​It’s Mechanic Monday again, and we are excited to introduce you to this week’s honoree, Frank Haws of Boulder, Colorado!
 
For those of you who are unfamiliar with PBMA’s Mechanic Monday series, this is where we feature one mechanic each week who is chosen randomly from the pool of nominations that we receive. Mechanic Monday is all about mechanics supporting fellow mechanics, and we are proud to partner with Abbey Bike Tools, Cycling Industry News, and People for Bikes to share these great features with you.
 
Frank Haws is a shop-mechanic-turned-race-mechanic and an endurance machine specialist. Last year, he led a support crew for a solo athlete competing in the Race Across America (RAAM) and he is currently doing some impressive demo work for the MTB industry. We are pleased to share some of Frank’s story with you today, in his own words!
 
 
PBMA:  How did you become involved in cycling and/or cycling mechanics?
 
I got started in a shop in my late teens assembling new bikes and driving deliveries for some rental bikes to local hotels and guest houses. From there, I got more into the mechanical side of things and eventually found myself doing more and more race support.
 
 
PBMA:  Do you have a favorite moment or story from your time in the cycling industry?
 
One of my favorite moments was during Race Across America in 2017, getting stuck in one of the most terrifying/hilarious hail storms ever. Hail stones just shy of baseball size and torrential rain with flash flooding up to bottom bracket height while our rider was on course. We pulled him and ducked into a car wash to wait it out.  Oh hail yes.
 
 
PBMA:  What motivation or advice would you give to an aspiring professional bicycle mechanic?
 
Some advice I’d give to other aspiring mechanics is simply just to observe everyone’s technique, taking your favorite tips, tricks and methods from each mechanic you work with.
 
 
PBMA:  What is your favorite tool?
 
My favorite tool in my box is my Jagwire cable cutters with an awl hidden in the handle to open up housing after cutting. A close second is Park’s Internal Routing Kit in conjunction with some plastic sheathing that we all see so often. A true unsung hero.
 
 
That’s all for this week! Thank you for following along with our series and sharing our support for our fellow mechanics. We’ll be back next week with a new feature. In the meantime, we are still in need of nominations!! You don’t need to be a PBMA Member to nominate or be featured! (All that we ask is for no self-nominations, please.) Click here to learn more about our 2018 Mechanic Monday series, and here to learn more about how to nominate your favorite mechanic!

​It’s Mechanic Monday again, and we are excited to introduce you to this week’s honoree, Chip Howat of Lawrence, Kansas!
 
For those of you who are unfamiliar with PBMA’s Mechanic Monday series, this is where we feature one mechanic each week who is chosen randomly from the pool of nominations that we receive. Mechanic Monday is all about mechanics supporting fellow mechanics, and we are proud to partner with Abbey Bike Tools, Cycling Industry News, and People for Bikes to share these great features with you.
 
Chip Howat is not only a Professional Bicycle Mechanic, but also a Professional Engineer (like, he actually has a license and a PhD to prove it). Over the 25+ years, Chip has become a fixture in the world of mountain bike race mechanics; he’s helped his riders win Gold at the World Championships, collaborated with some of the biggest names in the industry on product design and testing, and helped write many of the curricula that are used to teach the next generation of bicycle mechanics.
 
Chip was one of the first nominations we received for this year’s Mechanic Monday series, but he’s such a busy guy that we’ve only just had time to catch up with him. So without further ado, we are proud to share some of Chip’s story with you here in his own words!
 
 
PBMA:  How did you become involved in cycling and/or cycling mechanics?
 
CH:  I began cycling at age six with a Schwinn 20-inch, cycled through college, commuted to work, and ultimately traded my Enduro/Hare Scramble motorcycles for mountain bikes. I continue to cycle over 4,000 miles per year.
 
I had been a motorcycle mechanic to support my racing. In my other life, I studied industrial plant performance, process safety, and manufacturing reliability. I was asked to evaluate a death attributed to bicycle part specification and assembly errors. When that case was approaching trial, I enrolled in John Barnett’s Comprehensive Bicycle Mechanics course in 1991. That same year, I went to the USCF (now USAC) Mechanics Clinic held at the Olympic Training Center. From there, bicycle mechanics, reliability, and safety began to take up more and more of my professional and personal life. It led to eight world championships, personal and professional associations with the Bill Woodul Race Mechanics Clinic for 25 years, development of the Race Mechanics Handbook, and the establishment of my repair-only shop.
 
 
PBMA:  Do you have a favorite moment or story from your time in the cycling industry?
 
CH:  When you are as ancient as I am, there are so many! Perhaps the most memorable was supporting the USA Team at the 1996 World Mountain Bike Championships – my third. At that time, the Masters were included in the event. About 20 minutes before staging, a Masters racer comes to the USA Team tent with her chain stuck between her middle and granny – everyone was riding three rings then. Using the team doctors’ cooler as a work bench, I re-spaced the rings and altered the front derailleur. I ran with her to staging, asking her to shift repeatedly to convince her that the bike was ready to race. She won Gold.
 
