How much does a fully trained bike mechanic earn a year?

Not a radio6 listener (or too bright) are we?

Some proper pedantic bell end’s of the highest order on this mongboard FFS !

It sounds like he’s only a youngling, give him a break….. 🙄

How will they ever learn otherwise?
It IS their fault that they are young/stupid

It sounds like he’s only a youngling, give him a break….

I only left uni 4 years ago, but I could speak properly when I went!

£20k for repairing bikes is prety good in my opinion, doesn’t take a lot of brains (I’m not saying bike mechanics are stupid, you need common sense but thats it really), not a lot of responsibility, so why would it pay more?

How much do people really think a bike mechanic should earn?

Some proper pedantic bell end’s of the highest order

That’s “bell ends”. No apostrophe.

Well ‘did’ is shorter than ‘done’, so you actually spent more time making it wrong, which suggests that it wasn’t intentional.

I’m not going to pretend that my English is always proper. I can make it proper, when it is required – I’m certinally not going to do that for condescending arses like yourself.

Rorschach, I prefer radio 4 as that’s all I can get in the car. But I don’t see how my intelligence can be measured by radio stations?

Assuming a 40 hour week minimum wage is 12700, so as a full time worker you can’t be that far off

..if you’re on 12.5ish, another 2.5ish K is a nice payrise. 2.5k more to any of us should be very much appreciated.

Neil the wheel, top marks )

Have you met people who listen to radio1?

innit, bruv!

[pendant]

In future I will conduct my manner

[/pendant]
you might conduct yourself, but i don’t think conducting your manner really works…
😉 at Rorschach. it is that day, after all. 😀

Have you met people who listen to radio1?

I listen to Radio 1 🙂

Ive had the slap down on here for using colourful language.. People think they’re clever by correcting you but in reality they were too stupid to realise what really happened.

doesn’t take a lot of brains (I’m not saying bike mechanics are stupid, you need common sense but thats it really)

It may not take a lot of ‘brains’ but it does require a degree of skill to do a good job. I know plenty of very clever people who have no skills when it comes to manual tasks.

I’m not really making a point about salary, but don’t confuse intelligence/brains with learned skills. You pay somebody based on the skills they have, not their intelligence (obviously sometimes the two are related).

Also, there is a fair degree of responsibility involved, there is the potential for bodily harm with a poorly maintained bike both for the rider and other people, certainly a lot more responsibility than a lot of better paid desk jobs that also require little in the way of brains 😉

njee20 – Member
I listen to Radio 1

I rest my case m’lud 😉

The skill of a good mechanic lies in being able to do it quickly and accurately. Anybody can fiddle about and get it right eventually, a good mechanic gets it right immediately with no messing around and no wastage.
I used to have a Kiwi mechanic who could build a dozen bikes a day whilst also dealing with all the walk-in repairs without even breaking sweat. We ended up offering him silly money to stay with us rather than return to NZ.

Back on topic! Don’t forget most bike mechanics work weekends and bank holidays when your mates are riding, 20k defo top end of the wage scale too, though you can make a bit on the side doing repairs

interesting thread. for info, what does a typical lbs charge an hour for the mechanic?

Plenty of responsibility in the job if you ask me . If you mess up fixing somebodies brakes and they can’t stop at a junction and crash you can be in deep sh1t . Far worse than messing up a companys IT system if you ask me .

What’s the cost of the Cytech courses?

Yes right £12,700 is almost £15,000. That extra 18% to someone on £12.7K will mean a quite big change in their life (unless they live with mum and dad) eg being able to eat better/go out/have a holiday rather than just meaning they can now afford to buy an iPad.

Do bike mechanics work on Bank Holidays? Shops are always shut round my way.

As for £16-20k – to put it in perspective re responsibility, there are plenty people where I work (Ambulance Service) who who attend life-threatening emergencies earning less than that…………..oh and they work bank Holidays, nights, weekends, Christmas and New Year too.

Thre is to my mind an obvious connection between the little we want to pay to get out bikes fixed, the low wages of most bike shop mechanics and the low standard of work done by many bike shop mechanics.

