Automatic gears for bicycle

[Nearholmer]

I think you’ve got the two job titles back to front there: classically a fitter would have the skills to create parts from raw material using hand tools, whereas a mechanic would assemble/exchange ready made-components. The other job that often goes with these two is “turner”, who has the skills to create parts from raw materials using machine tools. In practice, a lot of mechanics have some basic fitting skills, and a fair number of people were trained as fitter/turner. The job titles do get mixed-up though, as in “exhaust fitter”, a job that rarely if ever requires the skills of a true fitter.

I’ve always understood the word “fitter” to be derived not from “removing and fitting parts”, but from ensuring the fit of parts made using hand-tools, so often being able to work to very fine tolerances ……one might relate the skill levels to those of a cabinet maker, for instance.

[Cugel]

To be fair, if all the bike shop is doing is removing the old worn or broken part and replacing it with a new part- I believe that makes them 'fitters' rather than 'mechanics'

It's easy to get bogged down in semantics: the exact definition of what a word means. This often distracts from the business of a discussion which is to deal with the actualities of something rather than just the names or labels involved.

From the point of view of a bike shop customer, an LBS mechanic is one who not only replaces worn or broken parts but makes sure that the whole bicycle remains in, or returns to, a full and optimal functionality. This certainly involve fitting the parts together so they work properly with each other but also involved that notion of fitting that might require some fundamental reshaping of this or that. It might be just thread-chasing or it might be using a specialist tool to grind a seat tube or head tube to an exact dimension so the new part will fit properly, etcetera.

In short, an LBS mechanic needs a range of knowledge and skills to both fit a bike together aright but also to modify it to enable that. Finally, that mechanic must get the bicycle mechanism as a whole to work as such, in all its functions, in an optimal and efficient way.

In my experience, some do and some don't do all that. The latter includes "some can't" as well as the "can't be bothered".

For example, how many stories have we read in this very forum about an LBS mechanic fitting parts in such a way that they can't or won't perform their function; or do so badly. Gears that won't change properly; forks that shudder under braking; bottom brackets that creak or drag ...... .

***************
With the "honest" bike parts, one can observe their function, which can help identify the fact that a mechanic has failed to fit and tweak them as they should be fitted and tweaked. Auto-mechs encased in shells or cases that obscure the now mysterious workings make it more difficult to identify the bad fitting or tweaking. All you have is some behaviours of the thing that indicate, to those blinded to the innards, a range of possible causes. And even that requires a theoretical understanding of those hidden innards.

As some note, even the most revealing of honest bike mechs will remain a mystery to many, as they have no interest in understanding them. But if you do have such an interest, the shell-encased things can be much more difficult to understand and diagnose/fix your self.

[rareposter]

In short, an LBS mechanic needs a range of knowledge and skills to both fit a bike together aright but also to modify it to enable that. Finally, that mechanic must get the bicycle mechanism as a whole to work as such, in all its functions, in an optimal and efficient way.

Like the old internet meme (in fact my grandpa told me this and that was way before the internet!) of a big ship's engine breaking down, no-one could fix it. In the end they called out an old guy who'd been fixing ships for decades. He looked everything over carefully, knocked a few panels.
Then he got a hammer and hit one particular part. Instantly the engine worked again!

Anyway a week later the ship owner got a bill for £10,000. Outraged, they asked for a breakdown of this extravagant cost.

Hitting with a hammer: £5
Knowing where to hit with the hammer: £9995


[There are a dozen variants of this story, much the same as the US Navy one about the captain demanding that a lighthouse move out of his way]

[Cowsham]

To be fair, if all the bike shop is doing is removing the old worn or broken part and replacing it with a new part- I believe that makes them 'fitters' rather than 'mechanics'

Velocipede technician sounds better.

[Nearholmer]

I think this is one of the several reasons why the term “technician” is so widely used these days: if one says “xyz technician”, then the “xyz” defines the skills, knowledge, competence, or whatever needed.

It is a slightly problematic term, as is the indiscriminate use of the word “engineer”, because both are formally defined terms within the Engineering Council registration schemes. The “xyz technician” may or may not need to be a Technician as defined by the EC, and it’s pretty certain that “the washing machine engineer” doesn’t need to be an Engineer.

[rareposter]

I think this is one of the several reasons why the term “technician” is so widely used these days: if one says “xyz technician”, then the “xyz” defines the skills, knowledge, competence, or whatever needed.

"Operative" gets used a lot now and avoids the connotations of expertise that technician and engineer demand.

The Street Cleanliness and Maintenance Operatives came by our road this morning.
aka the bin men

My friend's young son has a job as a Media Publications Distribution Operative.
Back in my day it was called a paper round.
(To be fair, he made that one up to deliberately sound pretentious).

[Cowsham]

I think this is one of the several reasons why the term “technician” is so widely used these days: if one says “xyz technician”, then the “xyz” defines the skills, knowledge, competence, or whatever needed.

"Operative" gets used a lot now and avoids the connotations of expertise that technician and engineer demand.

The Street Cleanliness and Maintenance Operatives came by our road this morning.
aka the bin men

My friend's young son has a job as a Media Publications Distribution Operative.
Back in my day it was called a paper round.
(To be fair, he made that one up to deliberately sound pretentious).

As long as he used a bicycle he's OK. If he maintained his own bicycle then he rises to Media Publications Distribution Technician.

[jimlews]

This looks like a worthwhile approach.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EivnXf10nYg