On a personal level, meeting Calvin Jones at the BBI in 1991 is my most cherished moment. This meeting led to working with him on so many projects, including tubular tire gluing, quick-release retention, falling-ball viscometer development for fork tuning and oil evaluation, TM-1 calibration development, Park Tool WTA development, disc brake performance, and various clinics, workshops, and races, and on and on. That moment led to a lifetime friendship.
 
 
PBMA:  What motivation or advice would you give to an aspiring professional bicycle mechanic?
 
CH:  In one sentence – “There is so much more to being a professional bicycle mechanic than knowing how to turn a wrench.”
 
In many ways, turning the wrench is the easiest part to learn and to refresh with initial and continuing education. The most difficult parts are personal characteristics. As a professional, a mechanic must truly listen to the rider and show – through presentation, actions, and words – that nothing is more important than the rider, his or her bike, and his or her safety. The professional mechanic must adopt the culture that the rider’s safety is by far the greatest importance in any professional mechanic activity. The professional must learn to evaluate how they appear to others at all times, to ensure that observers develop confidence in all of [the professional’s] diagnoses, recommendations, and repairs.
 
 
PBMA:  Okay, we know this one’s going to be hard for you, but we have to ask. What is your favorite tool?
 
CH:  It is so important to know why something must be done, not just what and how. My brain/hand is my most favorite and most valued. With that tool, I can make even the most mediocre tool adjust the most sophisticated bike. Okay, that [could just be] my hippy heritage from the 60s talking…
 
My favorite tool was always a folding Allen wrench set with metal backing plates. The heft, grip, and well-worn metal from 20+ years of use made it a favorite, an example of Ric’s wabi-sabi. I took it to all races, rode with it on all rides, and it was the go-to hex wrench set when I could use a folding tool. Unfortunately, it went on a walkabout from my race kit after the last race at the Champrey Worlds; I hope that it is enjoying its tour.
 
 
That’s all for this week! Thank you for following along with our series and sharing our support for our fellow mechanics. We’ll be back next week with a new feature. In the meantime, we are still in need of nominations!! You don’t need to be a PBMA Member to nominate or be featured! (All that we ask is for no self-nominations, please.) Click here to learn more about our 2018 Mechanic Monday series, and here to learn more about how to nominate your favorite mechanic!

​The PBMA announced today that it has launched a Certified Shop program, based on its own Mechanics’ Certification and focusing on a shop’s service credentials.
 
A PBMA Certified Shop is a shop employing Certified Professional Bicycle Mechanics and is a genuine resource within its community.  Certified Shops will gain insurance discounts, streamlined distributor access, and two mechanic memberships per location.
 
“The idea of the program is to highlight shops that are focused on service and provide qualified service to consumers.  By certifying their mechanical staff and recognizing the shop as a leader in service, we can highlight the businesses as well as the technicians in our certified directory,” said PBMA President James Stanfill.
 
The PBMA Certified Shop program is not exclusive to traditional bicycle shops; the program recognizes all legitimate bicycle businesses, including mobile, service-only, and brick-and-mortar shops.
 
“In January, we had a great discussion with a handful of independent mobile owners and came to the conclusion that there are challenges for legitimacy within our industry for businesses that aren’t built in the traditional sense.
 
In discussion with owners of traditional shops, mobile shops, and service-only enterprises, we thought the best way forward in our changing industry would be to continue to look specifically at service and what service can provide for the shop and the community,” Stanfill said.
 
Shops interested in joining the PBMA and applying to be certified may visit:
https://www.probma.org/pbma-certified-shop.html
 
The application process gathers data to verify that the shop is operating legally per their local laws and in a professional manner.  PBMA Mechanics’ Certification is presently open and free for members of the Association, with additional in-person certification set to launch at Interbike Marketweek later this year.

​Comments from around the industry:
 
Jim Kersten said, “CABDA fully supports this latest development from the PBMA. It is high time our industry came together to focus on service, and PBMA is the only organization in our industry that can do it.  Creating an organization that serves the interests of mobile operators, service-only folks, as well as traditional IBDs is hugely important to the future viability of our profession. Going forward, we will be curtailing our membership component in order to more fully support the PBMA’s Shop Certification program”
 
“As an owner/operator of an independent mobile bicycle service I applaud the efforts of the PBMA in creating standards and certifications for bicycle mechanics. Operating as a PBMA Certified Shop will only add to the confidence my clients have in me as a mechanic. The certification process will also help ensure that the industry standards needed to assemble modern bicycles are highlighted and adhered to. This in turn will build confidence within the bike industry of service driven shops”, said David Ricker of Pedalin’ Fools Mobile Bicycle Services
 
Michael Gavagan, owner of Gav the Mechanic, a service-only shop in Boulder, Colorado said, “Having Certified Mechanic and Certified Shops will provide the accountability that consumers are looking for when seeking out a shop that can provide that higher level of professionalism.”
 
