How did I do that?!
I found my way as a kid trying to fix a bicycles' flat tire to owning a mobile bike repair shop!
The Bicycle Fixer
Mobile Bicycle Repair shop
Vet owned
About Joe.....
As a kid growing up in Seattle, I was always fascinated with my bicycles. On Christmas morning when I was 7, I received a 1961 Schwinn Typhoon with this cool feature called a "kickback" 2-speed hub. Turns out it was the very popular and durable Bendix Red Band Hub . Wow! That thing was neat!
Too bad there was about 6" of snow outside so no riding my new bike that day.
Unlike other kids, if something went wrong, I tried to fix it by grabbing whatever tool seemed to work...big mistake!
At the age of 9, I tried to remove a tire and my "tool" of choice at that time was mom's butter knife!
Yep, you guessed it, I bent the knife. Sneaky kid tried to fix that before grabbing a screwdriver which finally "worked". Of course, a screwdriver can break a tire bead so it's not the best choice either. Don't try this at home as you'll ruin the tire while mom or dad won't be happy! My love of bike mechanics thus began and my choice of tools improved!
Into my pre-teen and teen years I rode my bike everywhere. Trips to Mercer Island to ride the loop, off to Kenmore and around the north end of Lake Washington. All those miles meant my bike would need service so I acquired a set of tire levers and a patch kit to remove tires and fix flats (no more butter knives or screwdrivers) and added a small tool kit. These additional tools allowed me to sort of true wheels, adjust brakes and derailleurs. As I learned how purpose built tools fit each specific bicycle part, I came to appreciate the finesse it took to work on bicycles.
My knowledge, skillset and tool kit grew.
In my late teens I joined the Navy and became an aircraft structural mechanic serving near the end of the Vietnam war. After my service, I took advantage of my GI Bill and attended college off and on to pursue degrees in architecture and industrial design as this was something that I liked and seemed more reasonable than working on bikes forever. Ha! In 1978 I landed my first job with U-District Cycle ( thank you Lloyd Tamura! ) and also saw time in other local shops. It was around 1986 I realized I wanted to make my career as a bike mechanic so I left college with a 2 year degree+ but schooling wasn't over.
For a few years I worked at a variety of shops around the Seattle, Redmond and Bellevue area honing my skills until I landed a position in 1989 as a service manager. Also, at this time, I started work as a professional road race mechanic assisting with our national teams and as the primary wrench for some elite club teams. Later, I moved into the distribution side of the bicycle industry. Though I "retired" from work as a road race mechanic and the mechanic for the Redline Cyclocross team in 2014, I continue to this day helping local cyclocross racers at our fall events. It was during the end of my road race mechanic profession that in 2013 I founded The Bicycle Fixer, a mobile bicycle repair shop.
The Bicycle Fixer
Woodinville - Bothell - Carnation - Kenmore
S ( afety ) E ( fficiency ) E ( njoyment )
S.E.E!
It's your bike! Ride it!
Let me help you take care of it!
Forks and knives are poor tools for bikes but a peanut butter wrench will work on some crank bolts
Photo Gallery
Mountain bike rear derailleur adjustment
Race mechanics certification after a week of intense classroom and field instruction
A day of service at a local cyclocross
race. The buckets in the right foreground, someone has to wash the bikes!
This certificate represents training classes from many of the top component brands in the bike industry. Very intense 2- day affair
Yours truly in the upper left back row.
This team was made up of primarily junior racers with some national team riders and a few US Jr World team riders
Lotsa' wheels