Mojo Cycling Mechanic & Rental Guy . . . Joey Cracchiolo
Joey is one of the newer members of the Mojo Cycling family, so he may not be as familiar to you as some of our longer-term team members. But, because he’s a new guy, it doesn’t mean that he doesn’t bring a considerable bag of talents to our family. We prize Joey as an integral part of the shop, so we thought that we’d introduce him to you.
Joey was born in Woodland, California. He'd love to say that he spent his youth railing a mountain bike, unfortunately this is not the case. However, when his family decided to move here for a WalMart job five years ago, Joey hit the net to learn about his new home. All he kept seeing was “stuff about mountain biking in Bentonville. Everything was about riding on a bike.” He researched bikes & as soon as he got situated in his new home, he went out & got one. Obviously, the test ride made an impression. He’s an avid rider & cycle mechanic now.
When asked what kind of riding he enjoys best, Joey begins: “I’m not a big jumper. I’ll do them, but I’m more into other types of trails . . . He flip-flops & undulates his hands to demonstrate varied, chunky, terrain . . . “I love technical rock riding . . . anything where I have to pick & choose lines.” He likes the mental aspect of fitting his bike into & around techy & challenging trail geographies. The type of bike Joey uses to access the trails he likes is, in his estimation, the best option for the techy situations that he encounters. “I like riding a full suspension bike a lot more. It feels like I’m a lot more planted on the trail.” This year he competed in his first enduro races & enjoyed them. They “pushed” him to hit stuff he’d “normally avoid.”
There’s a big gap between riding a bike well & being able to competently wrench on it. We see that a lot here at the shop. You’d be shocked at how many REALLY good riders don’t know how to fix their own bikes. But, that’s OK; that’s why Mojo is here. Joey notes that he was originally a salesman at another shop. Eventually he realized that the only way to properly sell the correct bike to a customer was to understand how the bike worked. He needed to understand sizing, suspension design & gear options, among other things. He started to work on bikes, to see how things worked. One thing led to another & he eventually moved to the service side of the shop.
Joey came to Mojo a few months ago as a mechanic, but he immediately spread his influence over to the service aspects of the job. He enjoys working with people & he’s very good at it. He’s definitely a “keeper.” ; ) When you swing by our service center, make sure to say “hi” & watch for his big smile.