52telecaster

Bushwhacker in Peoria IL has its bike shop open as an essential service. Turns out they must be desperate for an initial build guy because they ask me to work for them again. Did 6 hours today and enjoyed it.

Commuter vehicle.

texaspandj

Are/were you a full-time musician or weekend warrior?

52telecaster

more like weeknight. I have toured and gigged all over the midwest. We lost a ton of gigs due to the virus but i took the job just to keep busy. They asked me and i didnt say no.

SurferRosa

How 'bout a weekly blog of all the wrenching goodness (and badness) during this bat wing plague?

52telecaster

im just an initial build guy it would be boring. However i was burning in brakes on a windsept over pass in shorts... as it started snowing.

Mad Honk 

Good on ya! I trust all is well and you folks are being safe in this silly period of our existence. Be safe and keep posting. Smiles, MH

clubman 

Nice build in 6 hours.

52telecaster

actually 3 intial builds today with training on disc brakes from the head mechanic. It really was wonderful to ride an old motobecane home.

Dean51 

I'll offer that I spin wrenches for my LBS when he gets busy....attempting to pay off my coffee bill. What he knows is I will not touch disc brakes, hydraulic or mechanical. It is a skill that I have no desire to acquire. We laugh about this often.

Dean

52telecaster

i wish i could say that. Actually it hasnt been bad but i have only been trained on cable disc brakes. Hydraulic tomorrow.

UKFan4Sure

Ahhhh.... Disc brakes. It wasn't until I acquired this little tool, that things got easier....

steelbikeguy

....but are they paying you a good salary?
i.e. are they paying you in toilet paper??

Glad that you can make a few bucks and serve the community at the same time!

Steve in Peoria

52telecaster

its more than minimum wage. With my pension and ssi i am fine no matter.

UKFan4Sure

I was building bikes for a local LBS until one day I went to pick up a few to build, and the day manager said he didn't have time to grab me a few at the time I showed up. Nor would he give me a time to return saying he just didn't know when he'd have time. Granted, it was a Monday morning, but I had already said I'd be by the previous Friday. Well, it's an 18 mile drive from my house, so that was the end of that. If he doesn't have the time to take 5 minutes to grab me 3 boxes, I don't have the round trip 45 minutes (or fuel) to go home and back again.

I was only doing it as a favor anyhow, and had donated all of my previous earnings back to them to use for local charity bike donations. I never earned a dime, but did get a decent discount on parts/accessories I purchased. It was a learning experience, so that was good.

52telecaster

the discount is great. We get qbp stuff for 10 percent over cost.

seedsbelize 

Shortly before the plague struck, I scored a job maintaining a 60 bike rental fleet. Old mtb and less old Cannondale hybrids. And some new ti hybrids. Something fun to do.
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52telecaster

i did that for a while. Share bike fleet of about 35 bikes. Cool job. Congrats!

Pompiere

I am only a couple years from retirement, so I was talking to the LBS about maybe working there when the time came. I joked that I would probably owe them money after we settle up for the bike stuff I bought.

52telecaster

the staff is nothing but enablers.

scarlson 

Them hudrolick brakes are nothin after you do a few Ducati and SAAB clutches! Been shot in the face with Dot 3 brake fluid a few times it's no fun and the durn thing still has no pedal after that.

For the Shimano ones I've done, the process is the same as for SAAB and Ducati. I like to call it the reverse reacharound bleed. Reverse because you push fluid back up through the system from the caliper to the lever. Reacharound because well, you're reaching around, especially in a car. After that, it's all in how you flick the lever. Tell 'em you can use baby oil instead of the Shimano fluid, see what they have to say!

Full disclosure, I basically got fired from my very first job, as a builder at a chain bike shop in the twin cities, for saying stuff like this. Management warn't fond of my irreverence to doctrine.

branko_76 

Last summer I was restoring a Raleigh Super Grand Prix so I went to a local bike shop to get the parts and was assisted by the store owner. While checking out we got to talking, he said he had a hard time finding a good mechanic. He then asked if I knew how to service headsets, bottom brackets, hubs, etc. I said yes, yes and yes. He then offered me a job. Now, I am not uneducated, I clean-up well and am currently employed so when I asked how much per hour I expected to hear something reasonable. His offer? $11.00 per hour, no benefits..... ooookay

UKFan4Sure

I wanted to go work at the Harley Davidson parts department, but my wife said "no".....

Prowler 

After I "separated" on Halloween of 2013, I bought 2 old bikes which each got a frame up rehab which honed my mech skills. Over the following year I got into a position where a local LBS owner asked me to help him at a warehouse where he stashed his "vintage" fleet - some nice bikes but a lot of old Schwinns and entry level stuff. After a few months he asked me to come to the main shop and I went 'on the books'. Now I regularly work there one day a week, wrenching bikes, acting grouchy and generally being an old fart, but steady and reliable. The pay sucks but I don't care. As 52telecaster said, the employee discount is nice, the diversity of problems to solve is interesting and the people are a good team.

REALLY weird these days with all the guidelines but at least we're open and income is flowing. Feels like working in a speakeasy. I've even told the owner that if money gets tight he can delay my pay as I don't need it to live on. C&V hobby money.

We had a cute young gal at the back door recently with a bike for service. I mentioned that working out of the back door (knock, knock, Joe sent me) felt like working at a speakeasy. She smiled and HAD heard of speakeasys and agreed. Fun.

Trakhak

52Telecaster once posted a video of his band playing a blues tune. He's a terrific guitar player (and the other players were great,too).

Hope all of us can get back to playing gigs soon.

52telecaster

honest to god, no bike mechanic makes much. Its a job mostly for kids or retired guys but seriously many of the mechanics I've met and pretty much all of them where i am working have a wealth of knowledge that humbles me. We as a society see bikes as toys but they are very cool tools in my book.