Why Canada Needs Trained Bike Mechanics Now

Your bike doesn’t become “unrideable” when a chain wears out or a wheel goes out of true. It becomes unrideable when you can’t get it fixed quickly and affordably by someone who has the necessary skills. That person is becoming ever harder to find, and that’s the gap we dig into with Zoé Kruchten, a bicycle mechanic and community engagement specialist with more than a decade in mechanical work, advocacy, and research.

Zoé shares the national push behind the Canadian Bicycle Industry Skills Coalition, including a workforce survey aimed at finally producing real labour market data on hiring, skills, pay, and training bottlenecks. We also talk wages, shop closures, e-bike repair, and why policies like France’s Repairability Index matter for sustainable transportation and AT.

Visit the website of the Canadian Bicycle Industry Skills Coalition (CBISC) to find out more: https://bicyclemechanics.ca

Transcript

Welcome And The Repair Problem

Peter Ladner 0:04

Welcome to Bike Sense, the BC Cycling Coalition's podcast, where we talk about all things related to active transportation advocacy in VC. I'm your host, Peter Ladner, Chair of the Board of the BC Cycling Coalition. I hope you enjoy the show. I just took my e-bike in for a tune-up this morning, and I assumed that my local bike shop would have a mechanic on hand, and of course, that that mechanic would be qualified. But it turns out that's not always the case. But without bike mechanics and good ones, there will be no biking for many people who can't fix their own bikes. So today we're going to talk about the state of bike mechanics in Canada and in BC with our guest, Zoe Kruchten. Zoe's a bicycle mechanic and community engagement specialist with over 10 years experience across mechanical work, advocacy, and research. Welcome, Zoe.

Zoé Kruchner 1:11

Thanks for having me.

A Flat Tire That Fights Back

Peter Ladner 1:13

Zoe, can you just start by telling us the last bike you repaired?

Zoé Kruchner 1:18

Yes, that would have been my own bike. I have been having a series of flat tires on my main commuter bike. And yep, it's been me in my kitchen. Pretty frustrated, actually.

Peter Ladner 1:34

You're trying to fix a flat tire? I can fix a flat tire. I thought you were a qualified mechanic.

Zoé Kruchner 1:39

Yes, I can also fix a flat tire. This one's been a tricky one.

Peter Ladner 1:42

Let's just get into this for a second. What can be tricky about a flat tire? You replace it, is it to it's a tube tire with a tube?

Zoé Kruchner 1:50

Uh not necessarily. This uh bike that is uh refurbished but new to me, and so I was kind of discovering that there were some issues on the inside of the rim with this uh wheel where the part where the spokes connect to the rim, uh there was some abrasion, and so I was actually getting the puncture from the inside. And the rim tape that I had, which is the part that covers the area of the rim where the spoke connects, just wasn't doing its job, so it wasn't protecting the tube. And I ended up having to put a kind of like cushioned tape that I got from a hardware store. Yeah, it was a very DIY fix, um, but it's been holding now, so it should be good.

Peter Ladner 2:35

Congratulations! How did you get into bike repair?

Zoé Kruchner 2:39

Yeah, that's a really interesting question because I think I have a bit of a unique trajectory. I was hired by the Bike Kitchen, which is a community bike shop out at UBC, um, as uh basically an apprentice. So I was hired with zero experience. I knew maybe how to pump my tires, but it sort of like kind of didn't always work. Um, and I was given the opportunity to learn about bicycle mechanics. I was hired for four months full-time in the summer, and I went from zero to then being hired during the school year as a junior mechanic. And that was about 14 years ago, and I've been kind of in the cycling industry in in various capacities ever since. Not always as a bike mechanic. I've I've kind of only ever worked part-time as a bike mechanic since then, but I had kind of an amazing uh introduction to bike mechanics through that initial hiring through the bike kitchen, where yeah, I was given four months to really learn hands-on and through books and technical documentation and and feedback from some really amazing mechanics who were working there at the time.

How Shops Actually Hire Today

Peter Ladner 3:55

I I know that you're involved in a national survey to look at the state of bike mechanics in Canada, but I just want to go back to your own experience. Is that an example of how we're training bike mechanics these days? Somebody comes in cold and there's assumed to be some sort of mentor expert on hand to answer questions, and you look up books and YouTube videos. Is is that it?

