Because the why is just as important as the how.
I was mistaken.
It was somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 years ago when i purchased my first mountain bike. From that point forward all of my spare time was spent either riding bikes, reading about them, or harassing the local bike shop staff. Well, in those days if you spent enough time in a shop, someone would eventually put a broom in your hands.
The owner, a very passionate guy named Mike offered me a job and, made me fall in love with the industry. I think back on him fondly, and will be forever grateful.
The rest, as they say, is history - well sort of.
Over the next two decades of shop shenanigans, a couple very important things happened in this story.
I assumed that I had become a fairly good technician because I was mechanically inclined.
I had become just like all the other industry people I didn’t like - a bit cynical, a bit salty, and way too exclusive.
It took walking away from the bicycle industry for a brief intermission to bring some much needed clarity.
The truth was much simpler.
I had come by the mechanical skills passively - heck, you do anything for two decades, and you’ll get it figured out. The lightbulb moment was when I realized had been doing it because I loved the people, and in fact I couldn’t imagine doing anything else - we spoke the same language and I had just lost sight of my “why”.
The fact is that cycling is not a secret club and should not require some special handshake, or endure some degree of hazing before you’re one of the cool kids. We’re all trying to have a good time doing the same thing - and that made me realize how poor the typical bike shop interaction was.
All of my best friends, and even my wife found me in a shop. The only way I could deliver the experience I was looking for was to build my own positive environment. That’s not to say there aren’t great shops, and great bike shop folk - because there are. Although if we’re being honest, by and large those bike shop guys and gals are a salty lot.
So here we are - cut out the middle man, no sales pitch.
Just you and me - I can fix broken your bikes and make sure the good times keep rolling.