Cause- a philosophy on the bike mechanic

Being a mechanic in a traditional bike shop has afforded me the unique opportunity of seeing a lot of the work that comes from other bike shops. Over the last few years I have grown increasingly dissatisfied with the quality of work I see coming from many bike shops. From cable housing cut way too long to bottom bracket and hub bearings left to self implode to "derailleur adjustments" that don't align the hanger, I continually see the sort of work that should be, as far as the discerning customer is concerned, unacceptable. I am not saying that every mechanic in every shop in town is doing inferior work; in fact, I know this town is full of top notch, first rate mechanics. I would like to say, though, that I believe that the traditional bike shop scenario does little to prevent this and in may in many ways promotes this activity. Many bike shops are under increasing pressure to pump out more work, faster. On the spot adjustments and single day turn-around's are driving the competition in bike shop service. I think we're dealing with the same old battle of quantity vs. quality. Unfortunately, quality almost always loses to quantity, and when that happens, I think so does the customer. At Jinji Cycles we believe in working one bike at a time. We are committed to making sure that every part of your bike is working at its absolute best. We refuse to cut corners and ignore certain inadequacies at the expense of some twisted view of productivity. We strive to say that when a bike leaves the shop, we believe no one else can improve on it. Be removing the facade of the retail store, we believe we can be committed to these ideas in ways no one else can. The service department always has to pay homage to the retail store. The bottom line is, the service department can only do well if the retail store sells in volume and profit. Individual mechanics are not rewarded proportionate to their skill and knowledge but only so much as a store can afford relative to their retail profit margins. Again, by removing the retail side of the store we believe we can place a mechanics value in his abilities and skills, thus reinforcing his sense of pride in worksmanship and building a formula whereby a mechanic, by working harder, smarter, and better, can be rewarded accordingly. He no longer needs to rely on primarily on the profit productivity of a retail store but rather on his own committment to being the best he possibly can be. It is a grandly rewarding sensation to know that your customers are coming to you because they think you're the best, and not because a particular retail store has lots of pretty fixtures, and I suppose no only rewarding, but motivating. By addressing a bicycle mechanics value in an entirely different way we believe we will provide the best bicycle service experience possible.