I wouldn’t expect a toner distribution rep to be overly passionate about their job or product. Nor would I plan on being engaged in a riveting discussion about the history of the box spring or the pros and cons of the futon bed with a mattresses salesman. It’s just a job and at the end of the day they clock out and go home without so much as a backwards glance. I’d say that many of the jobs in today’s modern world industries would fit the above formula to a T. What about our industry though, what about the weird and wonderful world of those two-wheeled inventions called bicycles? How important is passion as a prerequisite for being successful when working with bicycles and with cyclists of any ability level?

I think it’s paramount to everything else and if you don’t have it, please move on.

I’ve spent quite a bit of time within the bicycle industry with the majority being in local bike shops. I’ve actually lost count of how many workbenches my hands have graced over the years but a couple shops do stand out and probably not for the reasons you might think. The ones I speak of are ones where it was just a job to the staff. No-one rode a bike, yet were expected to sell one and the experience that went along with it to incoming customers. That doesn’t add up to me. Ink toner is just a thing that one needs to print shit off a laserjet, that’s all it does. A bicycle is not just a thing capable of a single utility.

A bicycle is transport, a talking point, art, practical, a tool, a toy, a companion and freedom for anyone who throws a leg over one. How can someone be expected to fully communicate what a bike is and how it can fully enrich someone’s life if they have no interest or passion or even any inclination to ride one themselves? I think I can confidently speak for most lifetime bicycle shop staff (lifers) and this goes double for mechanics, bicycles aren’t just products to be sold and maintained, it isn’t just a job to turn up to and leave at the end of the day, it’s a lifestyle that will infect every aspect of your life if you let your guard down. Chlamydia may be symptomless, but bicycle lust certainly isn’t and that is a wonderful thing.

I’m proud my depth of knowledge is an inch wide and a mile deep because it’s about something worth devoting your life to and being passionate about.

The most noble invention of all time, The Bicycle.