Mechanic

On the tools

Joining the Pedal House as the head mechanic, I undertook the industry-standard Cytech training. Rather than being sent away for the course, I was lucky enough to have one of their trainers conduct a week-long session of one-to-one training in my workshop.

Before being formally trained, I had been working on bikes since I could reach my dad's tools on his workbench. As a small independent farmer, he brought me up with a strong sense of technical understanding. Rebuilding farming equipment helped me visualise how things work and identify areas of concern.

My first complete bike build was in 2007, where I was lucky enough to get my hands on one of the first deliveries of the SRAM Force groupset. Since that confidence-building first bike, I have been maintaining my own bikes from a home workshop. Every cable change was a lesson and an opportunity to improve my understanding of how these machines work.

One area I had always wanted to experiment in was wheel building—the understanding of how the spokes work in unison, pulling the rim into place, providing strength and security.

Back to the classroom I went, and not long after I was building custom wheels to customer specifications. Testing different hub and rim combinations, lacing patterns, and finding that perfect wheel became an obsession. There's something deeply satisfying about the progression from a pile of parts to a perfectly tensioned, true wheel.

Working with my close friend Andrew Keedle, we decided to try and put together one of those clever bike build montage clips. I provided the material and Andrew provided the output.

Over five years in the bike shop, I developed the ability to identify bottom brackets from a social distance, diagnose shifting issues by sound, and understand the subtle differences between group set generations.

Working primarily with Italian brands meant exposure to some of the finest engineering in cycling—Campagnolo, Pinarello, and other high-end marques that demand precision and attention to detail.

The technical understanding that started on the farm, refined through web development's logical problem-solving, found perhaps its purest expression in bicycle mechanics—where engineering, physics, and craftsmanship meet in perfect mechanical harmony.