Father's Day

Father’s Day 2007

Once in awhile someone will ask me how I learned to work on bikes. Usually, I mention I took to it as a kid working on my own bikes. There is more to that brief explanation for sure. I did tinker around with bikes but good old dad brought on most of that tinkering. You see, as far as I knew, Dad’s were supposed to fix everything around the house. My dad, Jackson E. Berner, fixed, maintained, or built most everything in our house growing up. Whether it was fixing the car or building a deck, he did it all so I’m sure that’s where my fascination with mechanical or “do it yourself” things comes from.

I’ve seen what an influence my dad was on me. For one thing if he didn’t know how to do something, then he taught himself with a book and gave it a go. He also instilled in me having the right tool for the job. Our garage and basement workshop was loaded with all sorts of tools. I remember as a kid loving to look through all the drawers. As I got older he never said don’t touch but rather showed me how to use tools. Mostly he led by example rather than formality. Some of the tools in my toolbox are his tools. I even have stuff that was from his dad. I like the history of those tools and enjoy when I can use them in their honor.

One fond memory I have was the first thing I ever took apart on a bike. I inherited my brother’s ten-speed but it needed to be re-assembled. I don’t know whose idea it was, but we decided to take apart the guts of a 5-speed freewheel. This sounds ridiculous now but it made perfect sense to clean it out and re-grease the thing. I’m pretty sure we (actually he) had to make a tool to get the thing apart. I’m not sure it was supposed to come apart but it did. I cleaned all the little ball bearings and pawls to see how it worked and put it all back together. No big deal. If I started with this then I could certainly handle just about anything.

My dad passed away 8 years ago this June. I don’t have him around to show him my cool toolbox but on this Father’s Day it is good for the soul to relate how I came to be good at what I’m doing right now.

Cheers from this professional bike mechanic who was taught by a professional dad,

DOUG