{"id":356963,"date":"2026-01-07T12:01:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T12:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/356963\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T12:01:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T12:01:12","slug":"the-worlds-most-famous-bike-mechanic-is-retiring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/356963\/","title":{"rendered":"The world\u2019s most famous bike mechanic is retiring"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Even if you don\u2019t know his name, the likelihood is you\u2019ve seen his moustachioed face and even followed his maintenance advice. That\u2019s because Park Tool\u2019s director of education, Calvin Jones, has become cycling\u2019s most famous mechanic since he began at the company way back in 1997.<\/p>\n<p>But <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bikeradar.com\/brand\/park-tool\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Park Tool<\/a> announced yesterday \u201cwith gratitude and a little sadness\u201d that Jones is retiring after 28 years at the cycling tool company.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Park Tool said Jones is probably best known for his work on the company\u2019s YouTube channel, where he has presented bike maintenance videos for 15 years. But his role at Park Tool has extended far beyond presenting.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn addition to his contributions to product development and thousands of hours logged fielding customer feedback, Calvin has applied his deep knowledge of bikes and his aptitude for instruction to projects large and small,\u201d an official press release said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think the thing I admire most about Calvin is that to this day he lives and breathes what he teaches,\u201d said Eric Hawkins, Park Tool\u2019s CEO.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s passionate about the science of bikes and is a gifted teacher who can clearly explain even the most complex concepts. Through his writings, videos, and personal interactions he\u2019s helped millions understand how their bike works and how to best keep it working. It\u2019s been an amazing run, and now, nearly 29 years later we owe a lot to Calvin for his unique ability to demystify bike repair and maintenance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1100\" height=\"880\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1997-Calvin-1-for-press-release.jpg\" alt=\"Park Tool's Calvin Jones at a bike race in 1997.\" class=\"wp-image-954718\"\/>Jones at a bike race in 1997. Park Tool<\/p>\n<p>Jones joined Park Tool with a wealth of experience already under his belt. He got his first job in a bike shop in 1973 and worked as a team mechanic for USA national teams. He was also a mechanics\u2019 instructor for the US Olympic Training Centre and a chief instructor at Barnett Bicycle Institute.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMoving on from Park Tool, there are some educational projects that I would like to be part of. Plus, I am looking forward to focusing more on my riding,\u201d Jones said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Jones will continue to be involved in the Stillwater chapter of the Minnesota Cycling Association and will stay on the board of Project Bike Tech. He\u2019ll also attend *iceBike 2026 in London and Frostbike 2026 in Minneapolis for anyone in the industry who would like to wish him well.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Jones might not be disappearing from our screens forever. In a video announcing his retirement, he said: \u201cIf I think of something I think you need to know, you may find me here at this YouTube channel.\u201d\u00a0<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Even if you don\u2019t know his name, the likelihood is you\u2019ve seen his moustachioed face and even followed&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356964,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-356963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}