Wrench schools

[bigbill]

Unless I pursue a Ph.D., I will likely attend UBI next year since I'm coming to the use/lose timeframe of my GI Bill. We'll take the travel trailer and my wife will do art things while I attend class. I don't know if I'll ever use my skillset professionally, but we're moving to a small town in Wyoming that has one bike/ski/skateboard shop run by wonderful people but limited in repairs on newer bikes. Maybe I could freelance between yelling at clouds and getting people off my lawn. Everything I own is mechanical except the Open with AXS. I used youtube to set it up. I know nothing about Di2 or campy electronic/wireless.

[Permanent socks]

Originally Posted by Dude

I was a service manager for 5 years and I would hire someone who came out of UBI/BBI with no experience over someone with lots of mechanical experience any day of the week.

There are lives at stake when it comes to a customers bike. I need to know that my mechanics can reliably diagnose and fix a problem.

I did Barnetts for two weeks back in…2004? after I had already been a mechanic for 2 years and I found it really valuable. A good foundation and it helped teach some of the concepts to my customers and explain why the bike broke/how we fixed it.

Being a bike mechanic is also about working in specialty retail and task management. Spring saturdays were some of the most intense days I’ve ever experienced and that can’t really be taught.

No wonder most bike shops are brutal for service. Experience trumps education almost every time.

Calling a 2 week course an education is laughable at best.

I

[IcySwan1]

I spend the winters in Tucson. I considered UBI (twice), but the timing never worked. I intend to take basic classes at the Tucson bike co-op and volunteer to work on their bikes. I don’t intend to wrench for money. I will see how it goes but I think it should work out for practical skills and for giving back to the bike community.

Mike

[Mikej]

Originally Posted by Spoker

I would become a part time plumber or electrician and pick only the easy jobs.
Better pay, more appreciated, less work and don't have to work with frustrating quality parts.

Haha never worked in the trades, have you!

[herb5998]

Originally Posted by Permanent socks

No wonder most bike shops are brutal for service. Experience trumps education almost every time.

Calling a 2 week course an education is laughable at best.

I

Unfortunately, there are not industry level certifications when it comes to service and mechanical work for the bicyles. Yes, Shimano has S-TEC, and SRAM has a similar program, Campag had Pro-Shops but most of it is just online training to be familiar with new products, and techniques for tuning and adjusting equipment.

Yes, being only two weeks in length for the pro course is short, but a LOT is covered, and the standards are high for actually getting a certification. Additionally, many people who wrench professionally continue to do the DT Swiss Wheel Building Certifications and Suspension, and then return for the FOX and dropper post, and DI2 seminars.

In the grand scheme, NONE of it is meant to be the end all be all of education, but it gives someone a baseline to start at a shop, and not be a liability.

[fa63]

I was in the same position as you a few years ago (corporate job, then realized we are fine financially and can do what we want). What I did was go over to my favorite local bike shop, and ask if I could work for free as an apprentice. The owner said yes, and I had decent skills already so I was able to be helpful from the get-go while also learning a ton of new skills along the way. After about one month of that, the owner asked me if I wanted to take a paid position which I did.

One thing that benefited me was that the head mechanic and the other mechanic there were both super nice and helpful. Nothing beats hands-on experience in my opinion, but I imagine it could have been a much different outcome if they weren't helpful and I was left to fend for myself.

Good luck!

Originally Posted by verbs4us

Time to think about a career after the corporate grind, so I am in the lucky position to ask a question more of passion than economics: Are there any wrench schools on the East coast? It looks like there are two serious schools, in Oregon: UBI (https://bikeschool.com/) and USA Cycling (https://usacycling.org/mechanics). Do they have a clinch on the market?

[bigbill]

Originally Posted by fa63

I was in the same position as you a few years ago (corporate job, then realized we are fine financially and can do what we want). What I did was go over to my favorite local bike shop, and ask if I could work for free as an apprentice. The owner said yes, and I had decent skills already so I was able to be helpful from the get-go while also learning a ton of new skills along the way. After about one month of that, the owner asked me if I wanted to take a paid position which I did.

