The early years
I have been part of the bike industry since 1975. I started as a 13-year-old doing 9 years part-time in retail in the Netherlands while going through College and University (studying Mechanical engineering, with added A-grade car mechanic and agricultural equipment courses).
After emigrating to NZ I spent 10 years in retail at Everything Bicycles in Royal Oak, Auckland. This super progressive store grew in those 10 years from 2 staff to 6 staff and 3x the store size. This experience was very valuable in giving me insight in how to grow a business, profitability and customer satisfaction. I also was very active in MTB riding during those years. As part of that, I spent 3 years being the president of the Auckland MTB club.
Images from left to right:
1. 2nd in Open Mens, In 1994 I managed 1st
2. Getting my NZ passport
My time at Sheppard Industries
For my next experience, I moved to do bicycle wholesale at Sheppard Industries, the Avanti people. During my 23 years there I had many roles;
- Shimano Product agency manager
- Parts Product manager
- Training manager for mechanics
- Warehouse manager
- Bicycle assembly manager
- Managing the Avanti Electra E-bike project
- IT troubleshooter for SAP software
These varied roles involved multiple interactions with independently-owned stores and their staff, the aim being to help improve store performance through stock efficiencies and upskilling staff. This in turn also made my roles run more smoothly.
Sheppard’s was the sole agent for Shimano, after agency failures by Morrison and Healings. After taking over the warehouse manager role, I quickly discovered the needs of mechanics were not being met and things were again not looking good for the agency (even Shimano will tell you it is not an easy agency to represent).
I was then given the responsibility for the purchasing for Shimano and did that for about 22 years until Shimano came to NZ directly. During those years I set up the Shimano Service Centre training, a world-first for Shimano, did training tours around NZ and grew the brand by almost 10% year on year.
Taking over the Shimano agency management it quickly became apparent, from store feedback and questions, that there was a big gap in product knowledge and mechanics (of all skill levels) needed training in how the products worked. From this, the Shimano Service Centre training evolved. Understanding the product enabled the upskilled mechanics to hugely reduce the problems previously encountered in workshops around the country. This very successful program ran for 20 years throughout NZ.
The main other brand agencies I was responsible for over the years were DT Swiss wheel parts, PRO parts, Cateye lights and computers, Kenda tyres and tubes, RST front forks, Rotor cranksets, Selle Italia seats, as well as the home brand of Outland. And just because I like being busy, I also ran the project for the Avanti Electra E-bike. This was very challenging because during the project many things changed a lot, such as importing a motor changed versus manufacturing one in-house at Sheppard’s by non-electrical staff. It showed later that nobody in the world had ever built a motor like this in mass production, but he got it done. It was a shame that this bike was about 10 years too early into the marketplace.
Images from left to right:
1. Running the Cateye stand at the Moonride
2. Doing a Roadshow with assistance from Shimano Europe
3. Repairing bikes at a Demo
4. Shimano Europe visit
5. Training room at Sheppards
6. Working at the Taipei show
7. Me on the Avanti Ebike, only one actually made in NZ
8. Visiting Cateye in Japan
Event mechanic in NZ
I have many years’ experience as an event mechanic for a variety of events, such as Ironman NZ, Round Taupo, Tour de Manuwatu, and multiple MTB World cups. I have also provided mechanical support for 8 Day rides from Bike Victoria in Australia and NZ (up to 700 riders), Tour of NZ( 200 riders), fundraising rides in the South Island, etc.
Images from left to right:
1. Wrenching in Tasmania
2. Worldcup MTB in Rotorua with my team
3. Supporting Hospice
At Bikes International
Moving on from Sheppard’s I became the Parts Product manager at Bikes International, the wholesaler owning the Bike Barn chain of stores. I started with revitalising the Mavic agency, soon followed by all the other parts agencies. The major ones of those agencies were KMC chains, Serfas saddles and parts, Birzman tools, Merida spare parts, Michelin tyres, Microshift drivetrain parts, as well as the home brand of 42BP.
During these 2 ½ years I worked very closely with the company-owned stores on getting the correct stock and stock levels, which further improved my insight into a different style of bicycle retail and workshops.
Image:
1. Representing Mavic at Ironman
Experience through all levels of the industry
The combined result of this experience is that I know how the bicycle industry works all the way from the supplier to the consumer, and know what makes a store work successful or not.
In 2019 I decided to change direction; to do the things I really enjoy in life and become my own boss. I am now working as an independent trainer, consultant and fleet mechanic. I set up the NZ Bicycle Training Academy
(NZBTA) to continue supporting and upskilling bicycle mechanics of all levels. I have always very much enjoyed training others and sharing my knowledge gained from a lot of experience.
The NZBTA provides all mechanics with the opportunity to come and increase knowledge and skills in a supportive and personalised environment. The intensive course compresses 6 months of “on the job” learning into two very effective days resulting in a much more valuable employee in a short time frame.
This type of training used to be always connected to bicycle importers. However now it is a separate business and It is open to everyone, industry or private.
There are different courses designed for different levels of experience.
So rather than trying to experience everything yourself, come and do some training and learn from the expert.
This training is hands-on real-life experience, not theory-based or like information from an in-experienced person on the Internet. 1,600 and counting mechanics around NZ will vouch for this.
The average feedback score for the courses and very close to 5 out of 5, so that tells you something. From this, you will understand there are not many bicycle secrets left for Rene. He has always been very happy to share this knowledge with others, now this could be YOU!.
