One day, some years ago, I was chatting with Armand Hurford* about the challenges in getting great staff for his bike shop. He was barely removed from his days as a one-person operation and, in terms of attracting staff, had everything going for him – a great reputation, a friendly personality, genuine empathy for the challenges of working in a retail environment, and easy access to some of the best mountain biking in the world with climbing and skiing also on the doorstep.

Squamish housing prices wouldn’t explode for a couple of years to come but already streams of folks were relocating from the North Shore, Greater Vancouver, and all over the world to live there, and finding an affordable place to rent was becoming an increasing challenge. Armand was prescient to the fact that housing prices, and jointly rental prices, were coming under enormous pressure and, as we were just shooting the sh*t, he tossed out the idea of staff housing. Literally buying a house big enough to build multiple suites to house staff. 

I can remember thinking at the time how mad it sounded that subsidized rent on a basement suite – in my boss’ house or otherwise – could someday be part of my compensation package working in the bike industry in the Shore-To-Sky corridor. Certainly, I felt that wages would need to rise as we saw increased challenges getting qualified mechanics and floor staff in the shop but I never would have guessed that rents, never mind other costs of living, would climb as they have. 

The cost of living is an ever-increasing challenge for many folks around here, and some of them work in the bicycle industry.

*now a Squamish City Councilor and shop owner, but at the time ‘just’ the owner of Republic Bicycles in Brackendale.

No, it’s not an easy time to work in a customer-facing role in the bike industry. There has been a steady stream of disgruntled, entirely unempathetic, customers who are angry about long wait times to get bikes repaired and mass parts shortages caused by everyone riding bikes. Now many greedy manufacturers and shops are choosing to maximize their margins, short term, by not extending staff purchases on bikes which is the equivalent of actually decreasing real compensation for the people supporting their brands and working in their businesses. 

And f***-it, if those bike industry employees don’t like it they can leave. Right‽ Yep, they can. And they are. They’re chasing cheaper rents, or affordable housing purchases, fewer interactions with entitled assholes, and, surprisingly, similar money working in the bike industry elsewhere as they earned here. If they stay in the bike industry. 

I know this sounds like old news. Folks have been lamenting the drain of good folks from North Shore shops to other opportunities – inside and outside the industry – for at least the last decade that I’ve been around. I spilled a bunch of hyperbole about the ongoing mass-extinction of the North Shore bicycle mechanic last year but now it’s not just the person wrenching on bikes who are evaporating. It’s also the person doing bike fittings, answering e-mails, processing warranties, and helping riders find the best machine in their budget or to source and build their dream ride.

And certainly, the increased demand for service & sales in these interesting times – even with rampant parts shortages – is putting some pressure on shops to hire additional staff that may be reduced after this summer. But from where I sit, there’s a fire burning deep under the local shop scene that isn’t going out anytime in the foreseeable future. If I owned a shop I’d be getting panicked, or creative, or both because I’d recognize that there’s a canary in this local bike mine, and it’s (he’s) Kim at Steed Cycles. 

Steed is home to a stable of long-time staff and also, notably, all the folks I know personally who have left there went ‘to’ another opportunity – in the industry- rather than leaving the shop for leaving’s sake. Scotty P is the team manager for Rocky Mountain’s highly successful race program. Service-Manager-Scott will be heading up service at SRAM’s new North Vancouver service center. Jordan left to be Specialized’s tech rep for BC. Alex is a sales rep for QBP amongst other brands. And, I’m sure someone more in the know about the store could go on and on. Kim Steed also has a reputation amongst bicycle riders – whether they shop at Steed or elsewhere – of being one of the nicest shop owners anywhere and within the industry as someone who highly values relationships and treats his employees very decently. 

That’s not to say he’s giving out Tacoma TRD’s, or discounted rent, or that any career in the bike industry isn’t going to be fairly hard-scratch in the Shore-To-Sky corridor. I think most of us folks working in bikes have both eyes open. But a lot of locals have been saying for a long time that at some point ‘the day’ would come when the financial challenges of working in the industry on the North Shore will exceed the benefits of living and riding here and it would become impossible for local shops to staff up.

And when Steed Cycles of all places struggles to fill a significant management role at their shop with a quality person, given Kim’s reputation and how many very long-time staff are there, I have to think that maybe it’s safe to say that day has come? And if I was the owner of a shop that’s understaffed, or barely staffed, going into this season I’d be preparing for three scenarios. One, an inability to find quality people when the season hits us sometime next month. Two, to see industry folks who have Shore-living in their future moving shops for better pay and benefits. Three, to have plenty of conversations with staff about wages, benefits, and hours. 

Oh, and make sure they can get a bike to ride.