Wrenching – PROBIKEWRENCH

PBMA Dulles Workshop – Days 2 & 3

20180207_075058[1] The second and third days of the PBMA Dulles Workshop were as packed with information as the first day, if not more so.

All the seminar attendees began Day Two with a panel discussion about the future of service in our industry. Panelists included Ed Reynolds (PBMA Board Member, Clemmons Bicycle Shop), Jenny Kallista (PBMA Board Member, Appalachian Bicycle Institute), and myself. It was a great discussion panel. Several members of the crowd participated, and several participants appoached us following the discussion for more conversation. The buzzwords around the discussion and the workshop seemed to be “service-only,” “mobile,” and, “consumer-direct.” Take that for what it’s worth. More thoughts to come…

Here’s a breakdown of what my group did on Day Two:

SRAM – Great hands-on clinic. We did a remote lever bleed on a RockShox Reverb dropper post, overhauled a Charger 2 damper for a RockShox Pike, and bled a new SRAM Guide hydraulic disc brake. I learned a lot, and Ed and Simon had great tips on how to sell suspension service and upgrades to customers.

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Stan’s No Tubes– We learned a lot about the history and technology that has led Stan’s to be the industry’s leader in tubeless products. This clinic taught us a lot about different conversions, materials used in sealant, what makes a tubeless rim and tire combination work, and more ways to be profitable by selling tubeless technology to those that come in our shops.

Magura– I thoroughly enjoyed the Magura session in Dulles. Jude Monica, who is really a legend in our industry (and overall great dude), instructed us on how hydraulic brakes work, including some really in-depth drawings of a lever and caliper. The Magura staff also showed us new technology, like their wireless dropper post (WANT), and instructed us on how to properly bleed a Magura brake.

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Ruckus Composites – This seminar, although not really a hands-on period of instruction, was one of my favorites. Carbon, one of the most widely-used materials in bike and component construction, is very mysterious to some people. The guys at Ruckus spent time explaining the material, then showed examples of their carbon repair process. The things that they can do to repair and salvage a broken carbon frame is RIDICULOUS. If you can imagine it, they can probably make it happen, AND paint it to match the old paint job. I was severely impressed.

We finished the evening with a networking event in the lobby. I got to spend some time meeting with new industry folks, catching up with old friends, and sharing war stories with seasoned mechanics. That was a really fun time, and I hope the PBMA continues to integrate that into their events.

Day Three began with a talk by Mike Reisenleiter (Winged Wheel Development), entitled, “Service Profits and the Future of Retail.” His talk took a look deeper into the state of bicycle retail, both now and in the not-so-distant future. The buzzwords kept coming back into the picture, but Mike presented numbers that demonstrated that brick-and-mortar stores are not all going away, but the landscape of how we do business is changing. I found his talk to be very interesting, and plan on discussing these topics with him more in the near future.

The next presentation was from Brett Flemming (Efficient Velo Tools). A former service manager for multiple Bike Gallery locations in Portland, Oregon, Brett followed his passion for tools and founded his own company several years ago. EVT has now become his main job, in addition to speaking gigs around the country with PBMA. I heard Brett speak in Atlanta at a NBDA seminar around ten years ago, and the message remained mostly the same: your quality and customer service should never be compromised, and that will set you above the rest. I thoroughly enjoyed the talk, and the conversation with Brett over the course of my time in Dulles.

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The rest of the final day concluded with two three-hour seminars. The first was the PBMA eTech seminar, taught by Ed Benjamin of the Light Electric Vehicle Association (LEVA). Ed is probably the BEST resource for general e-bike knowledge in the United States. We learned a lot of basic e-bike knowledge, parts, and tools we would need to repair e-bikes. LEVA also offers other advanced certifications to allow mechanics to level up their knowledge and be a better technician for our customers.

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The last clinic of the event was the Campagnolo Tech Clinic. The Campy N.A. crew did a great job teaching us about the history of the company, EPS (Campagnolo’s Electronic Groupsets), the MyCampy app, and their new hydraulic road disc brakes (which is styled and functions a LOT like a Magura brake… ). I have never seen a rotor with a more rounded edge on it, which should silence critics of road disc technology.

