Business start up - home bicycle repair
Discussion
Not really sure where to start with this, but thought Pistonheads might be a good place to receive some straight up, honest advice.
I work in a professional job full time, Monday to Friday however I am inspired by the business owners I meet and the success stories I hear. For a long while now I have been trying to force a business idea.
Criteria:
- Low cost start up
- Can be run outside out normal working hours
This led me to cycling. I live in a growing large village which is extremely popular for road cycling. A national cycle network route runs directly outside my house. I love cycling, and earlier in the year started a local club running weekly rides - we now have around 50 members! Some of the guys I ride with are in capable of changing a tyre, let alone indexing some gears, and I am annoyed when they tell me they had to pop the bike to their local store.
I have an integral garage at home, which could easily be converted into a smart professional bicycle workshop. My plan, was to offer an appointment only, bicycle repair & servicing.
In order to not just receive a load of Halfrauds bikes that re beyond repair, I was hoping to differentiate by offering a twice yearly service i.e. a summer service & a winter service. Basically setting up your bike for the next coming 6 months. Repairs would be supplementary. I recently carried out a full strip down service on a friends bike, who then mentioned that his local bike shop would have charged £140 for this!
So I am hoping that some of you might be able to bring me back to reality and tell me the idea is no good.
Things to consider:
- Would you bring your pride and joy to a lad in a garage? It would have to be professional in appearance to encourage the right clientele.
- Prices - would have to be priced lower than the surrounding bike stores - something I believe I can achieve
- Mortgage - how would this be affected. Possibly might affect mortgage rate / provider
- Public Liability Insurance required
- Advertising - website, Facebook and signage on local cycle routes
Supplementary services I would like to offer:
- Have a proper zwift set up (already in place for my use) - but would be useful for people to have a go before they commit - another way to get people through the door
- E-bike hire - invest in a couple of E-bikes - there is a large caravan park within 400m of the house, and a complete off road bike lane to the local town which is very popular with cyclists. £50 for a days hire for example.
- Nice little coffee machine - what cyclist doesn't enjoy a coffee
Long terms plans:
- I have my eye on a property located in the centre of the village which I would like to convert into a cycling cafe and repair shop, but need to provide the theory first.
Any thoughts would be much appreciated.
I work in a professional job full time, Monday to Friday however I am inspired by the business owners I meet and the success stories I hear. For a long while now I have been trying to force a business idea.
Criteria:
- Low cost start up
- Can be run outside out normal working hours
This led me to cycling. I live in a growing large village which is extremely popular for road cycling. A national cycle network route runs directly outside my house. I love cycling, and earlier in the year started a local club running weekly rides - we now have around 50 members! Some of the guys I ride with are in capable of changing a tyre, let alone indexing some gears, and I am annoyed when they tell me they had to pop the bike to their local store.
I have an integral garage at home, which could easily be converted into a smart professional bicycle workshop. My plan, was to offer an appointment only, bicycle repair & servicing.
In order to not just receive a load of Halfrauds bikes that re beyond repair, I was hoping to differentiate by offering a twice yearly service i.e. a summer service & a winter service. Basically setting up your bike for the next coming 6 months. Repairs would be supplementary. I recently carried out a full strip down service on a friends bike, who then mentioned that his local bike shop would have charged £140 for this!
So I am hoping that some of you might be able to bring me back to reality and tell me the idea is no good.
Things to consider:
- Would you bring your pride and joy to a lad in a garage? It would have to be professional in appearance to encourage the right clientele.
- Prices - would have to be priced lower than the surrounding bike stores - something I believe I can achieve
- Mortgage - how would this be affected. Possibly might affect mortgage rate / provider
- Public Liability Insurance required
- Advertising - website, Facebook and signage on local cycle routes
Supplementary services I would like to offer:
- Have a proper zwift set up (already in place for my use) - but would be useful for people to have a go before they commit - another way to get people through the door
- E-bike hire - invest in a couple of E-bikes - there is a large caravan park within 400m of the house, and a complete off road bike lane to the local town which is very popular with cyclists. £50 for a days hire for example.
- Nice little coffee machine - what cyclist doesn't enjoy a coffee
Long terms plans:
- I have my eye on a property located in the centre of the village which I would like to convert into a cycling cafe and repair shop, but need to provide the theory first.
Any thoughts would be much appreciated.
That's a lot to consider, so here are a few pointers.
Servicing - if you attract six monthly services then you need to get them all year round to smooth out the flow, can people drop them off in the evening? What is your market radius? Will you pick up? If so, when?
Costs, why be so much cheaper than others, have other USPs, google it, you are worth your perceived value.
