Our
Team
Mike is the owner/operator of The Rapid Wrench Melbourne. He has been riding bicycles for two decades, and has a passion for his two-wheels that can be seen through the quality and finesse of his servicing.
Mike’s industry involvement
Mike has been involved in the bike industry as his sole-work for the past 8 years. He has worked up from large franchise retailers such as Gold Cross Cycles, to the well known rider-owned bike shops such as Bikes Direct and Pro-Motion Cycles. Mike has also worked for key wholesale bicycling distributors such as BikeSportz Imports and Sheppard Cycles.
This experience has given him a wide base of knowledge both from a technical, trade and services point of view, and also the hands-on. Mike has also had the opportunity to do the SRAM Technical University here in Melbourne, to further develop his advanced mechanics skills.
Riding the world
Mike has been riding bikes since he grew legs. His passion really ignited when he rode the Great Victorian Bike Ride in 2001. Mike has been racing in the Victorian State Downhill Series since 2007 and the Elevation Enduro Series since 2012. Other big events include the Scott 24 Hour in Canberra, 5 months of daily riding in Canada, including the Whistler Bike Park, and also a month of riding and racing in South New Zealand.
Within the first two years of serious riding, Mike had owned more than ten different styles of bikes. Mike quickly became so passionate that he entered the bike industry. GoldCross Cycles was Mikes training ground for 2 years in sales and mechanics. Once Mike’s skills developed, he started receiving requests from friends and family for bicycle servicing at his home workshop.
What started off as just a helpful hand became a real business incentive, as people were quite happy to pay Mike for his expertise. As word of mouth spread, it quickly became a job after hours. The number of return customers and referrals brought Mike a steady stream of work, which would later develop into his own business.
Mike spent a decade doing enduro and downhill mountain bike racing from 2007-2017. Before starting Rapid Wrench he used to commute on a road bike, and currently owns a Specialized Crux gravel.
A few years was spent on an Echo trials bike to learn something different. Mike has a massive soft spot for all things cargo-bikes, with him owning a Bullitt and an Omnium. These bikes let him take his dog on rides, 2-3 adult passengers or kids, a fridge, a couch, other bikes, the sky’s the limit.
He has raced mountain bikes all over the alps of Victoria, in New Zealand, and in Canada BC. Racing is in Mikes blood, with competitive nature thrown into his social rides, team efforts, and solo trail blazing.
Although sometimes the racing lifestyle can become way too serious at times, Mike is just as happy about simply being out in nature, socializing and spreading the good bikely love. His favourite current ride is the electric mountain bike.
Mikes other hobbies also include a huge dose of paragliding, paramotoring, adventure motorcycling, and welding/fabrication/milling and lathe machining.
Mike riding a step down at Kamloops, British Columbia
Matt has been on the tools in bikes shops for over 20 years. Beginning at Ray’s Bicycle Centre where he was offered a job due to hanging out there so much anyway. From there he has worked in various well-known shops over the years such as Goldcross (where he met Mike), TFM, Fitzroy Cycles, Wheels of Steel and Gran Prix Bicycles, gaining knowledge from anyone he can. He is eager to learn more from Mike and the team to further his mechanical knowledge to be able to provide the best experience and outcome for the customers needs.
Matt is an avid cyclist that primarily loves mountain biking and long days in the saddle, whether it’s exploring country backroads or bike trails, to having done Otway Odyssey’s, endurance events and the Megavalanche in Peru.
Matt started with The Rapid Wrench as an elite full time mechanic early in 2023, if you see him out and about in the Renault Traffic service vehicle make sure to say hi!
Matt taught Mike some of his first professional bike mechanic skills, way back in around 2006! So Mike is thrilled for the opportunity to have Matt come on board as a TRW mechanic.
Finlay began working in bikes for his very first job and never stopped. Gaining professional experience from a young age really helped Fin to gain an advantage over other mechanics. This led to a slingshot start in the bike industry in his early 20’s. He’s now a highly experienced, expert-level MTB and e-mobility equipment rider. I have advanced bike handing and urban riding experience that has provided me with the ability to safely undertake e-bike based delivery and mobile service activities.
Fin just recently returned to Melbourne. Before this he spent 7 years working for various bike stores in Wellington NZ, such as Pack&Pedal and Torpedo 7 where he was a lead mechanic. He was the workshop manager at Ebike & Mobility, before giving it a crack of being a freelance mechanic and delivery rider catering to individuals and bike shop’s needs. This last one gave Fin a great entry in to the world of being a mobile bike mechanic, especially one who’s service vehicle is a bike!
Fin started with The Rapid Wrench as an elite full time mechanic early in 2023, if you see him out and about on the Larry V Harry Bullitt service cargo-bike make sure to say hi!
Fin loves his mountain bikes, single speeds, cargo bikes, and hates cars! Its all about 2-wheelers here. He also has a big passion for aviation, has a private pilots license, and can look up at a jet flying at 10,000 feet and tell you the exact model it is.