Zoé Kruchner 4:16

No, so I I think I had a really unique experience in that I was hired to learn. I wasn't hired with the expectation of being immediately productive. So I wasn't working on customer bikes in those first uh couple months. The bike kitchen had really created a very unique, I would view it as basically an apprenticeship. Um that is not, yeah, that's not the standard of how people enter the industry.

Peter Ladner 4:45

What is the standard for how people enter the industry?

Zoé Kruchner 4:48

Right now it's you knock on the door of a bike shop, apply as a bike mechanic, um, hope to get hired, and then hope to receive training on the shop floor.

Peter Ladner 5:01

Would you apply for a job with no experience? Is that how people do it? They just say, I I think I could I could be a good bike mechanic, so take me on and hire and train me.

The Push For A Real Job Code

Zoé Kruchner 5:10

Yeah, it's gonna depend on what the shop is looking to hire. So some shops will specify that they want someone with experience, although what we're seeing is that that's it's very hard to hire an experienced bicycle mechanic. Um, so shops are also in some cases willing to hire people who have very limited experience. So generally, that's someone who has maybe done repairs on their own bikes or on their friends or family's bikes, uh, is passionate about bicycles and repair, has watched some YouTube videos, um, so has maybe some real cursory knowledge about bicycle mechanics. And then the hope for the shop would be to kind of put the person in a situation where they're kind of starting with some basic repairs, are hopefully being supervised or trained by a more senior mechanic in the bicycle shop. There are some introductory classes that you can take, but to become like a proficient bicycle mechanic, there is no clear trajectory for that right now in BC and to some extent in the rest of Canada as well.

Peter Ladner 6:22

And so you're involved with a campaign to change that. Uh, and the first thing you're going to do is a survey of all these bike shops, is that it? To find out what difficulties they're having or what issues they're having or what they would recommend?

Building The Canada-Wide Skills Survey

Zoé Kruchner 6:37

Yeah, so at um this initiative we've actually just recently named ourselves the Canadian Bicycle Industry Skills Coalition. Our first step was actually to try to get the bicycle mechanic its own national occupation code in the national occupation classification system federally. So, right now, bicycle mechanics are lumped in with other occupations under the title Other Repairers. So this includes over a hundred different occupations that include things like Cordion Reparer and my favorite, which is spray gun repairer. Um, and so having no NOC code for bicycle mechanics specifically means that we just don't have any data about bicycle mechanics in Canada or very limited. And this was actually the first step that Rob in Ontario with a couple other folks put together this petition to establish a code for bicycle mechanics. And that is how I got in contact with Rob because I saw that petition cross my desk. And yeah, I just see that that there's that need if we're not counting bicycle mechanics as an occupation. It also makes it very difficult provincially to have kind of a skilled trade recognition or have support from the government for training programs. Um, so that was the initial first step. The national occupation classification is only updated every five years. And we had actually missed the deadline for the current update. So the next update is in 2031. But in the meantime, the federal government still read our submission and was still interested in how do we separate bicycle mechanics from other repairs and where would it fit in the classification system. And so we realized that for us to show the government the need for this change and also work with the different provinces and kind of figure out what exactly is going on, is to then create a workforce survey to better understand the state of play of bicycle mechanics as it is now in Canada. Um, and we're looking to gather data from bicycle mechanics themselves, so the workers and also the employers, so people who hire bike mechanics, you know, what are they looking for when they're hiring someone, as well as any uh kind of training provider. Uh, so there's like various different tiers of training. A lot of it is focused on the kind of DIY home mechanic, but we just want with the survey to really understand like who are bike mechanics, how are they learning their skills, what are the challenges, what are the opportunities? And so that's kind of that's been the progression of this initiative.

Peter Ladner 9:49

So you, when you say Rob, you're referring to Rob McMonacle, and we'll put his contact in the show notes, but he just decided to take this on, and so is anybody funding this survey? You're just doing this out of the goodness of your hearts?

