Welcome Jackie, the shop where I bought my wife's 1979 ALAN and my Zeus 2000 equiped ALAN Super Record was run by a couple - the wife was the wheel builder, and she was really good. So I am a believer in female wheel builders, and for that matter in female frame builders and company owners like Georgina Terry. Any enterprise always benefits by including the talents of both halves of the human race.
Regards,
Jerry Moos
jackieosullivan@worldnet.att.net wrote:
> As a newcomer to the list, I thought it would be neighborly to introduce
> myself before I throw myself into the fray.
>
> My name is Jackie O'Sullivan, and I live in Cambridge, MA with my
> teenaged daughter and two cats. Among many other endeavors, I used
> to work as a mechanic and shop manager, back in the days when SIS
> was still a bad idea on some mechanical engineer's drawing board, no
> one wore helmets (amazing there are so many of us left!) and riders
> would smile and nod as they met. I was asked to leave my position as
> shop manager lo' these many years ago, in the wake of some serious
> differences in customer service philosophy (I worked for a *R*ambling
> *E*xercise *I*nfrastructure that shall remain nameless ;-), like when the
> customer complained that I wouldn't fleece him 50 bucks for a new
> derailleur when all he needed was a new 13t cog to replace the one he
> sharktoothed, and a new chain. "12.00 bucks while-u-wait..." He left the
> shop screaming. Yikes...
>
> I just wasn't fun anymore.
>
> After rambling around, I found myself in seminary. I received my
> Master's degree last month, and am back on my newly overhauled '81
> McLean custom road bike after an embarassingly long sabbatical. I rode
> it to the Somerville Wheelworks today and turned heads (the bike, not
> me) and made Robert of myth and legend a very happy man when I
> bought some tubies.
>
> I also own a '75 Grand Record set up as a fixed gear and a '87
> Ponderosa ATB, which is actually a fairly pleasant ride for the breed. I
> like buiding wheels, working on bikes that I can fix, computers,
> collecting books, and racking up student debt in grad school.
>
> I am surprised by the list volume, and have been enjoying the convivial
> banter that is reminicent of the time I spent in the back rooms of shops,
> where I was the ONLY woman these guys had ever seen change a tire,
> let alone build a wheel. I worked with some great, very crazy mechanics
> from whom I learned a lot (including the value of a large ball pean
> hammer and 12" punch), and who always treated me like one of the
> guys and not some oddity.
>
> Glad to be aboard,
> Jackie