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All in all, the PBMA Technical Workshop was a great event, and offered certifications and continuing education units that will be helpful in maintaining my mechanic certification and increasing my effectiveness around my shop. I would highly recommend these events in the future, as I’m sure they will expand to other regions of the country and also modify the courses of instruction as time passes.

Happy Holidays and Such…

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all my friends, family, and colleagues. I’m thinking of all of you this holiday season, and I wish you all the best for 2014.

The race mechanic requests for 2014 are rolling in. I’ve already had to turn down a few upcoming opportunities due to scheduling conflicts. I hate turning the jobs down, but it’s a double-edged sword. It’s really fun to travel, to see new places, and to work with new athletes on the road. The downside is being away from the family. I was on the road A LOT in 2013, and missed my wife and kids very badly. We’ve both been blessed with steady jobs, and are FINALLY falling into some sort of rhythm in this crazy life. As much as I enjoy managing all the moving parts and hitting the road, my flexibility to do so isn’t going to be there in 2014. I haven’t said “NO” to everything yet. I’m still trying to shift some things around to try and sneak in a bit of race work next year. Maybe get a little fix during the upcoming season…

I am hopefully going to do some more local races next year. I changed race team affiliations, and will be racing with Team Energy Velo for 2014. It’s a team that my shop sponsors, and it’s headed up by two very good friends and customers of mine. They’re looking after me very well, and I hope to represent them to the best of my ability at the races I’ll be able to attend. I’m trying to get a few solid results early in the season, in order to get my upgrade to Category 3 this Spring. I’ve been a Cat. 4 for as long as I can remember, and the tail end of the season I actually had some decent results. Hoping to upgrade sooner, rather than later.

Gotta get some of my fitness back. I hyper-extended my left knee the day before the Hincapie Gran Fondo, and decided to ride the entire 80 mile ride with a little soreness in the knee. That turned out to be a horrible idea. I severely strained my patellar tendon, and was off the bike for over a month. There were times I could barely walk, and most nights I spent with my leg elevated and icing. With some amazing help from one of my friends, Jeff, a physical therapist, I was able to rehab and strengthen the knee back to normal. My fitness took a serious dive, however. I’ve been able to ride during the past three weeks, but it’s still winter, and I’m being a bit of a wuss about it. I’ve signed up for the Strava/Rapha Festive 500k challenge, which entails riding 500k between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. I don’t see any way to finish it, short of burying myself on NYE, but I’m doing as many miles as I can until then to see if I can regain some of that lost form. Definitely got some pounds to shed and some muscle to regain in that leg…

Oh… I need some help. I want to plan some sort of bike adventure for 2014. I need some ideas. Leave me a comment here if you have any thoughts for what kind of bike mischief I might get into.

Good talk. See you out there.

Riding the Wind of Change

I took a brief hiatus from writing on my blog, not because I didn’ t have anything to say, but because I simply haven’t had time to cram another thing into my schedule. Looking back, I see my last post was before Cyclocross Worlds in February, so I’ve got some catching up to do. Here’s a few highlights:

Sickness – Everyone in my family (with the exception of my amazing wife) got some form of a flu or stomach bug AT LEAST a few times. Niki had some debilitating migraine issues, rather frequently, which required some added responsibility on my part after work.
School – Had one class during the first half of the semester, and one during the second half (which ended May 10). I did okay during the first class, but the second, I tanked. The class wasn’t interesting to me, and I didn’t put in the time needed to make the grades happen. I feel really guilty about it, but sometimes those things happen.
Shop Closed – The shop job that I landed in September came to a halt in mid-April. Free-Flite Bicycles bought a multisport store in Sandy Springs, Cadence Multisport, forcing our store location to close. It was a great financial move on the owner’s part, and will work well for the company, but a shame for the Canton community. Half of the staff decided to transfer to the main store in Marietta, and half of us opted for other things. I didn’t know what I would do at the time, but I knew I could get some jobs in the interim, in order to make it work.
We’re Moving! – With all the melee going on with my job, Niki and I decided that it was time for a change. We informed our landlord that at the end of May, we would be vacating our current residence. The plan was to head to Jacksonville, FL, to spend the summer with Niki’s parents. It would give the kids some quality “grandparent time,” and give us a break to regroup and figure out what our next step would be.