Zoé Kruchner 10:05

Well, yes, right now, yes, which is why it's good for you. It's it's kind of tough because we're all doing this kind of off the side of our desk or or or workbench. I know Rob uh has a real keen interest in green jobs, and I think initially thought that bicycle mechanics would be an easy first step in terms of better classification for green jobs, and then I think sort of like pulled back the curtain and realized that it is actually quite complex because we have no Canadian bicycle industry association. The industry is really decentralized and there's no kind of common voice for this sector. And Rob is a really awesome person because he kind of just sunk his teeth into it and has kept going. And then I connected with him because I had been doing research in Vancouver and had kind of come to the same conclusions. But to be totally honest, I kind of got burnt out from doing it off the side of my workbench. And so I kind of had hung up the apron, so to speak, and then seeing Rob's petition uh was really reinvigorated to work together and make it kind of a national initiative.

Peter Ladner 11:36

What will happen if you achieve your goal of having bike mechanics as a separate classification of jobs? What will be different?

Zoé Kruchner 11:44

Well, the first thing is that we'll have better labor market data. And then the second thing is that without that better fit of classification, it's very difficult for us to get government funding and support. So, for example, Rob and I, totally separately before we met, came up to the same barrier of in each of our provinces. Rob is in Ontario, but here in BC, when I had originally started this research, I went to the Industry Trade Association, which I think is now renamed to Skilled Trade BC. This is a BC government organization or a Yeah, so they're the ones that oversee kind of apprenticeable trades. They were like, well, for us to create an apprenticeship for bicycle mechanics, we need all this data and da-da-da-da-da, and it needs to be government data. And so without that data, we can't really make that next step of providing clear certification and like a standardized training program.

Peter Ladner 12:49

Well, let's assume that you've you get the data and the anek data, the anecdotal information is that there is a shortage and that there isn't no proper training.

Zoé Kruchner 13:01

Yeah.

Peter Ladner 13:01

Um what what would then what would happen? You would have there would be an apprentice program and like I understand in places like Denmark, it's quite an elaborate process, a multi-year process to be a qualified bicycle mechanic. And if that were to happen, if you were to get your data together and persuade in however many years these government agencies that this is a worthwhile and and legitimate job classification, would there be like subsidies for training, or would it be colleges be able to be able to now start offering this as a career path?

Pay Compression And Rising Complexity

Zoé Kruchner 13:36

I'm hesitant to be too prescriptive without the data ahead of us, but there's lots of different pathways that we could take in terms of how to solve this issue. So, one, it could be that there is like a clear certification pathway that's done through existing vocational training organizations. So, for example, one thing that I personally think would be great, whether that's the the end result or not, is different, is having some sort of classroom classes at places like BCIT or VCC that provide some fundamentals for bicycle mechanics. And then being kind of like a subsidized apprentice in a bicycle shop where you are exposed to the full array of complexity of bicycles. So outside of a kind of standardized classroom setting, because I think that that kind of, you know, at the workstand, experiencing the true repair issues that people have is what provides more in-depth training and just putting in the hours of, you know, it's not just like an 80-hour classroom setting, but that you have like hundreds of hours of hands-on experience. And I think that that would really also help bike shops that are really struggling right now because for a shop to be able to train someone, you know, it's their more senior mechanic generally that is providing the training, but it's also the more senior mechanic that is the person who provides the most value to the service department, right? So if they're taken away from kind of the money-making work orders to train a new person who, let's be honest, may or may not stay for the whole season, that's a huge issue issue for bike shops because they're taking on the cost of training and they're already being squeezed in so many different ways. The the margins in bike shops are getting smaller and smaller every day. I mean, even in Vancouver, we've had four bike shops close in 2025. So that's kind of going further from your question.

Peter Ladner 15:52

But um did they close because of this issue of not having the repair capacity?

Zoé Kruchner 15:57

I I can't say if that's the sole issue. You know, it's um uh there's so many things intertwined here. There's like an affordability crisis, um, we have a wage crisis, bicycle mechanics are very poorly paid for the level of skill that they're what are they paid?

Peter Ladner 16:14

Range.

Zoé Kruchner 16:15

I mean, you're gonna start at minimum wage, and I think the maximum I've heard, but again, this is where we need the survey because this is kind of anecdotal, is like the low $30 an hour for someone who has like between you know over 15 years of experience.

Peter Ladner 16:32

Wow. It's criminal that people would with that are expected to do high-tech work, technical work, are paid minimum wage. Like if a plumber comes to my house, they're getting paid like 10 times that. And is it becoming more difficult now to repair bikes with e-bikes and cargo bikes and all these complexities?

