A master bike mechanic for the pros shares the most common mistakes people make when working on their bikes and what you shouldn’t be afraid to ask your local mechanic.
Myron Billy has been tuning bikes since college, when he worked a shop in Boulder, Colorado, while studying civil engineering. He planned to go into engineering, but turns out, bikes were his calling. He’s been working in the bike industry ever since. He used to tune bikes for former pro cyclist and Flylow athlete Rose Grant, but these days, he’s the mechanic for the pro mountain bike and gravel team at Santa Cruz Bikes known as the htSQD, which includes pro cyclists Ruth Holcomb, Keegan Swenson, Alexis Skarda, and Tobin Ortenblad. Billy, a trail runner and mountain biker who calls Arizona and Colorado home when he’s not on the road, also helped build a mobile bike repair station on the Navajo Nation. We called up Billy while he was unpacking from a trip to chat about fix-it mentality, positive mantras, and why he loves his job.
My lab is the real world. Being able to find fixes for real-world problems is fun. You’re always going to have issues. When I was a kid, I used to pull things apart and put them back together, like clock radios, remotes, toasters. My dad used to work on cars, and I would help him. I have that mechanical mind. I like getting my hands dirty and knowing what kinds of tools to use. It’s a natural progression to what I’m doing now.
When I first got into this, bikes were changing completely. Full suspension had just been introduced. We had new things like front shocks, 26-inch wheels, disc brakes. My brain was like, I can fix stuff. This is interesting.
I started working with pro cyclists around 2000. I had a friend in Tucson who’d been racing for a while. He knew everyone in the cycling world. He said, do you want to help out? I got a job with a women’s pro team. With that, it was like I was in this inner circle. Once you’re in, you’re in. You make sure you’re doing a good job, and you get to know everyone. If one team folds, another one is always looking for help.
I work on bikes all over the world. I get to see some really cool places. We’ll go to Switzerland or South Africa. When I fly, I travel with a roller bag of spare parts and a snowboard bag filled with pumps and stands and tires.
Sometimes I’ll get anomalies, where it’s like, why is this happening? We’ll have issues with electronic parts where we need to replace them. I’ll build wheels, I’ll pull frames apart, I check the suspension, I overhaul dropper posts. We’re making hardtail mountain bikes into monster truck gravel bikes, putting drop bars on. I’m seeing if I can make road gear work with mountain gear. I’m pushing the limits.
If my job wasn’t fun or interesting, I wouldn’t be doing it. I’ve been very lucky to get in with groups of people who I get along well with. Sometimes, I’m amazed I get paid to do this.
People tuning their own bikes often get overzealous. They over torque stuff. They over lube. They don’t wipe things down. On a clean bike, you can see what’s working and what isn’t. Check your tires, the air pressure on your shocks, make sure your chain is lubed. How many miles do you go before changing the oil in your car? That’s the same mentality you need with your bike. Every six months, get your suspension serviced. Wash your bike at least once a month. You don’t want to be in the middle of nowhere and have things break down because you haven’t done proper preventative maintenance.
If you want to learn how to fix something, just as your mechanic. Roll in with a six pack and say, ‘If you don’t mind, could you show me this?’ Or maybe you find a night where you get five people to sign up and your mechanic shows you how to work on your brakes and suspension. Don’t be afraid to ask.
I’ve known most of the riders I work with a long time. We know how to push each other’s buttons. We know how to work well with each other. I call them my bike family. We all get along.
One of our quotes is We’re Having a Good Time. That’s our mantra. Positive vibes only. If someone is having a bad day, you don’t want that to affect the whole team, so we try to make it a fun environment—then everyone does better.