Bikes don't fix themselves!

Bikes don’t fix themselves, and as cyclists, don’t we know it.

Some of us ride most days, either as a commute or as part of our training programme, and some of us ride much more infrequently. In either case, we want to pick up our bike and just ride, not fix something before we can leave the house, or spend the whole ride wondering what might fail and if we’ll make it home without having to phone a friend for a pick-up. If you’re confident (and have a lot of spares and tools in your house) then you can service your own bike. If not, then you need a professional and this is where a mechanic comes in. Find a poor one and it’s not much better than doing it yourself, find a good one and it’s game changing - your bike will run smoothly, last longer, and feel right every time you ride without unnecessary work or surprise costs.

At Saint Piran Service Course we are really lucky, we have Mike Jenner and his team in the workshop. Mike brings years of WorldTour-level mechanical experience to the workshop and its immediately obvious as soon as you talk to him. But he’s not just our pet super-mechanic, he works on all the bikes that are built up or repaired in the workshop.

So Who Is Mike Jenner?

Mike’s background includes years working as a mechanic on the UCI Women’s World Tour, supporting elite riders across road racing, time trialling, MTB and triathlon. He is a fully qualified professional mechanic who has worked at the very highest level of cycling and has looked after bikes ridden to World Champ victories, Grand Tour wins and the Olympic podium

He is used to making sure the bikes he works on operate perfectly every time, under pressure and in all conditions, so we as team riders are in good hands and know our bikes hit the racecourse or training ride in the best condition they can.

Nerdy I know, but you can sit down with him and your bike and talk through what sort of riding you do and the likely conditions you’ll encounter; he can then walk you through the best equipment and care options for you. This isn’t the classic view of a mechanic, this isn’t fixing a problem once it’s occurred, it’s preventing them. That sort of advice is invaluable for us real-world UK riding weekend warriors who find ourselves riding or racing through a very wet Cyclocross and MTB season or Spring Crit series, or if we are lucky, all we need to know is what lube to use for our sunny summer holiday in the Alps.

Team rider Will sat down with him recently to talk about upgrading his Cyclocross bike for next season. Mike talked him through the possibilities and the relative benefits of each option. Will said “I’m upgrading to electronic shifting for the first time and I had some concerns about ‘crash mode’ and CX racing. Not only did he dispel my concerns, he showed me some pro-tips he’s learnt on the World Tour”.

Because he understands racing at the highest level he has scheduled workshop time each week to check over or make last minute repairs to bikes being used to race at the weekend. Bikes can have a last check over before we head out to race, or a course or weather specific tweak like a change in gear ratios or tyre set-up.

So, if you’re a racer, commuter or just a leisure rider you can come into the shop and get this level of expertise and care for you and your bike.