Go Outdoors aims to resolve national shortage of cycle mechanics – by offering apprenticeships to store staff

Go Outdoors, which operates 75 stores across the UK, has announced an apprenticeship scheme that it hopes will help address what it terms a nationwide shortage of bicycle mechanics in England.

Run in partnership with Activate Cycle Academy, the new work-based scheme will be open to staff working in Go Outdoors branches in England.

It will train people to Level 2 Apprenticeship in Bicycle Mechanics, with successful participants given Cytech training as well as a certificate widely recognised throughout the industry on completion of their training as a “master technician” bike mechanic.

Training will be a combination of online, mentored and technical learning, with participants recruited or nominated by their branch managers, says the retailer, which has already trained 200 staff internally but says its new programme will “ enhance customers’ in-store experience whilst also creating a talent pipeline of highly skilled bike technicians.”

Jonny Lodge, the company’s National Sales and Operations Manager for Cycling said: “The decision to introduce a cycling apprenticeship into GO Outdoors has come from a place of passion and experience, with acknowledgement that this offers a chance to build on an already successful recipe for UK cycling retail.

“Importantly, it supports our aims to continuously invest in and develop our colleagues, whilst addressing the national bike mechanic shortage by bringing more skilled technicians to the industry.

“We are thrilled to be working with Activate and recognise them as a market-leading provider that is supporting the industry with a fantastic learning framework.”

Ultimately, the company aims to have one master mechanic in each of its stores within the next two or three years.

Matt Grant, Cycles Sales and Marketing Manager at Activate Cycle Academy added: “We are delighted to partner with one of the country’s leading retail groups with this apprenticeship programme.

"This collaboration shows how committed Go Outdoors is with supporting their colleagues with continued learning, development, and upskilling. By choosing our training programme, Go Outdoors are ensuring their cycle technicians receive the very best industry training and qualifications available to further enhance their career within the greater retail group.”

Factors behind the national shortage of qualified cycle mechanics include low levels of pay, long hours, a perception among some that their work is little valued, and the impact of the ending of free movement of workers from the EU post-Brexit.

With the cost of living crisis biting, there is also evidence that some bike owners are also increasingly undertaking their own maintenance – despite in some cases not having the know-how, the proper tools, or access to suitable parts or technical manuals to help them.

In a discussion thread on yesterday's live blog here on road.cc, user whoisJ said: “Why is there a shortage of bike mechanics? I recently left the trade for two big reasons – low pay and limited appreciation for our work. It’s thankless work most of the time.

He singled out “‘I can do it myself’ types moaning about labour costs while running their bikes into the ground and not doing anything to their bikes in the way of preventative work and ‘I spend x thousand quid on this bike I shouldn’t have to pay so much money for a service after a year’ sorts not understanding that expensive bikes have expensive wear parts” as being part of the problem.

IanMSpencer added; “I found one of the biggest drawbacks was that cycle manufacturers were so busy innovating that virtually every job beyond basic adjustment required time-wasting investigation to discover how to perform simple tasks. Rear hub on a Specialized? No manual from Specialized avoidable to the public, find out it is a Fulcrum wheel, find out that Fulcrum do a 3 and a 5 but this is ID’d as a 4 because it has a better rim and cheap hub. So then find the Fulcrum instructions to disassemble the hub, which needs tools different from say a DT-Swiss. These are not things you can just look at and know.

“Then you have to order parts, which you may not be able to do until you’ve disassembled. Stock? You soon end up with a heap of stuff for next time that you never use because the 2018 version is different to the 2017. What system does X use for its internal cabling. Where do you get the unique fittings that the manufacturer doesn’t offer as spares?

“The basic mechanic’s tasks don’t vary much, but the faff that goes on to get to that point is extremely high,” he concluded.