Cytech training and getting a job after

[yagamuffin]

Getting Cytech qualified and finding a job in a bike shop has been on my mind for a while now. Has anyone done it? Is it worth the expense? I'm guessing a level 2 qualification will command the highest wage.
I've been working in IT for the same company for nearly 20 years, the pay is good but since moving out of London the commute has become a bore. Maybe I'm having a mid-life crisis, I'm certainly starting to ramble in this post!...

 

[legrandefromage]

I'd be just a wee bit careful, Cytech is good but the Cytech mechanics I've worked with have been a little rigid when it came to doing something out of their comfort zone. To say they were 'difficult' would be an understatement!

Then there's the customers;

'I'm an engineer, I know what I'm doing'

etc etc

and do you really want to be working on someones' work hack that seen years of commuting and no servicing whatsoever, layers of gunk welded to every component?

Theres a forum member who set up his own shop and has been working 16 17 hour days just to keep up with the lockdown surge of the nastiest cheapest pig iron dragged out of damp sheds and dusty garages with customers expecting miracles for pennies and all done in 5 minutes.

He's not the happiest at the moment

It may be a good thing to get into as long as you understand that its dealing with the great unwashed.

I tried it a few years ago expecting to switch off, I got very fit very quickly but had to deal with arrogant young fucks who had little life experience and thought they were god's own mechanics - the I came along. Oh dear oh dear... 'you cant bleed those brakes, we dont have the kit' 'yes you can, you just use this instead of that and look, they're all done'. 'we cant service that, its too old' - yes you can, this fits with that, you adjust this and turn that and they're all done'.

They were Cytech trained and knew nothing else. At all. It was a nasty job and it spat me back out - ok, so I was probably not the easiest to get on with either but one guy would ONLY listen to Eric Clapton and NOTHING else at all, not even a bit of Cream to liven things up.

I'd planned ahead, got budgets sorted so we could afford the pay cut, got the job on my own merits but it went so horribly wrong.

Maybe if I hadnt have ridden in on my bike collection and out cooled them

But hey ho, its all part of life's rich rich (and often weird) tapestry and if you go with it, others have had far more success and there were a few fun days being a spanner monkey

https://deadrats.co.uk/

 

[yagamuffin]

Well this idea is dying quickly, a bike shop owner on Facebook has just put me off too!

Edit: thanks for your insight Mr Cheese! If I'm honest with my self it's the thought of having to work on modern machines that puts me off the most!

 

[d8mok]

Re:

Never mix businesss with something you like. You’ll grow to hate what you love

 

[greencat]

The majority of bike shop mechs I've known do not seem to enjoy the job very much. I think any great British public facing job is going to be tough and soul eroding in the long term.

 

[LikeClockwork]

Re:

Having owned my own bike shop many moons ago, and worked in plenty of others, I can only totally concur with what has been said above.

Plus, now of all times, I think you are going to come up against the particularly nasty little so and so's that think the world revolves around them, who are feeling especially put out at having to deal with something they hadn't planned for. Like lock down, and having to maybe adapt to the post-virus fall out.

Sorry, not what you wanted to hear...

 

[yagamuffin]

This is all good info. I think what I really need to do is find another IT job more local to me that doesn't mean being out of the house for twelve hours a day and therefore allows me more time to ride!
The bike mechanic idea is I think something that sounds great but with your realistic input is perhaps not for me! The fact I know nothing of how modern electric, automatic geared, 29 inch 'rigs' work probably wasn't in my favour anyway!

 

[jimo746]

Re: Re:

Never mix businesss with something you like. You’ll grow to hate what you love

This is mostly true.
Pay not great, hours can be long, it's not like building your own bike up at home at all. Fixing bikes day in day out gets monotonous, some days you get home and just can't be arsed to even look at your own bike.
There are many different qualifications around, but in truth all they might do is get you an interview, after that it's down to what you know and how good you are at the job really.

 

[M-Power]

Re:

I managed a chain of London bike shops bitd. Good mechanics like top Chefs are rare beasts and hard to retain, as other businesses are always trying to poach them.Experience and being able to work really fast without mistakes is critical. There are a lot of time saving tricks of the trade learned often the hard way. Agree with all the points above and your own honest self assessment. You would not last a day in a really busy LBS. Lots of theoretical bike customers/experts these days who really know f-all about them but make the most noise and enjoy being confrontational.

On a more positive note, heres hoping we will finally enter a true golden age of cycling. Segregated cycle lanes, better wages, higher profits and better conditions for those in the industry, cleaner air, healthier happier people etc etc. My gut feel is nothing will really change longterm once the pandemic calms down.

 

[Captain Stupido]

Re:

I did a city and guilds, well worth it in terms of learning & building confidence in the knowledge you have already, but fairly sure I’m not cut out for working in a bike shop. I think there are business opportunities that could be ok if you are clever/lucky/in the right place/good at what you do (e.g. working from small premises/home/out of a van/by appointment) or you perhaps could specialise and find a niche, but the money is never going to be good. The charity sector is also a source of less awful, better paid work e.g. running dr. bike sessions, doing training, etc. But it also makes it hard for bike shops to make any money...

Trouble is that’s generally speaking people don’t want to spend serious money on their bikes, and to make matters worse the ones who do are probably the biggest arseholes. How much does it cost to get a puncture fixed or true a wheel? Not much... by the time most bikes make it to a shop for a service they are probably long overdue a total rebuild - and they cost less to buy new than the sum of all their parts... making repairs anywhere near cost effective means the mechanic has to work for next to nothing... and sell as many parts as possible.