Zoé Kruchner 16:52

That is a great question because basically the industry has become extremely complex. So uh when I started, you know, let's say 15 years ago, there were maybe like four bottom bracket standards. So bottom bracket is the part that connects your cranks to the to the frame and allows for that like forward pedaling motion. And now, I don't know, there's maybe like 25 standards. And so if you multiply that by all the different components on the bike, the body of knowledge that you need to know to be a proficient, efficient bicycle mechanic is huge now. And then on top of that, there's like e-bikes, batteries, all sorts of different micromobility devices that kind of come through our doors. Yeah, it's just it's a it's become a very difficult um or very complex profession.

Peter Ladner 17:45

It's remarkable that with that level of complexity that the pay would be so low. But then when you get to the issue of of bike stores being strapped to make a mu uh to make a buck and survive, I can see it working in two directions. If you have better trained people who are trained outside the bike store, so it's not on the on the back of the bike store to train people, they save that money of that training time and the risk that they're gonna lose that person. But at the same time, they would probably be expected to pay a little more for that person when they come in fully trained. But I guess if they work efficiently, that they're gonna be worth more.

Repairs As A Pillar Of Mobility

Zoé Kruchner 18:25

Yeah, I think for sure better pay, better training, and and better training would allow for that like efficiency and productivity that I see is a real struggle for that kind of entry-level bicycle mechanic. You know, you're you're if you're starting now, I think it's very difficult to see it as a viable career because it's not really viewed as like a respectable profession, right? And that's that's kind of echoed by the fact that it's like lumped in with this other repair category, which spray gun repair people, yeah. Yeah, which I mean, no, no, I don't want to look down at spray gun repairs, but it's just it's that other repair code is under a subcategory of building maintenance. So we're just like kind of misclassified, and it's not really viewed as the kind of viable career that it could be and that it should be based on your introduction. I mean, I was really happy with how you introduced this um this segment because I think that it is an often forgotten piece of the puzzle towards sustainable mobility. I see a lot of folks who would love to take up cycling, but their bike is in disrepair, or uh the cost of repair is too high, or in some instances, and we saw this really strongly during COVID, we were booking out repairs six to seven weeks. So that means you bring your bike in, and or you you are maybe even not even able to leave it at the shop. You have to bring it back when we have space. But if the turnaround time for a like a standard service is that long, then how are you able to depend on your bicycle as a mode of transportation?

Peter Ladner 20:15

Uh especially when uh cycling and active transportation are at the top of many lists of our priorities for transportation.

Zoé Kruchner 20:23

Yeah.

Peter Ladner 20:23

And it's uh it's a little odd and ridiculous that we would be championing those means of getting around without addressing this core issue of but we have to repair these these vehicles. And also I would think it would classify as a green job that would be, I would assume, eligible for some kind of grants as part of a transition to a less fossil fuel-dependent economy.

Zoé Kruchner 20:48

Yeah, it's it's just it's been, I think, uh underinvested for an extremely long time. And I think the hope that we have is by collecting that data and shining light on this, that we can get all the players lined up to introduce some change. What exactly that change will be, I think is a bit dependent on what we find from the survey. And the more we're talking about this, the more we have people kind of coming to us with ideas and other people we should speak to. And um, we're starting to have the like existing training organizations, yeah. Ears are perking up because I do think it's kind of a no-brainer, right? It's like investing in sustainable urban mobility, investing in local jobs. You're not outsourcing having your bike repaired to some other jurisdiction, right? It's like you're you're going to the closest bike shop to you.

Peter Ladner 21:42

And there's no way that AI is going to fix that bike. Somebody's hands on the bike.

Zoé Kruchner 21:48

Yeah, I mean, that's what I was telling students at UBC. I was like, if you want an AI proof job, come work as a bike mechanic.

Peter Ladner 21:56

So if somebody's listening to this and going, right on, Zoe. Let's get on this. What can they do? Let's start with somebody who's in the business who has some information that they want to share. They would fill out the survey and they would get the survey through the link in our show notes.

Zoé Kruchner 22:11

Yes. So the survey is hopefully going to come out next week.

Peter Ladner 22:15

Which is the end of uh the middle of April?

Zoé Kruchner 22:18

Like April 7th, yep. And then it'll be open for a month.

Peter Ladner 22:22

Well, that's it.