Those were the difficulty-riddled bullet points. The following are some great things that came along, filled in the gaps, and offered the silver lining to my aforementioned dark clouds:

UCI Paracycling Open (Greenville, SC) – I was asked to round up a crew of mechanics to provide neutral support for an international paracycling race near my hometown. I was happy to oblige, mainly because it was a win-win; I had the opportunity to work on some exquisite machines, meet some absolutely unbelievable athletes, and my kids got to spend some quality time with their grandparents. The field was filled with World Champions in their individual disciplines (at one point, there were FIVE World Champs in the TT start house at one time!), and other local athletes, who had never competed in road events before. It was an incredible experience, that I will post about later. I want to thank my neutral support crew for all their help: Neal Herring (Sunshine Cycle Shop – Greenville, SC), Tim Wellborn (Cycle Center – Columbia, SC), and Derrick O’Shields (Grady’s Great Outdoors Bike Shop – Anderson, SC). Honorable mention goes to my wife, Niki, who helped me at the TT start and ran a lot of errands for things we needed during the weekend.
Athens Twilight/Roswell Criterium – Since my bike shop had closed, I had some free time on my hands, so I picked up a job with a pro team, Team SmartStop p/b Mountain Khakis. I had followed them for a while, and had worked for some of their riders when they were on other teams in the past. They had a split team, meaning half their team was racing in Arkansas at the Joe Martin Stage race, and the other half were racing the USACRITS Speed Week criteriums in the Southeast. I provided mechanical support for them over the course of the weekend, and they managed to be one of the strongest teams in the field, putting several riders in the Top 10 each day. More to come on those events, as well.
Amgen Tour of California w/CTS – I’m currently in California, on my way to work at the Tour of California, once again working with Carmichael Training Systems. I worked California, Utah, and USPRO Challenge in Colorado with them last year, and had a really good time. I am looking forward to the next nine days of work. Although there are extremely long, hard days of work ahead, I really am in my element when working like this.
Race Across America (RAAM) – A week or so ago, I accepted a position as mechanic for a RAAM team from Bristol Myers Squibb. These men are trying to raise money to bring about a greater awareness, and hopefully a cure, for melanoma. After Tour of California, I will be home for three days, then flying up to Princeton, NJ, for a camp with the team. On June 12th, I’ll fly back out to California and follow Team Melanoma Exposed across the United States, on their mission to spread awareness of this terrible form of cancer.
GOT A NEW JOB! – When visiting my parents in SC last weekend, I visited a friend in Greenville, SC, who is regional manager for a chain of stores called BikeStreet USA. He was in need of a Service Manager at his largest store, and asked if I was interested. After several discussions and a really great visit to the shop, I have accepted that position, and will start very shortly. The plan is to spend a week in Greenville after my Tour of California and RAAM Team Camp trips, but before RAAM. After RAAM is finished, I will fly back down to Greenville and be there full-time from that point on. This will mean a big move for our family, but we’ve discussed it and feel it will be a good move for us, on several levels. I am going to try and take some traveling mechanic positions in the future, and it seems by the way the regional manager and I were talking, that scheduling adjustments and vacation days can allow some of that to be possible.

Lots of change is happening, and on some fronts, I’m very nervous and anxious. I can’t help thinking that when things stop changing, we stop living. We become stagnant at that point, and fall into a really bad spot that nobody wants to be in. I’m glad things are changing for us, and I can’t wait to move on to the next several chapters of our lives. We’ll be leaving a lot of good friends in Georgia, but we’re close enough to make occasional visits, and there’s always Facebook…

We’re currently halfway finished with our move, but will be transitioning over the next two months. If you need to contact me, e-mail me at probikewrench@gmail.com. Thanks for your friendship and support.

Tools I Must Have – Post 1 in a Series

I’ve been drooling over several new tools lately, so I’ve decided to start a list of which tools/items are striking my fancy. Here’s the first of many:

This gem is a sweet new tool from Abbey Bike Works, called the Crombie. The Crombie does the obvious job of removing a cassette lockring. There are a few different models of the Crombie, including a single-sided model with a Campagnolo or Shimano head , a dual-sided model with Campagnolo AND Shimano heads, and a dual-sided SL model with both heads and a hollow handle. The hollow-handled SL model is made with the traveling mechanic in mind, understanding that for those mechanics, like myself, who utilize air travel from time-to-time, there are weight restrictions on toolboxes that we must meet, in order to spare extra fees.