Existing PBMA Shop Members, CABDA Dealer Members, and mobile repair options Velofix and Beeline Bikes, already corporate supporters of the PBMA, will have their locations fast-tracked into the PBMA Certified Shop Program.
 
 

Regardless of how you feel about Mondays, today is a good one because we are back after a two-week break with a brand new Mechanic Monday interview and feature! This week’s honoree is Michael Gavagan of Boulder, Colorado!
 
For those of you who are unfamiliar with PBMA’s Mechanic Monday series, this is where we feature one mechanic each week who is chosen randomly from the pool of nominations that we receive. Mechanic Monday is all about mechanics supporting fellow mechanics, and we are proud to partner with Abbey Bike Tools, Cycling Industry News, and People for Bikes to share these great features with you.
 
Michael Gavagan got his start in the industry by working countless hours in local bike shops and worked his way into to the world of race mechanics through skill, determination, and savvy networking. He volunteered with all the major neutral support programs, worked as the head mechanic for a U-23 World Tour team (Garmin-Cervelo), and spent six years working with Pro Continental (Optum) and World Tour (Drapac) teams. Now Michael owns his own service-only bike shop in Boulder, Colorado; he’s on the road a lot less, but he’s still very much in-touch with his fellow race mechanics and his former teams’ athletes.
 
PBMA caught up with Michael for a quick interview, and we’re excited to share some of his story – and his valuable advice for aspiring Pro Mechanics – with you in his own words!
 
 
PBMA:  How did you become involved in cycling and/or cycling mechanics?
 
MG:  I bought a Trek 8500 LT in 1999. I kept breaking things and wanted to learn how to fix my bike. I went to the local bike shop and hung around long enough until they gave me a job. The head mechanic took me under this wing and taught me how to work on bikes.
 
Fast-forward 12 Years. I managed three shops’ service departments and started becoming interested in becoming a Pro Mechanic. So I flew to Colorado Springs for the Bill Woodul Race Mechanic Clinic and received my USAC mechanic’s license. While I was there, I networked with SRAM Nuetral Support (now NRS & Events LLC p/b LOOK), Mavic,  and Shimano. I volunteered for all three that summer.
 
I worked with SRAM NRS (NRS & Events LLC p/b LOOK) a majority of my weekends over the next few years. After working the 2nd edition of Grand Prix Cyclistes in Montreal with the SRAM crew, I ended up splitting a cab to the airport with a director from Garmin-Cervelo. It turned out that they needed a mechanic for the U-23 development team. Two months later I was in Boulder, CO building bikes for Australian National Championships and team camp. A month later, I was living in a farmhouse in southern France with the team, building out a service course, traveling to races, and hiring temporary staff/mechanics. At the end of the season, the team folded and I spent the next few years working for Optum Pro Cycling (Rally), Specialized, SRAM, and Drapac Pro Cycling.
 
After six years, thousands of highway miles, and countless hours in airplanes, I opened a service-only bicycle repair shop in Boulder, CO. Owning my own shop allows me to continue to work with my former team’s athletes, new athletes, and bicycle industry professionals.
 
 
PBMA:  Do you have a favorite moment or story from your time in the cycling industry?
 
MG:  My favorite moment in cycling was working the 2012 Paris-Roubaix Espoir race. The week of recon, equipment testing and hard work resulted in a 3rd and 4th placement. The Philly race also has a special place in my heart. It the closest thing America has to a Classics race.
 
 
PBMA:  What motivation or advice would you give to aspiring professional bicycle mechanics?
 
MG:  If you’re an aspiring race mechanic, you need to volunteer at races with a neutral service program, manufacturer, bike shop, team, or whatever. You need some unpaid experience. Eventually, you’ll find a paying gig if you are a hard worker. [It’s all about] networking! Never stop networking. You never know where a simple conversation could lead to.
 
 
PBMA:  What is your favorite tool?
 
MG:  My favorite tool is my Snap-On ¼” drive ratchet wrench with allen and torx bits. It’s 4”long, bomb proof, and it’s been with me around the world.
 
 
That’s all for this week! Thank you for following along with our series and sharing our support for our fellow mechanics. We’ll be back next week with a new feature. In the meantime, we are still in need of nominations!! You don’t need to be a PBMA Member to nominate or be featured! (All that we ask is for no self-nominations, please.) Click here to learn more about our 2018 Mechanic Monday series, and here to learn more about how to nominate your favorite mechanic!