Interview of a Bicycle Shop Owner

INTERVIEW OF A BICYCLE SHOP OWNER

1. Vocation: What is your job title/position/job description?

I am the owner/operator/sales person/mechanic/stock boy of a bicycle repair shop.

2. Do you belong to a union?

No, there are no unions.

3. Describe your physical work environment.

The small shop is cluttered everywhere with thousands of bicycle parts which the owner describes as organized chaos. There are three ground level areas, two attic storage rooms and a basement. The first area from the front door is a hallway with a counter and innumerable smaller bike parts hanging up or in drawers, the middle room on ground level has bicycle repair stands along with tools and tires, and the back room has larger bike parts and frames along with repair stands for customers’ use. The shop is dirty, cluttered and not very well heated but because of my reputation as having the best prices and honest work attracts customers from all over the area and beyond. It is a one-man operation; I have no employees. In years past I also sold bikes but no longer, as the profit margin is too low.

My shop is not an ordinary place of business but also a meeting place for conversation, advice and friendship. Many people stop in during the day who have no bicycle needs, not unlike a neighborhood pub or an ethnic barber shop.

4. Please describe a typical day (do you travel, hours you work, etc)

I usually arrive at the shop around 11:00 AM after leaving home around 10:30, though I don’t officially open until 11:30. The first thing I do is to call my wife and let her know I got to work ok, as she is a worrier. I then check messages left on voicemail. I might then finish any repairs left over from the day before. Or I might call in orders to bike part suppliers or write up orders for parts. If an order has been delivered I might have to put it away while first making sure it’s all there.

Sometimes people needing repairs or bicycle parts are waiting when I arrive and sometimes no one comes in until the afternoon. My hours are 11:30 AM until 6:00 PM, closed Sundays and Wednesdays. I also offer customers the option of working on their own bikes at the shop at no charge.

A repair can take anywhere from ten minutes to all day. (Right now I’m working on a tandem bicycle that had major problems and has taken most of my day.) But I can’t charge for all the time needed for some jobs. Specialized bikes (i.e. the tandem) are hard to put into the repair stand because they’re so long and I can’t turn them upside down because it will hit the ceiling.

I work on a lot of bikes that are in major disrepair, bikes that people kept in their basements for years and come spring they want to ride.

5. How does your profession affect your ability to live a healthy lifestyle (exercise, sleep, nutrition)?

When I lived in the city I could ride to work, now it’s not safe (moved out of the city to the suburbs) and my wife doesn’t want me to ride from home because of the danger. We made an agreement when we moved that I would no longer ride my bike to work. I do ride in my free time and can maintain my bikes in better shape because I am in the business and also I get higher quality bikes. As far as eating, I can’t eat lunch undisturbed at the shop so I choose not to eat it.

I get cut fingers all the time; it’s goes with the profession. My wife made me get a tetanus shot recently, they really hurt. To find a piece of glass or material inside a tire that caused a flat to the tube, often you can’t really see it as it might be the width of a hair, so you must run your fingers inside the tire and feel for it.

6. Are there over-the-counter medications, alternative medications that are typically used in your profession (weight loss, tobacco, steroids, etc.)?

No, though maybe sedatives as some guys (in this business) get nervous if they can’t pay their bills.

7. What are things that your friends find interesting about your profession? What type of questions do you get asked by the public?

A typical question of someone who comes into the shop for the first time and sees all the parts and clutter is, ‘how long have you been here?’ My answer is since 11:30!

I have been in this present location for 30 years. My father started in the bike business in the mid-1940’s so the business goes back 60 years.

People find it interesting that customers can come in and work on their own bikes. The only other places I have heard about doing that are out West and charge. I had a customer who moved to Denver and he found a place out there that charged $10 an hour to use their tools. He bought a bike repair stand from me to work at home because he was used to getting it free.

8. How did you get interested in your profession?

That’s funny, I went to college so I wouldn’t have to work in this business. What made me interested was that the industry changed. In the 60’s the market changed, the types of bikes changed; the perception that you could ride a bike at any age was new. Before that someone would never ride a bike past the age fifteen when they got their drivers license, but the public’s perception (of bike riding) changed and that made me more interested.