Zoé Kruchner 22:22

And yeah, that's our initial idea is that it'll be open for a month. And yeah, I mean, like with any survey, if we don't get enough respondents, the data is not as strong. So we really want people to fill out the survey. Um, that's kind of the first call to action. The second one, let's say you're in the industry but you're not a bicycle mechanic, you're not hiring bicycle mechanics, you're not a training provider. The petition for the national occupation classification is still open. It exists in French and English. Um the survey also exists in French and English, and people can still sign that petition. I I would say, like, if people have ideas or folks that they think we should talk to, even outside of the cycling industry, I think there's a lot that we can learn from other skilled trades, like how they are approaching their certification and kind of just getting involved by sharing information with us.

Peter Ladner 23:22

We'll put those links on the show notes and people could contact you directly. Could we put your email up there?

Repairability Standards And Why It Matters

Zoé Kruchner 23:29

Yeah, through the bicyclemechanics.ca is our website, and there's a contact form through there. And then that kind of just goes to all of us. There's less emphasis on, wow, I've had this bicycle or this whatever washing machine or whatever you have for 20 years. I think that if we can put more emphasis on that repair aspect, it's better for people's pockets, it's better for our environment. But there's also the fact that the industry is pumping out stuff that is not designed to be repaired, or they will stop manufacturing certain components. And so people are almost forced to buy new bikes.

Peter Ladner 24:41

You know, I have a there's a guy, there's an old guy in our neighborhood who's got a garage in the lane and it's jammed with bike parts. And he's uh he's he's 80 years old, you wouldn't know it to look at him. But I took a kid's bike in to get him to repair it, and he repaired it, but he said, that is the last Canadian tire bike I will ever repair. Like this bike was not made to be repaired. You you know, nothing cinches up tight and the things don't match, and it's uh it's it's a killer to work on it.

Zoé Kruchner 25:10

Yeah, I mean, there's some really interesting stuff coming out of um France. They have a um repairability index, which they've just recently for 2026 have included e-bikes into that index.

Peter Ladner 25:26

Like particular brands are are graded according to the repairability?

Zoé Kruchner 25:30

Uh bikes are graded, yeah. It's I basically to sell an e-bike in France, it has to come with uh uh repairability index grading.

Peter Ladner 25:40

Wow.

Zoé Kruchner 25:41

Yeah.

Peter Ladner 25:43

Well, so okay, before we go, why do you what do you like most about bicycle mechanics? I mean, you're into this now. You're you're giving a lot of your life to it.

How To Help And Closing Notes

Zoé Kruchner 25:53

Yeah why do you like it? I just think that it is a really great job to be able to go to work. Your task is to fix things, to keep people riding, to keep stuff out of the landfill. It is a very complex job. No two days are the same, no two bikes for the most part are the same. There's always something to learn.

Peter Ladner 26:17

No flat tires are the same.

Zoé Kruchner 26:19

Yeah, as I've discovered, yes. Yeah, I that's what I really love about the job. I'm I'm lucky to have worked in a lot of places where I've been really supported. I know it's not the case for a lot of folks entering the industry, but I think it's a great job. And especially as you mentioned with AI, a robot isn't gonna come and do my job.

Peter Ladner 26:42

Good luck for you and and thank you for taking this on. And I really hope that people will respond and spread the word that the survey is out there and that if it were done properly or if we had enough people filled it out, we could get to the point where uh bicycle mechanics would be a recognized career path and paid better and deliver better results for the bike stores. And looping back to what I said at the beginning, enabling all of us to keep riding, which without repairs we can't do. Even with the help of YouTube, we're still going to need people like you. So keep at it. Yeah. And I really hope they fix my bike by tomorrow.

Zoé Kruchner 27:21

I hope so too.

Peter Ladner 27:22

Thanks. Thanks, Zoe.

Zoé Kruchner 27:24

Thank you.

Peter Ladner 27:32

You've been listening to Bike Dance, an original podcast from the BT Cycling Coalition. If you like the podcast, we'd be grateful if you could leave us a rating of whatever platform you use. You can also subscribe so you don't miss future episodes. If you have comments or suggestions for future episodes, email me at peter.ladner at bccycling.ca. You can help us amplify BC Cycling Coalition's voice by simply becoming a free member at bccycling.da.