It’s a pretty handy tool with these functions alone, but one additional function of the Crombie makes it stand head and shoulders above the rest. The Crombie fits over the quick release nut, enabling the mechanic to swap cassettes without removing the QR skewer. This is a HUGE plus for anyone having to make a cassette swap in a hurry. Sure it doesn’t take THAT much longer to remove the skewer, but every second counts in a race mechanic’s day… why not make it easier on yourself?

The fact that I can carry a handled multi-use tool, and eliminate two small bits and a wrench, makes this a tool that I must have. Several mechanic friends already have the tool, and are really enjoying it. Abbey Bike Works is also beginning production on a chain whip that the Crombie will slide into, making a very lightweight and compact two-tool combo. Both tools are on my shopping list, and will be purchased soon.

Oh, yeah… for an extra $10, you can get your name engraved on it, making it a truly custom piece. Yes, I’m a nerd. Yes, I’ll probably pop for the custom tool.

For more information on Abbey Bike Works and their line of tools, visit http://www.abbeybiketools.com/

Professionalism in the Workplace

It’s always fun to work on nice things in the shop. Take, for instance, these HED Wheels above. One is a disc rear wheel, the other is a tri-spoke rear wheel. Both are very expensive, aerodynamic upgrades for a time-trial or triathlon bike, and are very rare to see in most bike shops on a daily basis. The wheels were in the shop today to switch axles and overhaul the hubs, a pretty simple task.

I disassembled both hubs to find there was some writing behind the freehub bodies, on the aluminum surface that the carbon is bonded to. It was not etching, like you may find from a machine shop, indicating a lot number or technical specification. It was just a couple of stupid sayings, which made no sense to me, but were obviously written by the last mechanic that had done the same procedure on the wheels.

The writing on the hubs was not a structural or mechanical integrity issue, but rather a professional integrity issue. The writing was put there, thinking that no other mechanic or the owner of the wheels would ever see it. Well… I saw it, and I take issue with it.

If I took my bike to a bike shop, I would want the mechanic that repaired my bike to treat my bike like it is a prized possession. It is, after all, MY prized possession, that I spent my hard-earned money on. Going into a bike shop, the customer has a certain level of trust in the bike mechanic, and from the time they drop off their repair, they believe that the mechanic will do the absolute best job possible, with great attention to detail, and care for the bike.

That was not done in this situation. Was the repair completed by the last shop it was serviced at? Sure. Was it done with care and detail? Absolutely not. No professional bike mechanic, in my opinion, takes a Sharpie to someone else’s property without their permission. Regardless of what it said, whether the customer would never know, or whether or not it affected the performance of the wheels, drawing on someone else’s property like this is childish and disrespectful.

I probably sound like I’m going off the deep end with this one, but I can’t help but feel that if a mechanic doesn’t take the work they are paid to do to your bike seriously, even in little matters like this, would they really provide you a proper level of customer service if you were in a bind? I’ll say it again… working in a bike shop is less about bikes, and more about developing and maintaining relationships with people. If you conduct yourself in a professional manner and provide a premium service, it will be recognized and you will have a loyal, repeat customer. Act like a fool and treat customer badly, and they will pick up on it… and will find another place to have their bike serviced.

I’m not sure why the customer that owns these wheels started bringing them to our shop to service them. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t because he found the writing behind the freehubs on his wheels. Maybe it was because he and I developed a working relationship, and he is more comfortable bringing his bikes to me for service than to take them to another shop, which I know is a shorter drive from his home. I appreciate that he values the work I do, and I appreciate his business.

The Sharpie musings of the last mechanic came off the aluminum really easy with some light rubbing with a bit of steel wool, and it didn’t enhance or detract from the performance in any way. But in case this customer takes his wheels to any another shop for service, I can rest assured that there is no mistaking that the repair was done properly and professionally… and that they won’t have anything to write a blog post about.