Daniel Young

Former lawyer and tax consultant with KPMG, Dan Young rides the wave of the inner-city bicycle boom ... We've lured Dan off the saddle and onto Justinian's couch to learn about the the transition from law to the art of bicycle mechanics ... 

Escapee from the law: Dan YoungDANIEL YOUNG is an escaped lawyer. He gave up doing taxation law at KPMG in Sydney and started his own one-man business as a mobile bicycle mechanic. 

Wheely Convenient now has clients across the city - corporate accounts and individuals. The boom in professional types peddling to work from the inner suburbs has meant Dan changed gears at the right time. 

He's out from behind a desk and now has wind in his hair, grease on his hands and can fix a puncture in five minutes flat ... 

Describe yourself in three words. 

Fair. Indecorous. Interested.   

What are you currently reading? 

"Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World." 

What's your favourite film? 

Spaceballs. 

What is your favourite piece of music? 

Anything by alternative rock stalwarts, Everclear. 

Who has been the most influential person in your life ... and why? 

My father for reassuring me early on that the most interesting people he knew hadn't figured out what they were supposed to be doing with their lives at almost any point.    

What is in your refrigerator? 

Whole egg mayonnaise and not a lot else. 

What is your favourite website? 

Mine! Wheely Convenient and Damn You Autocorrect, which is good for a laugh. 

If you were on death row, what would be your request for your last meal? 

A long cool drink of fresh air. 

What words or phrases do you overuse? 

"I don't know ... I'm not entirely sure." 

Was there an important opportunity that you didn't take ... and if so what was it? 

Quite a few and I'd rather not dwell ...

Why did you want to be a lawyer, and why tax law? 

Coming out of high school I knew I couldn't do numbers and couldn't do blood, but that I may as well aim high to give myself a maximum number of fall back positions. I'm not sure which number of fall back position I'm currently at - I didn't contemplate 'bicycle mechanic' at the time.     

Can you explain the transition from tax law at KPMG to Wheely Convenient Mobile Bicycle Mechanics?  

I was never really cut out for the technical realm of corporate tax law, but I thought I would roll the dice anyway. KPMG also crystallised my (immature) dislike for answering to superiors. Once I left I knew I had to start something off my own bat that didn't involve sitting at a desk and would promote something I wanted to see more of in society. It turned out to be bikes and cycling. 

Are there any parallels between practising law and repairing bicycles?  

Endeavouring to avoid being sued by a client or customer and agreeing at the outset what it is possible to deliver. 

Young: did something off his own bat

Do lawyers make better cyclists? 

They make better cyclist consumers probably as a direct result of not being the greatest performers on the bike. 

If you were a foodstuff, what would you be?

Asparagus. Tall and stringy but a positive option. 

What human quality do you most distrust? 

Peoples' penchant for power.  

What would you change about Australia? 

Negative gearing. 

Whom or what do you consider overrated? 

Craft beer. Beer was already great. 

What would your epitaph say? 

"He came, he ate, he left."

What comes into your mind when you shut your eyes and think of the word "law"? 

The halls of the University of Queensland's Faculty of Law and the look on the face of the judge in my first and last moot when I argued the "gist of the judgment" as authority for my submission.