Bike doctor is meticulous
BOARDMAN
Tucked away in the back of the Outdoor Recreational Equipment store is the workshop of “The Bike Doctor,” a master bicycle mechanic with five decades of experience in bicycle repair and maintenance.
Dave Laird began repairing bicycles as a teenager in 1964 at Boardman Hobby and Cycle, a shop he later co-owned.
“I found that I could get up every single morning and couldn’t wait to go to work,” he said of the allure of bicycle mechanics as a career for him. “I enjoy working with my hands,” he added.
“I want you to experience what I experience when I get on my bike, which works the way it’s supposed to work,” he said of what he wants his customers to enjoy, whether they’re new bike buyers or repair customers.
“Like I taught the guys that worked with me or for me: If you’re going to do a job, do it right and take pride in what you do,” Laird said of the major principle that guides his work.
“I want to be proud of the piece of work that I bring out, whether it’s a repair job or a new bike,” he added.
A lifelong cyclist, Laird, 68, is a perfectionist who test rides bicycles he has worked on in ORE’s parking lot before releasing them to the customers. “If I can fit on it, I test every one of them,” he said.
“He is meticulous,” Anthony Ricchiuti, ORE’s co-owner, said of Laird. “If you take a look at his workshop, it’s amazing,” Ricchiuti said of Laird’s well-organized shop.
Laird can spot bicycle problems from afar, Ricchiuti said. “Sometimes, he’ll look 20 feet away and say: ‘Oh well, there’s a problem right there’ with a bicycle,” he added.
“You have a guy that knows exactly what he’s doing and is ethical. It’s got to be done the right way,” Ricchiuti said of Laird and his work.
“He works on the bike. Before he signs off, he goes out. He rides it. It has to shift right to his specifications,” Ricchiuti said of every bike Laird releases. “We’re so fortunate to have him.”
A lifelong Mahoning Valley resident, except for about 31/2 years when he custom-built bicycles at a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., area shop, Laird has been working for ORE, 5316 Market St., for the past 21 months.
ORE provides Laird with his spacious workshop, away from the distractions at the front counter. “It allows me to concentrate and keep working on the bikes,” Laird said of that arrangement.
Laird learned bicycle mechanics entirely through on-the-job training, but he said technical-school training in mechanical drafting has helped him in his work on bicycles.
One of the most-significant changes in bicycle design during his career was the movement of gear-shifting levers from bicycle frames, where the rider had to reach down to shift gears, to the handlebars, where the cyclist can shift safely and conveniently, without taking a hand off the handlebars, Laird said.
The change occurred in the mid-1970s, he said.
Another emerging trend was the introduction in the late 1980s of carbon-fiber bicycle frames, which are lighter than metal bicycle frames and reduce transference of road vibrations to the seat and the rider’s hands, he said.
“Those [carbon-fiber frames] really came on strong and have been gradually refined over the years, so that you get a much nicer ride,” he said.
Another major change was the gradual movement of bicycle manufacture overseas, Laird said.
“When I started, everything that I touched, except for some English bikes, was made in the United States. As time went by, almost everything I touch today is made somewhere else,” he observed.
The foreign-made bicycles are generally of high quality and affordable to consumers, he added.
Yet another change he’s seen is the movement away from racing bicycles with drop handlebars and toward more-comfortable bicycles with upright handlebars.
This has occurred as riders have switched in the past 20 years from an emphasis on riding on roads toward more leisurely riding on a growing network of bicycle trails, many of them on former railroad routes, he said.
One of the most-common mistakes riders make is “not keeping the bike clean, which wears out the parts and components quicker,” he observed. Not cleaning the bike “gums up the cables,” he added.
“Maybe, once every third ride or so, just take a damp cloth and wipe it down and get all that road grime off of it,” he advised.
ORE, which opened in 1992 and expanded in 1998, has always offered camping, canoeing and kayaking equipment, but began selling bicycles 10 years ago.
Besides Laird, the store employs Doug Vaughn, a bicycle mechanic with 25 years of experience, who previously worked at Cycle Sales, which was another Boardman bicycle shop.
ORE carries Trek, Raleigh, Townie, Electra and Fuji bicycles.
The 10,000-square-foot store also carries climbing gear, Boy Scout uniforms, skis and snowboards.