It was no longer just coaster bikes but it was five and ten speeds. It was a different concept; you had adults riding bikes. The bicycle industry was completely caught off-guard and shops like my dad’s were selling their entire inventory. You couldn’t get enough product, because they weren’t manufacturing fast enough. People would buy anything, even if it weren’t good. There was a shortage of bikes from the late 1960’s until 1974. In 1975 the industry caught up. There were 15 million bikes sold in 1974 and then only 8 million in 1975, the market had been saturated. But they weren’t really riding them, it was a fad.

My goal in going to college was not to have to fix bikes. I played baseball in high school and college. (His college team won the college world series. He pitched the winning game.) I didn’t have any American teams interested to play professionally. I wrote to teams in Japan but they never responded. I ended up teaching physical education for four years and helped my dad during the summers. I met my future wife while teaching. For three years I taught boys grades 7 and 8 but the last year I taught grades 1 through 6, both boys and girls. The first graders where shy, which was good training for this job because you can’t use the same vocabulary and tone of voice for different customers, just like the students.

9. What do you like most about your profession?

The best and the worst part are the people who come in. I can have a doctor to homeless people coming. Their paths cross here and they never would in the outside world. All are equal in the repair department.

(Editor’s note: He has had amazing relationships start in his shop, what his father used to call a fortuitous confluence of atoms. He gave me an example, last week he had a customer who had a bike with a French rear sprocket set-up who needed it fixed but he didn’t have the part, as they are extremely rare in this country. He was going to have to tell the person he couldn’t fix it. As he had the bike in the repair stand someone came in and spotted the rear sprocket, and though they didn’t know what it was, said they had one in their basement. So he called the bike owner who immediately came back and followed the person home, retrieved it and the owner was able to repair the bike.)

10. What do you dislike most about your job?

Paying my own hospitalization, $1225 per month. It’s high because they can charge that much. If it weren’t for that it would be a pleasure working. It takes the joy out of it, knowing how many bikes you have to fix to cover that!

11. Educational background:

I went to college and earned a teaching certificate but I don’t even know where it is now. I also went to (Schwinn) bike mechanics school back in the 1960’s.

When I first met my wife she told me she had a tandem bicycle, and I told her I had a degree in bike mechanics, she didn’t believe me.

12. High School

13. Vocational School or College

14. Graduate School or Special Training

15. How does one obtain a job in your profession?

By going to bike shops to see who needs help, summertime is busier. If you’re under sixteen learn to work on your own bike but at any age you can start on your own bike. He laughingly said, When kids come in and say I can fix bikes I ask them why then do you bring in your bike to me.

(Editor’s note: An interesting aside, he has noticed that many younger people don’t know or comprehend the word counter-clockwise. For example, he may give someone directions to turn the wrench counter-clockwise. He said he believes that’s because they identify mostly with digital watches and clocks.)

16. What previous positions have you had since you started this profession?

I worked under my dad. I guess I was the vice-president then!

17. Can you get promoted? If so, to what position and how?

Sell the business to someone and retire, that would be a promotion.

18. What are the perks of your job?

I get all the stuff for my bikes at cost. I meet people from all walks of life. I get to barter people from other professions, doctors, lawyers.

19. How do you get paid (contract, per mile, per hour, etc.)? How can you make more money?

Sometimes not, I haven’t been paid since October (six winter months). I don’t have any money because of (paying out) hospitalization. Social Security (which he is now collecting) has been helpful.

I could make more money by working more hours or charge people more.

20. What is the most stressful part of your job?

Trying to pay bills, paying hospitalization.

21. What emotional problems are common in people in your profession?

Don’t know.

22. What type of physical activity is required in your position?

Picking up bikes, unloading orders, fixing bikes.

23. What things happen that really make you angry?

People stealing, someone who I let use the (self) repair and who betrayed that trust.

