Fisher shares the art of bicycle maintenance | News

To watch Ernie Fisher put together a bicycle is to watch a master.

Fisher, 82 years young, flows through the assembly with a rhythm and order refined through decades of bicycle maintenance. Every part is clean, every tool in its proper place, every move … precise.

It’s no coincidence the T-shirt beneath Fisher’s mechanic’s apron bears the name of Precision Cyclery, his longtime West Des Moines, Iowa, business. “This is not ‘Close Enough Cyclery,’” he once told a trainee.

Fisher spends the winter in Sun City Oro Valley with his wife Pat. One side of the garage is wider than the other, creating just the right berth for his well-tooled workbench. “We bought the garage, and it just so happened the house came with it,” he said.

Nearly every morning, very early, the lead mechanic and trainer for Wheels for Kids is in that work space, refurbishing “a bike every day.” Some take up to three hours. “When I get done with it, it’s going to ride great,” he said. “It looks brand new.”

And it does.

“This bike was a mess,” Fisher said of Wheels for Kids bike No. 0393, a Specialized mountain bike with few miles but little care. Its handlebars were stiff, pedals squeaky, gears grimy, wheels wobbly and chain dry.

“When they come in, most of them are pretty rough,” Fisher said. “It saddens me to say this, but I don’t know of any bike shops that go through a bike and adjust it like we do.”

The Specialized frame hangs on two precisely placed ropes dangling from ceiling hooks. Fisher takes “all the parts off,” soaking them clean in dishwashing soap and water.

“I’ve trained all the mechanics to take things off,” he said. “While all the parts are in the soaking solution, you can wash and wax the frame, and put in new cables.” Those cables are always stainless steel.

Every link in the chain gets a drop of lubricant. “This is my favorite tool,” he said. “It’s called a T-shirt.” Fisher prefers an old T-shirt to wipe a chain, because it leaves no lint.

He pumps the brakes, making sure they are responsive, and that brake pads are properly spaced from the wheel rims. He adjusts cables until gear shifts are … precise.

Fisher shared other tricks. To properly tighten the lever on a wheel, he looks for an imprint on his palm. And he uses his hand and fingers to measure cable when “it’s time for snip and tip.”

Fisher grabbed the handle bars. “I could barely turn this when I got it,” he said. Now, they move effortlessly.

Ernie Fisher spent 39 years as a teacher and principal in Des Moines elementary schools. For 37 of those years, he commuted on his bike, about 17-mile round trips, interrupted only by icy roads.

“Motorists got used to seeing me on my routes, and would actually wait on me to move to the left-turn lanes,” he said. After school, “I’d come home and work on bikes.”

Precision Cyclery doesn’t sell bikes. “Just maintenance. I just fix them, just keep them running smoothly,” he said. Today, 1,500 customers like the smooth rides he provides. In season, he takes care of two to three bikes a day. When the Fishers return to Des Moines the first part of April, “I’ve got customers waiting for me.”

Fisher, an impeccable record-keeper, has logged the number of miles he’s ridden a bike in his eight-plus decades. It’s “a little over 330,000 miles in my life,” he said. For perspective, the Earth’s circumference is 24,901 miles. He’s on his 14th trip, then, around the planet.

And he still rides, several days a week, on a pristine tandem bike Ernie and Pat got for their 40th wedding anniversary. That was 22 years ago. “We’ve ridden a tandem for 50 years,” he said. One of their favorites is a 38-mile round trip to the west of Oro Valley.

Fisher is “healthier by riding,” he said. And by fixing bikes. Each day of wrench spinning, chain lubing, tire inflating and tool squeezing gives his muscles, and his mind, a workout.

“There’s a mental component, to try and troubleshoot, and figure out what’s wrong,” he said. Most bikes are “basically the same, but you run into weird things.”

The art of bicycle maintenance is “kind of like therapy,” Fisher said. “I didn’t do this to make money, I do this to help people.”

Wheels for Kids, a branch of the Vistoso Cyclists Bicycling Club, has received, repaired and donated more than 6,000 bikes to children and people in need across Greater Tucson.

Harvey Ferguson, who was in charge of buying parts, once said “Ernie Fisher has changed the face of Wheels for Kids.”

“I enjoy teaching and sharing my knowledge,” Fisher said. “The products we are sending out to kids are superior to brand-new bikes. I get a comforting feeling, knowing a child is going to have fun and enjoy that bike.”

He loves it when a child jumps on a bike and exclaims joy. “They feel it in 50 feet,” he said. “Everything is so smooth. They’re instantly in love with what they’re doing.”

Fisher installed a bottle bracket with fresh screws, and put front and rear lights on  No. 0393. He then pushed it gently in the garage. The bike glided, as if on its own power.

 “There,” he said, “we have a honey of a bike.”

And, now, “My wife’s ready to go for a bike ride.”