Just having a think about ‘what next’ in terms of worky life choices.

I’ve got a decent job at the moment that I enjoy – I work in marketing for a tech company. Sorry. I know that probably puts me on lots of people’s hated lists…Anyway, I’ve been doing that sort of thing for about 15 years now and I’m thinking of a change in lifestyle some time in the next few years. Partly due to the arrival of kids and partly because a change is as good as a rest and all that…

I’ve always wanted to work in cycling and wondering what would be the best thing to train up in if I wanted to make a living from cycling. I could stick with marketing cycling related stuff but I feel like I’d like to do something more ‘productive’.

So…what kind of thing do you think would be best? Mechanic, a bike guide, a frame builder? Or is that just a waste of time because I’m so soft after all my years of sitting behind a desk that I’ll never cut it. What does the cycling industry need? Always assuming I’d have the right ability to try and learn how to be one. Which I probably don’t.

Any ideas welcome. Please be nice. If you can…

Your bank balance .not the highest paid job in term of hrs – working Saturdays if your in a retail shop .

Do you need to earn enough to support your family? If so, I’d recommend doing something else.

Mechanic, a bike guide, a frame builder?

Do you want to make enough money to support a family? From what I can gather, there is not an awful lot of money in any of these jobs. Fine if you don’t need much, but I’d suggest looking elsewhere if you do.

Any of the above would be good, but don’t assume you’ll make a decent living from any if them. Cycling related careers don’t seem to pay much unfortunately.

Ads for full time mechanics seem to offer about £16-18k a year.

You should train up as a juggling unicyclist.

Ask this guy. 😉

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3LOKfQ3y2Q[/video]

Marketing in the bike industry. The bigger and more forward thinking organisations in the industry are hiring marketing talent from outside the industry now, and rightly so.

You’ll have lots to offer with experience in a more professionalised and developed industry.

Thanks Andy – I guess that’s probably going to be my best route in. Just feel like it’d be good to do something other than sell but ultimately that’s what I know best…

In an ideal world I would do it for smaller, more interesting brands but guessing they’ve not got the budget for sales and marketing…

Plenty of marketing jobs here….

I’d also agree with using your marketing skills. You won’t get rich as a coach, and there’s a long period of qualification.

As for Rapha. Well they make very good kit with a defined clientele that I’m sure they’d like to expand. Customer care has been excellent. So I’d say based on that, they probably aren’t bad to work for.

If you can get by on minimum wage there’s loads of opportunities..

Organisations like Sustrans also need folk with a range of skills. It’s cycling related but maybe not quite so obvious.

Mechanic, a bike guide, a frame builder?

To work in a shop you don’t need anything other than some sort of basic customer service level (and in some shops even that seems optional…)

Mechanic – you want CyTech training which will cost a fair whack. Very few shops now will employ a mechanic without it unless they’re taking on a school leaver and are willing to spend some money to train them up.

Guiding – you’ll need Outdoor / Advanced first aid and some sort of ride leader / coaching qualification. I’ve done guiding before (probably 15-20 years ago) without the latter just based on my own experience and the trust of the guy who ran the place but it’s not something you’ll get away with now.

You could try being an event organiser; some of the bigger Sportive style rides can take in a fair amount of money – I’ve seen £30,000 for some. If you can get the market right (and it’s changing all the time) and do a good job of it, then it’s actually quite rewarding.

Don’t expect a huge wage out of any of them!

A fair few frame builders have considerable cycling history. I.e have been racers, or sponsored or a very well known personality in a scene. Not a prerequisite but I think it helps to have lots of people to sell at cost prototypes to and let’s customers know they have big solid experience.

I know (or did a few years ago ) a frame builder he was also well versed in engineering, welding before he started building etc but you can learn this if you are keen but the less you currently know the more you have to learn to get up to the required level.

This is not to say it can’t be done but I think frame building is a tough path but it does give you skills that you can use to make money on none bike related work. I.e small welding, fabrication and machining odd jobs, but of course this requires work shop space to learn and then work in.

Me and the wife had a pipe dream of running a sort of rustic mountain bikers bunk house, and we looked at a couple of places. The cost and effort required put us off, especially with young kids.

In the end we relocated somewhere with ace riding on the doorstep but took 9-5 jobs with good holiday and flexi time so that we could actually spend decent time riding and enjoying the outdoors.

I think in many ways that’s actually the better thing to do.

Some examples from elsewhere
https://www.vertigomtb.com.au/blue-derby-mtb-news/
Buck had been running MTB guiding around Tassie for a good few years, when trail building kicked off he got busier, though for a lot of the time it was him and a van. You need to be sorted to give the amount of effort up. The new trails and popularity from EWS means they now run a shop at the trail head and run shuttles most days. It’s been a long journey.
https://www.emsaustralia.net.au/
Spent a fair bit of time chatting to Ian and Bec from EMS, doing all sorts of events (fun runs and Tri etc) and Enduro’s with a lot of effort they took Chris Ball for a tour of Oz and ended up running EWS Tasmania which took a massive amount of effort and then were asked to run the World Champs in Cairns this year. Seeing the instagram posts of where they are shows how much work is involved.
Taking a look at that from the UK perspective with Si moving out of DH and things like that some of those events look to be passion projects rather than a full time job.

So what it really comes down to is what can you risk?

If depends how into biking you are now, but sometimes working directly in the industry, especially more hands on can be negative and reduce your passion for it.

My ‘other thing’ is motorsport, rallying specifically, I’ve several friends who are qualified and experienced enough, and indeed have worked as motorsport technicians. However, most of them actually think it’s best not to if you still want to enjoy the sport as a hobby. Depends how obsessed you are with it, I also know people who live and breathe it 24/7.

In a similar vein, the guys at my lbs got into it through a love of mountain bikes but now barely ride at all. They’d rather enjoy other hobbies in their spare time, not fix bikes…….. Just like a builders own house is always the last to get done.

This is not to say it can’t be done but I think frame building is a tough path

It’s also a very crowded path. Framebuilding has become a hobby for lots of people, they go do a course and then decide they’re frame builders. They exhibit at Bespoked, but then find that once they’ve sold frames to all their friends and family it’s actually quite hard to convince strangers to give you money for stuff.

As others have said, the bike industry isn’t particularly well paid. I support myself and my family, but we’re not rich.

BikeBiz has jobs.
I think there is some money going into cycling, trying to get people out of their cars. Reduce pollution in the cities. Get a healthy lifestyle, etc.

If you want more of a challenge please have a look at my new product. I am no marketeer.
Auxtail

depends how into biking you are now, but sometimes working directly in the industry, especially more hands on can be negative and reduce your passion for it.

I was warned about this and sad to say it has proved true..

BikeBiz.com has jobs.
I think there is some money going into cycling, trying to get people out of their cars. Reduce pollution in the cities. Get a healthy lifestyle, etc.

If you want more of a challenge please have a look at my new product. I am no marketeer.
Auxtail

Thanks Craig – can give you plenty of pointers if it’d help?