Who’s the best mtb mechanic in the country? It’s a question we’d often pondered, usually while pulling our hair out trying to bleed a brake or poke some cable outer through a down tube.

Well, now we have the answer. We know because our winner beat over 300 other mechanics to the title of Britain’s Best Bike Mechanic, a campaign we ran in association with Park Tool to highlight how important a job these men and women do to keep us rolling.

Check out the video below:

In June this year we launched a campaign with Park Tool to find and recognise Britain’s Best Bike Mechanics. The first phase was a public vote and we were very excited to receive over 2900 votes for over 300 different mechanics proving the important role they play in our industry.

The mechanics who received the most votes formed a shortlist of 10 and we sent those mechanics a #BBBM2018 application form with scenario based questions which we then used to select our finalists.

So our three finalists were not only voted for by the public, but we were impressed by their answers to our knowledge based questioning as well.

We hosted the final at the Cytech Training Centre in Oxford where the finalists had to complete a number of tasks including a rear wheel build, fork lower leg strip, inspect and oil change and a rear inner gear cable replacement under time pressure whilst getting filmed, photographed and questioned by are panel of judges.

The judging panel consisted of British Cycling’s head mechanic Mark Ingham, Park Tool’s Director of Education Calvin Jones and Cytech Head Trainer Julian Thrasher.

Britain’s Best Bike Mechanic: MBR winner

Tom Cropper | Twisted Cogs

Tom was awarded the coveted BBBM2018 trophy and a £250 voucher to spend on Park Tool products. But more importantly he can now call himself Britain’s Best Bike Mechnic.

Years of service at the shop?

2 years 3 months

Favourite tool on the tool board?

Pretty impressed with the KBB bearing removal/press at the moment.

What music do you have on in the workshop?

Depends on my mood flip between R1/R1x/Metal playlists on Spotif

What was your first bike?

“My first bike was a Raleigh Max – the green tank. My first mountain bike was a Trek Fuel 100 OCLV.”

The runner up

Denham Elvin AKA Denzil |  DC cycles

Years of service at shop?

“Since I open the store full time. In the trade for over ten years now. Starting out at Cycle World Wessex.”

Favourite tool on the tool board?

“My beloved Spoke Machine. This thing I think must be classed as a body part by now. I spend more time with this than I do Mrs DC!”

What music do you have on in the workshop?

“It ranges from hard rock to classical FM depending on mood.”

What was your first bike?

“The first bike I saved for from a proper bike shop was a DDG shooter from GA cycles in Southampton. (Shout out to GA still going strong).”

Here at MBR we want to extend a huge congratulations to Tom and Denham. It’s pleasing to see that the industry is in good hands.