Wrench for hire

I've got an interview this afternoon.

It's been a LONG time since I've had an interview, like 1988. Unless you count jury duty. Or the first date with my wife.

You see, Mr Crampy's put out a message on Facebook calling for mechanics or salespeople for part-time work. I made comment about how I love wrenching, but that the shop isn't all that local -- 44 miles each way.

I got a message in return saying we should talk... I mentioned that my wife and I might be able to do a dual employment thing on weekends. So we're meeting tonight.

Now I really do love wrenching on bikes. I started in my freshman year of high school, when my mom bought my first "10 speed" at a garage sale for $25. It was actually a pretty nice bike as garage sale specials go. I went to the local library, which just happened to have a Barnett's manual (extremely rare), and I poured over that tome and soaked in as much knowledge as I could. I figured things out, and used what I had nearby in the garage (my dad was a pretty good wood-worker, a characteristic I definitely did NOT inherit). When I got to college, I started upgrading parts, then got another bike, started accumulating tools... I've worked on everything from building wheels to building up complete bikes from a bare frame, and a whole lot of trouble-shooting in between. The only things I haven't done are chasing threads and straightening bent frames.

But with a stable of eight bikes, wrenching is unavoidable. There's always at least one bike in a state of partial build. Sometimes the lesser-used bikes becomes parts-bins for repairing the more-often-used bikes.

Right now I've got three bikes in partial build state.

One is my track bike/single speed. It is a custom steel frame made by TiCycles with a Softride beam and taking 650c wheels. I gave them a little leeway in the build, so the "seat tube" that would normally hold a front derailleur is vertical, giving it a unique look. It's set up to take brakes front and rear. I haven't used this bike in several years, as the area I live in is far from flat.


Another is a custom funny bike frame built by Bunnyman from the Slowtwitch forum. It uses a 700c rear wheel and a 650c front. I've ridden this bike maybe 5 miles total, mostly experimenting with different components.

Finally, there's an old, retro-aero Javelin X-Frame that uses 650c wheels. I've had this bike on one ride, and it was sweet. The issue is that it takes a pretty big inner chainring (minimum of a 44), or else I need to have a frame builder do some work on it to lower the front derailleur hanger. I'm thinking I'll just go with one chainring and use a front derailleur like a chain keeper. Also, the cable stops at the "down tube" aren't set up to take the common square-mount bosses. I can run cable casing to the stops by the boom tube, which will work, but isn't as elegant as I'd like. But getting this bike running would be uber-cool. Fun to show up at a race sporting a Speedo and rocking this bike with an old Giro Aero-head helmet. Okay, maybe not...

Anyway, tonight my wife and I will meet with Kyle Watson, owner of Mr Crampy's, and we'll see how things fit.

It'd be fun to work in a shop with all professional-quality tools at my disposal.

The extra income would be nice. Discounts on gear wouldn't hurt either.