Insurance, yes, if you are storing bikes overnight in your garage, guessing that it will be alarmed and the valuable ones chained down to loops in concrete
Forgotten the rest, it's getting late
Servicing - if you attract six monthly services then you need to get them all year round to smooth out the flow, can people drop them off in the evening? What is your market radius? Will you pick up? If so, when?
Costs, why be so much cheaper than others, have other USPs, google it, you are worth your perceived value.
Insurance, yes, if you are storing bikes overnight in your garage, guessing that it will be alarmed and the valuable ones chained down to loops in concrete
Forgotten the rest, it's getting late
OP, do you have a lot of experience fixing bikes?
I've been tinkering with bikes on and off for the last year and am really enjoying it. I have been thinking of doing something similar to you, but don't think I have enough experience yet.
I've been learning because the bike shops I have used over the last few years have provided awful service.
Interested in seeing how you get on.
I've been tinkering with bikes on and off for the last year and am really enjoying it. I have been thinking of doing something similar to you, but don't think I have enough experience yet.
I've been learning because the bike shops I have used over the last few years have provided awful service.
Interested in seeing how you get on.
£50 to hire an E bike for the day sounds like a lot. They are £32.50 here https://www.forestleisurecycling.co.uk/new-forest-... Also is hiring out bikes a part time business? you need to be there when it goes out, and when it comes back.
On cycle servicing isnt the problem going to be that the time you are free to do the servicing (the weekend) is the same time
your customers are going to want to be using their bikes? You are therefore going to have to spend the evenings doing the servicing so customers have their bikes back for the weekend.
On cycle servicing isnt the problem going to be that the time you are free to do the servicing (the weekend) is the same time
your customers are going to want to be using their bikes? You are therefore going to have to spend the evenings doing the servicing so customers have their bikes back for the weekend.
If you are doing it as a hobby for beer money... we’ll go for it. If you are thinking it will take off and will be a massive business you can retire on... maybe don’t. If you want a simple life and a good life-work balance it may work.
Potential flaws.... keeping the cash flow all year round. Cycling is cheap so anything involving repairs,etc will never attract a lot of money and labour hourly rate won’t be that amazing. Lots of bike shops closing down, some people can fix the bike themselves and take pride in it.
Like I said go for it if you do it as an hobby... as a business.... it will tough and difficult to sustain long term unless you diversify into sales/hiring but then again how any e-bikes do you think you will hire every day? What is the investment to buy those bikes? How many days of hire are needed to just pay the investment and to upkeep them? How many seasons will they last?
Maybe it’s just me but I don’t think there is too much meat in the bone... but if you enjoy it go for it!
Potential flaws.... keeping the cash flow all year round. Cycling is cheap so anything involving repairs,etc will never attract a lot of money and labour hourly rate won’t be that amazing. Lots of bike shops closing down, some people can fix the bike themselves and take pride in it.
Like I said go for it if you do it as an hobby... as a business.... it will tough and difficult to sustain long term unless you diversify into sales/hiring but then again how any e-bikes do you think you will hire every day? What is the investment to buy those bikes? How many days of hire are needed to just pay the investment and to upkeep them? How many seasons will they last?
Maybe it’s just me but I don’t think there is too much meat in the bone... but if you enjoy it go for it!
I know a few people doing this as im pretty involved in the local cycling club, and so are these mechanics. Pretty much everyone seriously riding in my local areas know who the guys are who work on bikes. They all appear to be busy, I could phone one today and id still be waiting a couple of weeks to get in so I presume demand is there, but they have only built this up based on good reputation and the fact they are so invovled with the community. I doubt anyone would use them if they were just another random shop.
Also how much can you actually do mechanically. Can you configure di2, set up hydraulics, rebuild a wheel etc as thats the sort of thing needed when people get beyond their own comfort level.
Also how much can you actually do mechanically. Can you configure di2, set up hydraulics, rebuild a wheel etc as thats the sort of thing needed when people get beyond their own comfort level.
That's a good point on the issue of running from home.
These days it seems people love the opportunity to moan, so if you have neighbours with too much time on their hands they are not going to like cars with racks dropping off bikes. Less of an issue with people that drop off on their bike, but unless local, they still need to get home.
These days it seems people love the opportunity to moan, so if you have neighbours with too much time on their hands they are not going to like cars with racks dropping off bikes. Less of an issue with people that drop off on their bike, but unless local, they still need to get home.
PulsatingStar said:
Also how much can you actually do mechanically. Can you configure di2, set up hydraulics, rebuild a wheel etc as thats the sort of thing needed when people get beyond their own comfort level.
I agree with this. A lot of riders will do most stuff themselves and go to a shop for the tricky stuff or stuff requiring expensive tools.OP you might want to consider getting a city & guilds bike mechanic qualification to give people confidence you know what you are doing. Especially when they are bringing their £'000s carbon bikes in.
