TRENDSPOTTING PHOTO BY GLEN ARDI ON UNSPLASH
Let’s face it, the bicycle mechanic of today is not only faced with a general advance in bicycle technology, but also consumer electronics knowledge, integration and new standards. This is becoming a very skilled job for very skilled and knowledgeable people. The value attached to somebody who has the skill to deal with fiddly jobs without breaking a sweat is becoming high if you want to keep a high turnover workshop. My guess is that is a business priority nowadays given the profitability in servicing versus many sales. Lately, there are an abundance of brands, like VanMoof
to name a large one, that are looking to expand a very large service network with specialist service skills. Dare I say, you have the upper hand in negotiation. With this, I think 2025 might be the year historically low bike mechanic wages rise just a bit more than inflation. If you’re hesitant, consider this. The average wage for the car mechanic (a skillset that’s not massively dissimilar for some in the bike trade) is averaging around £32,500 to £33,334 per year, or £15.38 per hour minimum. Now I’ve seen bike industry wage data before now, I surveyed hundreds of bike shops on it actually and let me tell you we are nowhere near competing, despite the skills gap closing. Don’t lose your talented mechanics, they’re only becoming more valuable. The same applies to quality salespeople.
Bike theft: Within our grip to turn a corner? I got thinking about this subject upon learning about the service that BackPedal are now providing. If you’ve not heard about them, they’re essentially a company set up in response to bike crime generally going totally unsolved, often uninvestigated at all, in the UK. In summary, they’re a private security business that has been set up, with the help of some heavies. Sometimes they are off-duty police, sometimes they are ex-military folk. They’re hired by BackPedal to do the job the police are too under-resourced to do – that is go door knocking. They do alert the police, of course, inviting them to take part in retrievals.
This service works only if you have a GPS-equipped
bike, and increasingly many e-bikes and even pedal cycles do. I’m now seeing some brands tack a hidden Air Tag pocket onto the base of frames, Eovolt being one example. This should move the needle in time, but it’s not the only reason for optimism. Reported on
BikeBiz.com in November was another
clever tool from BikeFolder. This piece of software is designed to gather all the data about a customer’s bike, from purchasing details, anti-theft tracking services, service reminders and comms with a preferred retailer. This isn’t the only software of this kind I’m seeing and generally speaking digital registration is getting a
42 | January 2025
www.bikebiz.com
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