Unless yo really want to work with bikes you would be advised to use your mechanical skills eleswhere where you can earn much more

considering the nonsense I have seen on here from a variety of people “speaking as a bike shop mechanic” there is a huge skills gap to close.

BY a car for £15 000 you will pay £50 an hour++++ to have it serviced – but your £3000 bike you baulk at £2o an hour

As has been said already, fixing a bike isn’t exactly rocket science. Basic understanding of mechanics, and some common sense is all you need.

The thread will only screw in/out ONE way… the rear hub only fits in ONE direction….

When you get into the realms of suspension tuning, geo tweaking, etc – imho, you’re no longer in ‘bike mechanic’ territory, you’re now a specialist (Loco, TF, J-Tech, etc)

(In the same way a ‘car engine tuner’ is much more than a ‘car mechanic’)

EDIT : TJ

BY a car for £15 000 you will pay £50 an hour++++ to have it serviced – but your £3000 bike you baulk at £2o an hour

Most customers at a LBS won’t drop £3k on a bike. More like £100-400?

As for £16-20k – to put it in perspective re responsibility, there are plenty people where I work (Ambulance Service) who who attend life-threatening emergencies

Are there? Paramedic pay scale starts at £21,176 according to this, so I’m not convinced that’s valid. I imagine there are call centre folk on less though.

As for £16-20k – to put it in perspective re responsibility, there are plenty people where I work (Ambulance Service) who who attend life-threatening emergencies

Even if true, that just highlights the madness rather than justifying anything. If those people are genuinely paid that little and genuinely have that level of responsibility that’s an argument for paying them more, not paying bike mechanics less.

Paramedic pay scale starts at £21,176 according to this, so I’m not convinced that’s valid.

I’m not entirely sure that it’s only paramedics that attend emergencies

I was at university for eight years, and have gone through the correct use of language and have come out the other side. I totes can do what I want done with English.

I’d love to be a bike mechanic.

The skill of a good mechanic lies in being able to do it quickly and accurately.

this is the key thing here. I can do practically everything that a bike mechanic does, but it probably takes me 2 or 3 times as long.
I stripped and rebuilt a bike the other day (down to nuts and bolts) and it took about 5-6 hours. I doubt that would be satisfactory in a shop.

what would be interesting would be to consider the total hourly cost of employment of a bike mechanic (i.e. including employer NI contributions, benefits, etc.) compared to the shop’s charges for workshop spannering e.g. £22 for a bottom bracket installation

twice!

I’d love to be a bike mechanic.

as would a lot of people. this probably has more to do with the low pay scale than anything else.

that’s an argument for paying them more, not paying bike mechanics less.

Agreed

If you doubt me amedias, ECSW’s (Emergency Care Support Workers) are on Band 3 and even with unsocial working allowance some are not on £20k.

In my area they can 1st respond to up to 7 Cat’A’ ie. life-threatening calls per shift. The fact that they have to do this, with relatively basic training, is another story altogether.

I am astonished by that woody. Don’t think it happens here

That’s a daft avenue to pursue though, and let’s be honest bike shop mechanics are not the ones who should be on the receiving end.

What about sportsfolk, who really do have no responsibility whatsoever, other than to entertain, and get millions.

I am astonished by that woody. Don’t think it happens here

TJ – that’s exactly what the Ambulance Trust Clinical Director said at a meeting 2 weeks ago. In fact he said point blank that it wasn’t true………..until the figures were produced.

njee20 – Member
What about sportsfolk, who really do have no responsibility whatsoever, other than to entertain, and get millions.

…and are the best at what they do.

Unfortunately, products I use most likely pay their wages. Given the choice, I’d rather have nothing to do with them, but that’s unlikely.

What about sportsfolk, who really do have no responsibility whatsoever, other than to entertain, and get millions.

I doubt you’re going to get a crowd of 50,000 people cheering on the OP as he replaces a bottom bracket though.

No, but it was an example based on the fact people were saying “ambulance crew have to go and look at bits of person splattered around, and thus deserve more money than bike mechanics”.

Comparing professions in that way is utter tosh.

e.g. £22 for a bottom bracket installation

I’d love to be able to get away with that. I usually ask £6 and absorb the extra on the difficult ones that are rusted in place and have to be got out with the angle grinder.