I’ve been working as a bike mechanic intermittently since 1987. I got my first mechanic job at Ebersole’s Sports because the service manager was impressed by some of the custom brake modifications I made on my freestyle bike. I left Ebersole’s when I went away to Kutztown University to get a graphic arts degree. After college and while working full-time in a photo lab, I began working for Bilenky Cycleworks, a custom touring and tandem builder. I was doing graphics and assembly of some very beautiful bikes. It became hard to juggle the two jobs.

I eventually got a full-time position as head mechanic at Performance Bike Shop in Springfield, PA. This was a great three years. All bikes, all the time. I trained other mechanics, taught public repair clinics, and met a lot of great people.

As the bike industry started to decline, it became harder to make a living fixing bikes so I went back to school for Mechanical Engineering and started fixing bikes privately. Some years later, a friend of mine who manages High Road Cycles needed some help before the holiday season and offered me a part-time position as a mechanic in their Wayne store. I hated to pass up the chance to work in a shop again, so having recently become self-employed, I had the freedom and flexibility to accept. Now, I’m back to repairing bikes privately...because I like it.