News
ENLARGE
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — When temperatures rise, Colorado bike shops need seasonal employees.
Chris Brown of Brown Cycles and Nate Wilson recognize this need and offer a way to get potential shop employees some of the skills they need with a two-day class later this month.
“We have a lot of people come in looking for employment, but none of them have any experience,” Brown said.
One thing that is unique to Grand Junction is the amount of bike shops.
There are eight shops in town, and that works out to about one shop for every 5,500 people.
That’s a lot, Brown said. To compare, Colorado Springs has one bike shop for every 41,666 people, he said.
According to Brown, Grand Junction is the perfect place to bike because riders rarely have to travel long distances when commuting, and there aren’t many hills. Also, world-class mountain biking awaits riders close to town.
“A bike shop is a romance job — it sounds great, but if you don’t know anything about mechanics or torque settings or which wrench does what, then we have to spend three or four months training you so you won’t break things,” Brown said. “It sounds basic, but if you don’t know it, you don’t know it.”
So what will the Grand Junction Institute of Bicycle Mechanics teach?
It’s a two-day class open to anyone who wants to know more about bicycle repair.
Loving to ride is certainly a plus, and the instructors welcome people who want to work at the bike shop. According to Brown, the class is a starting point for potential employees.
The first hour of the class will be focused on size of the rider and the fit of the bike to the rider. Size and fit impacts efficiency and even whether the rider likes riding the bike, Brown said.
“It gets their hands on the tools that we use in the industry. I don’t know how else you’d see that, other than being in the industry, which is always difficult to get your foot in the door,” Brown said.
Taking the class is also a good networking tool for people wanting to work in a bike shop, he said. The instructors are local riders and people in the industry.
The two-day class held on the Western Colorado Community College campus runs from Jan. 31-Feb. 1, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. The cost is $325.
Included is the class, two lunches, a tool kit and repair manual. For people interested in working in a local bike shop, Brown recommended putting the tool kit to good use. Students will be able to use it their own bikes after the course and fix family and friends’ bikes.
“We want to do it once a quarter,” Brown said, so there will be a class around April and September.
For more information, contact Brown at 245-7939 or check out the Web site, browncycles.com.
Reach Patrick Morrell at toshbk@hotmail.com.
Chris Brown of Brown Cycles and Nate Wilson recognize this need and offer a way to get potential shop employees some of the skills they need with a two-day class later this month.
“We have a lot of people come in looking for employment, but none of them have any experience,” Brown said.
One thing that is unique to Grand Junction is the amount of bike shops.
There are eight shops in town, and that works out to about one shop for every 5,500 people.
That’s a lot, Brown said. To compare, Colorado Springs has one bike shop for every 41,666 people, he said.
According to Brown, Grand Junction is the perfect place to bike because riders rarely have to travel long distances when commuting, and there aren’t many hills. Also, world-class mountain biking awaits riders close to town.
“A bike shop is a romance job — it sounds great, but if you don’t know anything about mechanics or torque settings or which wrench does what, then we have to spend three or four months training you so you won’t break things,” Brown said. “It sounds basic, but if you don’t know it, you don’t know it.”
So what will the Grand Junction Institute of Bicycle Mechanics teach?
It’s a two-day class open to anyone who wants to know more about bicycle repair.
Loving to ride is certainly a plus, and the instructors welcome people who want to work at the bike shop. According to Brown, the class is a starting point for potential employees.
The first hour of the class will be focused on size of the rider and the fit of the bike to the rider. Size and fit impacts efficiency and even whether the rider likes riding the bike, Brown said.
“It gets their hands on the tools that we use in the industry. I don’t know how else you’d see that, other than being in the industry, which is always difficult to get your foot in the door,” Brown said.
Taking the class is also a good networking tool for people wanting to work in a bike shop, he said. The instructors are local riders and people in the industry.
The two-day class held on the Western Colorado Community College campus runs from Jan. 31-Feb. 1, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. The cost is $325.
Included is the class, two lunches, a tool kit and repair manual. For people interested in working in a local bike shop, Brown recommended putting the tool kit to good use. Students will be able to use it their own bikes after the course and fix family and friends’ bikes.
“We want to do it once a quarter,” Brown said, so there will be a class around April and September.
For more information, contact Brown at 245-7939 or check out the Web site, browncycles.com.
Reach Patrick Morrell at toshbk@hotmail.com.