One thing that benefited me was that the head mechanic and the other mechanic there were both super nice and helpful. Nothing beats hands-on experience in my opinion, but I imagine it could have been a much different outcome if they weren't helpful and I was left to fend for myself.

Good luck!

There are two bike shops within 20 miles of me. One has a competent mechanic for basic things, and the other one has a guy that builds wheels but is otherwise difficult to deal with. Looking back at the shops in the 80s and 90s, there was a larger knowledge base in basic stuff like overhauls, bearing adjustments, etc. Now with electronic shifting and the proliferation of cartridge bearings, the skill set is less, but mostly for luddites like me with cup and cone hubs with traditional headsets. I'd like to be all things modern Shimano, SRAM, and Campy. I doubt UBI goes that much in to campy since it's kind of a niche, but the ability to install Di2 and AXS and troubleshoot issues will be a good skill to have. I know youtube is useful, I used it to set up my AXS, but hands on in a teaching environment is better for me.

[fa63]

Where I worked (and still do from time to time to give the head mechanic a break when he needs a vacation etc.) was really nice from this perspective; it was very common to work on what we called "turds" (cheap department store bikes) and modern bikes with electronic shifting etc. in the same day. Compared to a Huffy with super cheap components, working on a bike with SRAM AXS or Shimano Di2 and disc brakes is an absolute treat

Originally Posted by bigbill

There are two bike shops within 20 miles of me. One has a competent mechanic for basic things, and the other one has a guy that builds wheels but is otherwise difficult to deal with. Looking back at the shops in the 80s and 90s, there was a larger knowledge base in basic stuff like overhauls, bearing adjustments, etc. Now with electronic shifting and the proliferation of cartridge bearings, the skill set is less, but mostly for luddites like me with cup and cone hubs with traditional headsets. I'd like to be all things modern Shimano, SRAM, and Campy. I doubt UBI goes that much in to campy since it's kind of a niche, but the ability to install Di2 and AXS and troubleshoot issues will be a good skill to have. I know youtube is useful, I used it to set up my AXS, but hands on in a teaching environment is better for me.

[marciero]

Originally Posted by bikinchris

I had been a bike Mechanic fir 20 years when I attended Barnetts elite technicians course. Wow I enjoyed it VERY much. We started class at 8am every day and worked until 5pm. Then we had a test to take before the next class. It often took until midnight to finish. I was proud of scoring 98% on my first test, but every day my score dropped a few points. By the 4th test I was at 90% and I was getting tired. The course stressed repeatable standards in work flow. Every job has a perfect standard from how to adjust loose ball bearings perfectly to how tight should the headset cup be in the frame.

Thats the problem with compressed courses- there is no time for the content to settle and concentrate, no time for reflection. Ive found that to be the case with the seven week online courses I teach, even with considerable technical background assumed.

Sure, bike wrenching is not rocket science but I am guessing this two week course does not assume too much in the way of knowledge. Many of us hobbyists would probably have to unlearn things. That is a lot of material to cover in two weeks. Throw in things like workflow and aspects of retail would be completely new to most of us hobbyists, not to mention computer diagnostics for electronic shifting, etc. (Do they have that yet?)

[AngryScientist]

There is no way you can "learn" a trade in 2-weeks.

[Elefantino]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

There is no way you can "learn" a trade in 2-weeks.

Agreed. But in the case of UBI, my two weeks built on my existing skills and then I went right into working at Performance.

I don't think I would have been as successful in changing careers had I not gone to school.

[charliedid]

I've working in and out of bikes for a long time and know excellent mechanics who have come from both sides of the coin. Some are lucky enough to have landed at a shop where learning and growing was a thing (they also had the aptitude and many started when in college studying for advanced degrees etc.)

Others went to UBI or other places and landed their first jobs with that baseline education from a school setting.

Do what seems most realistic or useful to you and don't listen to the nonsense that there is only one way, because it's just easy as hell to figure out on your own.

Have fun.