(Editor’s note: One of the few times when a theft occurred was when my bike was in the shop and someone switched my high-end rear wheel off for his or hers. There are no real security measures in the shop; it’s solely by trust. The tools, the parts are all out in the open.)

24. What other professions do you work with, and how do they affect you (make your job easier or harder)?

Except for customers, he said it does not apply.

25. What health risk behaviors are common in your profession? (tobacco, alcohol, specific drugs, sex, stress, marital or family discord, etc.)

Being in business for most people is stressful, family and other relationships suffer. I now put in only a 32-hour week, so it does not apply. Riding a bike in traffic (is a health risk). So is not wearing a helmet. He has a shop list of the ten worst reasons for not wearing a helmet. The most ingenious reason is, ‘I didn’t wear one because I had mousse in my hair and it would affect the integrity of the helmet.’ Another is ‘more people hit their head slipping in the shower.’ A couple came in recently and was looking for a helmet, but only for the woman. I told him she’s the one who will be taking care of you in an accident and you’re not doing your part. It will lead to bitterness and resentment if she has to take care of you.

26. How does your vocation affect the personal life of you or people you know?

I can get my wife to ride a bike sometimes.

27. What activities and/or hobbies do people in your profession like to do?

Biking, that’s why a lot of people get into the business but they end up too busy.

28. Are there any items of clothing, or props that someone portraying a person in your profession would use consistently? (Hats, keys, stuff you’d keep in your pockets or bags, day planners, work boots, particular costume, or types of clothing…)

A lot of various tools but you wouldn’t carry them around. (Editor’s note: a bicycle hat perhaps.)

29. If a person in your position were to get fired, what would they most likely have done to justify the termination and what would the steps involve? Do lay offs happen in your occupation?

A person in the profession might not be doing a good job or be laid off during the off-season. Of businesses 80% fail in the first five years, I have to buy out a lot of (bike) shops. (Editor’s note: He buys out inventory of failed shops and resells it to vendors or uses it for shop inventory. He also buys parts in quantity and resells to vendors.)

30. During all of these questions, listen for jargon used by the interviewee…words they use that are lingo specific to their profession. Ask them to define those words if it is not clear to you.

Wrenching – What mechanics do at bike shops. I am wrenching at the bike shop on the west side.

Wheel – Bicycle wheel

Spoke – The usually thin wire connecting the wheel rim to the wheel hub.

Hub – The middle part of the bicycle wheel to which the spokes attach.

Derailer or Derailleur – A mechanism for moving the chain from one sprocket to another to change gears on a multi-speed bicycle. Most multi-speed bikes have a rear and a front derailer.

Sprocket – A toothed wheel or gear that is part of a chain drive function. The front sprocket near the pedals is commonly called the chainring. The rear sprocket is also called the gears or cluster.

Pedal – The part you put your foot on. Clipless pedals use a cleat, which is bolted to the bottom of the shoe. When a rider steps on the pedal with the cleat, the cleat locks into the pedal mechanism and is held firmly in place. These allow the rider to pedal on the upstroke.

Rat Traps – Old term for toe clips, the stirrup like device that attach to pedals to allow more efficient pedaling by holding the shoe on the pedal on the upstroke. (Not as effective as clipless pedals.)

Bottom Bracket – The part of the frame around which the pedal cranks revolve. Also the bearing and axle assembly that run through the bottom bracket shell of the frame.

Stem – The part that connects the handlebars to the steering of the fork.

Suicide Levers or Extension Levers – In the early ‘70’s people bought bicycles with drop handlebars for reasons of fashion, even though the drop handlebars did not suit their casual riding style. Given the frame design it was generally impossible to get drop handlebars high enough up to allow a low-intensity rider to reach the drop handlebars, and thusly the brakes, comfortably. Bolt on extension bars were invented to allow the brakes to be operated from the tops and middle of the handlebars making it bearable for the casual cyclists. They encouraged the practice of riding with the hands on the top, middle section, of the handlebar, which is a position that doesn’t give very secure control especially on bumpy surfaces, because the hands are too close together. They also did not stop securely and stretched the brake cables.

Mountain Bike – A bicycle made for off-road use.

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