Bicycle Mechanics

High School

Completion of high school or other formal education is not necessarily required for a job as a bicycle mechanic, although employers may prefer applicants who are high school graduates. If you are considering this kind of work, you will benefit from taking vocational-technical or shop classes in high school. Such classes will give you the opportunity to work with your hands, follow blueprints or other directions, and build equipment. Science classes, such as physics, will give you an understanding of the principles at work behind the design of equipment as well as help you to understand how it functions. Since you will most likely be working in a retail environment, consider taking business, accounting, or computer classes that will teach you business and related skills. Don't forget to take English and communication classes, as well as a foreign language (such as Spanish). These classes will help you develop your communication skills, an asset when dealing with customers, as well as your research and reading skills, an asset when your work includes reviewing maintenance and repair documentation for many different types of bikes.

Postsecondary Training

Bicycle maintenance courses are offered at some technical and vocational schools, and there are several privately operated training schools for mechanics. Bicycle manufacturers may also offer factory instruction to mechanics employed by the company's authorized dealers. Completion of many of the courses offered earns the mechanic certification that may help when seeking a job or when seeking a promotion.

Some bicycle mechanics learn informally on the job. At least two years of hands-on training and experience is required to become a thoroughly skilled mechanic, but because new makes and models of bikes are constantly being introduced, there are always new things to learn that may require additional training. Many times a bicycle distributor visits a bike mechanic at a shop to make sure the mechanic's work is competent before the shop is officially permitted to sell and service a new kind of bike. Because of this steady stream of new information, bicycle mechanics must have a desire to study and add to their knowledge.

Certification

Minneapolis College offers a Bicycle Assembly and Repair Technician Certificate Program, which is designed to be completed in one and a half semesters. Visit https://minneapolis.edu/academics/school-trade-technologies/bicycle-assembly-and-repair-technician to learn more.

Other Education or Training

The United Bicycle Institute (UBI) and other bicycle repair schools offer continuing education seminars and clinics that help repairers keep their skills up to date. Visit https://bikeschool.com/classes/mechanic-classes/ce to learn more about UPI's educational offerings.