so I wrote it down.

FBinNY 

I started in the bike business working in a large shop for about 5 years (4 decades + ago), before leaving to start my manufacturing/wholesaling business. But I wasn't a mechanic. In fact, other than some consulting and training, and a bit of side work, I never turned a wrench for dough.

cb400bill

You keep that up and she won't be your friend for long...

nlerner

Not a pic of me in the shop, unfortunately, but at home before heading to work for my first day:

gugie 

August 89 I would have been at the RC store, but SFSU started up in late August where I would have been for one more year, so we might have had a 2-3 week period where we both worked for the Garner Galactic Empire.

On another note, the Peninsula had several brother teams - the Hjertberg's of Wheelsmith fame, Mike and Steve Jacoubowsky at Chain Reaction, and of course, Rick and Mike.

Ed.

While still in school worked for Bicycle Revival with Sheldon Brown, Stan Kaplan, Neal Carney, and my Brother. Later worked at the Bicycle Exchange as referenced above. Hung out some at the Bicycle Repair Collective on Broadway in Somerville (IIRC). Went on to work for Raleigh.

bikernunzio

I worked in a tiny Los Gatos bike shop around age 16-17. Owned by the father of friends. The store manager hated me and used to give me the most impossible jobs on the most hopeless trash heaps, then yell at me when I couldn't get them running. No recollection of the name of the shop. It is long-gone, but I often wonder what happened to the Paramount tandem that was displayed in the front window. Sweet!
Nowadays, I volunteer my time fixing bikes for various non-profit organizations that give the bikes to families in need.

exmechanic89

Amen bruther.

JAG410

Currently work random summer weekends at Paramount Sports in Fargo, going on 4 years now. Sales, wrenching, assembling.

badger_biker 

I ran a small shop for someone for about a year and a half selling Bridgestones and a few Motobecanes and Gitanes back in the mid '80's. Survived mainly on repairs.

Jeff Wills

For me:
B&H Cycles, South Pasadena, CA (1979 - 1984)
Euro-Asia Imports, La Crescenta, CA (1987 - 1989)
Bike'alog, Santa Barbara, CA (1989 - 1992)

At which point my wife (we met in Santa Barbara) convinced me to get out of the bike biz and turn my efforts to testing software. That lasted until software testing evaporated in the early '00's. I went back to school to become a certifiable pharmacy technician, which got me a job at a hospital. Once they found I knew computers, they made me the administrator for the automated dispensing machines.

Not a career path I would recommend, but hey... I've got a wife, a house, two cats, and a garage full of bikes. I'm a happy man.

Reynolds 

I never worked at a LBS, but sometimes assembled bikes for them at my home when they were in a hurry. Probably no more than 20, but they paid me, so that makes me technically a pro, right?

cyclotoine

I worked for a summer while in grad school at the bike doctor in vancouver, bc. i think must have been 2007. That was a good learning experience though I had already taught myself a lot flipping bikes and renting shop time at the co-op. near the end of my degree I went back to work at a high performance road and tri shop in Victoria, BC... I think I started May 2008 and ended October 2011. It was a good run and am good friends with two of the mechanics from there who both work at another shop now. one was from Hungary and was one of the best time trailists in his country around 1980. He was trained as a machinist, i learned a lot from him. he liked talking about vintage bikes but had forgotten a lot of specifics. We sold Cervelo, Giant, Kuota, Cannondale, and tried to sell Serotta but it didn't go well. Very good years for me there.