bicycle building/repairing jobs for Walmart

Hello, over the spring/summer, I work full time for a private bicycle assembly and repair company, which is in turn contracted by Walmart to work on thier bikes. So from Monday to Friday, I am building 25 boxed bikes per day. Also, there are numerous repairs, since Walmart bikes aren't exactly the best! :P It's funny how some of the repairs coming in range from simple flat tires (it's not worth the wait to bring in a flat tire for repair) to completely destroyed frames!

Anyways, I was wondering if anyone else here does the same type of work i do? I'm looking for tips on how to build the bikes fast. Right now, I can build about 4 adult bikes per hour. At $5 CDN per bike, it works out pretty well. Right now though, I am being nagged by a sore back. It gets tiring lifting those bikes out of the boxes all the time.

...anybody?

can you tell me who or how to get into what you are doing i work at dicks sporting goods as a bike tech for 7.58 an hour and i could build bikes very fast just wondering if you could help me out.
justin

hey jswan44,

it's funny that you ask this, because after doing this job for my 4th summer in a row now, I'm thinking of leaving it due to back issues. Anyways, the way I got into this job was simply by looking through the Canada job bank. I found a posting for a bicycle assembler/mechanic and it said the salary was piecework. I don't really see too many job postings for bicycle assemblers to be honest. I think one way to find out about a bicycle assembly job would be to get in touch with a department store that sells cheap bikes like Walmart. Phone them up and ask them who builds their bikes, and ask to speak with one of their bike assemblers, then give him a resume. The assembly company I work with, most of the builders have gotten the job through someone else, like through word of mouth.

Just wondering, how many bikes can you build in an hour? If you can build a lot, then you can make a lot, but it sure does wear down your back and wrists, etc. I hope this helps.

I did some bike refurbishment privately while I was still at high school a few years ago. I bought broken bicycles from auction sites and fixed them, then resold them.

Took me on average 2 hours per bicycle

__________________
2004 Trek 1000
2005 Giant Elwood
ACE Folding Bicycle

this is a bit weird -- i've been building for W-M for over 6 years now.

if you're getting paid piecework, it explains the 25/day. i won't cut the corners it takes with these bikes to hit that mark -- but i'm hourly-paid. depending on what's needed, it can go from 15-22/day, mainly because of all the little problems that crop up -- truing wheels, fixing flats, the piss-poor tires they spec needing to be re-mounted so they stay on the rim.... i'm so fed up with roadmaster, i could puke! but overall, quality control fell off a cliff about 2003. so, in order to make these things rideable for the dilettantes who come in to buy them, i have to spend about 20-25min. per bike to get everything just so.

(a little war story: couple years back, guy was trying to return a roadmaster mt. sport; claimed he had it a week -- well, a week in MOAB wouldn't tear the bike up like it was! this one, i figure, he bought 4 months earlier, then bought another new one a week ago, and tried to return the old one with the new receipt. anyway, when i asked him what the problem was with it, he said (i am not kidding), "i paid $60 for this bike -- it should be perfect." i bit my tongue to keep from laughing, and told him that there is no such thing as a perfect $60 bike. he didn't get it returned that day -- he tried again the next evening when i wasn't there, and the idiot at the service desk gave him the return)
don't offer a resume to the assembler at the store -- go to the manager in charge of their area. the assembler is just a body filling a position. most stores that hire in-house assemblers have NO prerequisites, like, y'know, SKILLS.

(one more story -- spring 2004, storte manager wasn't happy w/ our output, wanted 500 bikes done yesterday. had his 2nd call in outside help; guy was there two days before store manager's boss found out & stopped it. the guy built 75 bikes in 2 days -- i had to fix 70 before they were safe to ride!)

__________________
"you may only be one person in the world -- but you may just be THE WORLD to one person."

I do refurbshments to make some extra $ and for my own enjoyment. 2 hours is not bad considering that you have to disassemble and clean everthing before you reassemble them!

thanks for the info

justin

how come when I first posted this topic back in '05 nobody responded?

if you had a way to hold 2-4 bikes at a time, you could probably do things similar to an assembly line... like put on the pedals for the number of bikes you have "racked"... but Im guessing what you do based on a bike that I had to put together from mail order...

I assembled and (shudder) sold bikes at Wal~Mart after the lawn and garden season wound down. I put a lot of pride in doing the best job I could threading break cables, adjusting brakes and derailleurs, setting up saddles and handlebars so people could actually use them, and truing wheels (on the bike, of course). Except for the kids' bikes, I hated the selling part for obvious reasons. But it was nice working in my corner in the back room with the radio on.

One thing I liked to do was assemble Frankenbikes from the returns and stuff damaged in shipping. We'd put them out on the sidewalk and sell them as used, for damned cheap. Sort of an outreach to low-income families in the community. Some of them came out real cool, and kids would take real pride in owning a bike like no one else had.

Why are you lifting the bikes? Cut the bottom of the box instead of the top, then lift the BOX.

You have to lift them onto the display rack, after carrying them up a stepladder.