If you are on a cycle route and have lots of people going by then some sort of refreshment/spares station would be good too. Even a tap they can refill water bottles next to a sign advertising your services would be good. I have often run in to trouble forgetting enough spares etc. When I was training for ironman and doing 6 hour rides trying to find a place to get more water without leaving my very expensive bike outside wasn't easy
I think doing this from your house will be a struggle unless you have no immediate neighbours. The servicing of your club members bikes could be a good sideline from home because dealing with people you know is slightly easier, but I think you would need premises if you wanted to appeal to the wider public.
The guy who serviced mine picks it up from my house takes it somewhere brings it back a day later nice and new charges £90 for a full service £25 for a light ‘back on the road’ service which saw the gears being indexed properly and everything tightened up ready for winter.
So it definitely works as a business idea. Do people really care who or where the bike is serviced providing a good job is done? I don’t.
So it definitely works as a business idea. Do people really care who or where the bike is serviced providing a good job is done? I don’t.
As a typical customer of yours I bought a bike that needs a new rear tyre and the wire for the gears isn't allowing me to change to top gear. I'd pay to have this sorted rather than go to a cycle shop. £20 -£30 plus the cost of the tyre is what i'd pay. I'm just a casual forest walking path cyclist not some tour de france nut that pops a boner at seeing yellow jerseys etc. nor do I have any interest in the hardcore downhill scene on £1000s worth of kit. My bike was 2nd hand from gumtree for £120 odd. I'd guess i'd be your type of customer.
First off I am that one cyclist who doesn't like coffee 
The servicing aspect sounds good, especially starting off small, maybe just word of mount with club members etc. I would be reluctant to advertise too much if I was keeping other people's bike in my home garage.
Bike box rental also sounds like a good idea, probably less hassle than ebike rentals.
The servicing aspect sounds good, especially starting off small, maybe just word of mount with club members etc. I would be reluctant to advertise too much if I was keeping other people's bike in my home garage.
Bike box rental also sounds like a good idea, probably less hassle than ebike rentals.
Lots of barriers mentioned above and while, in time they are impt considerations, don't let them prevent you from doing a few jobs for cash and see how it goes. Just find a few people who want a bit of work done on their bikes and see how it goes. You won't be doing many to begin with so keep it smal and simple as a business idea initially.
Not sure tooling up a bike repair shop is low cost tbh.
Decent work stands are a few hundred on their own, you won’t want to be working on the cheap ones for much more than your basic jobs.
There is actually quite a lot of specific tools too; crank extractors, BB chase, headset press and reamer, seat tube reamer, mech hanger alignment tool, torque wrench, tap and die set, wheel truing stand, brake bleeding kits etc.
Some of those tools will need duplicating too as Shimano and Campagnolo are different standards.
Will you deal with electronic shifting? Again you now have three standards; Shimano, Campag and SRAM all require different software to set up and maintain.
Do you have a parts washer? Really nice to strip stuff down and give it a good scrub in the parts washer and if my bike goes in for a full service I’d expect it to be striped and re-greased in this way.
Are you going to offer a full suite of services or just basic gear tunes and tyres? Even simple jobs can soon grow legs, a gear tune could result in a new cassette, chain and alignment to properly resolve and fine tune the shifting.
How are you going to stock spare parts and consumables? Ideally you’d keep some chains, brake blocks, gear cables but again you’ll need Shimano and Campag. Inner tubes will be a must but tyres are quite personal so could be fitted on customer supply.
I’m a keen cyclist and just offering some points to consider.
Decent work stands are a few hundred on their own, you won’t want to be working on the cheap ones for much more than your basic jobs.
There is actually quite a lot of specific tools too; crank extractors, BB chase, headset press and reamer, seat tube reamer, mech hanger alignment tool, torque wrench, tap and die set, wheel truing stand, brake bleeding kits etc.
Some of those tools will need duplicating too as Shimano and Campagnolo are different standards.
Will you deal with electronic shifting? Again you now have three standards; Shimano, Campag and SRAM all require different software to set up and maintain.
Do you have a parts washer? Really nice to strip stuff down and give it a good scrub in the parts washer and if my bike goes in for a full service I’d expect it to be striped and re-greased in this way.
Are you going to offer a full suite of services or just basic gear tunes and tyres? Even simple jobs can soon grow legs, a gear tune could result in a new cassette, chain and alignment to properly resolve and fine tune the shifting.
How are you going to stock spare parts and consumables? Ideally you’d keep some chains, brake blocks, gear cables but again you’ll need Shimano and Campag. Inner tubes will be a must but tyres are quite personal so could be fitted on customer supply.
I’m a keen cyclist and just offering some points to consider.
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