Hiring bike bags and boxes - business idea

[mattvanders]

Evening all, wanted to try and run a side project business idea past the PH collective.

I’m thinking of setting up a up bike bag (for mountain bikes) and/or bike box (for road bikes). I been away for riding trips over the years and have got my own bag but due to living in a flat I had to store it way from home. With now being a home owner and a man cave that can store everything in one place. The wife’s got into road a few years ago and is starting to do trips away and is borrowing/horsing boxes for this but could be interested in buying her own. With these being stored most of the time I was thinking of setting up a side business of hiring of both but want second opinions.

Have you hired before or own? Are you comfortable in packing the bike away or would that be something you would happily pay someone else to do? Would the ability to pick up mid week after work be a factor you would choose over using a bike shop that isn’t opened up late mid week?

Sure there’s loads of of questions I could ask but just want to bounce the idea past overs that ride and travel/want to travel

[curvature]

I have no experience of using bike bags or boxes but my first thoughts are the logistics of getting the bags/boxes to your customers.

Would you be happy with customers collecting from your house?

Also what about any damage that may occur? Is it the renters obligation to fix or is it the airline? How would you prove this and you would need to have some form of contract and a deposit to manage this.

Some bike shops rent these so I would check to see what the local shops offer as they may already have control of the market.

[DaveyBoyWonder]

I've hired a bike box multiple times before from https://www.bikebox-online.co.uk/ but am buying my own bag this year...

Are you comfortable in packing the bike away or would that be something you would happily pay someone else to do?
I wouldn't pay someone to do it - using the boxes is really, really simple and you still need to rebuild it when you get there and then pack your bike at the other end when you come home so if you're not comfortable enough to pack it for heading outbound, you're screwed when you get there/come home! On a mountain bike with a hard case its slam the dropper post down, wheels off (I remove the rotors as well to stop them getting bent etc), pedals off and stem off. Oh and I take the mech off as well. So 5 minutes with an allen key and its in bits.

Would the ability to pick up mid week after work be a factor you would choose over using a bike shop that isn’t opened up late mid week?
The above website is mega flexible in my experience - think I've picked up/dropped off on my lunch break but they're open after work etc as well (its just been more convenient for me to go at lunch).

Hard cases are ace for many reasons but they're heavy and take up a LOT of space so consider that if you want to buy some to rent out. I'm getting a soft case this year (but a decent Evoc one) as they're that much lighter it'll allow me to pack more in with the bike - tools etc mainly.

[DaveyBoyWonder]

Also if you're thinking of hiring out a single box and a single bag (if I read your post right) then I suspect it'd be too much hassle than its worth. The place I used charges a very reasonable fee to hire (and a 10% discount for repeat custom) but they have scale - eg if someone brings back and box and its knackered, the next person isn't going to be affected as they have a garage full of the things. In your scenario if Bob returns a bag and the zip is bust and Steve is due to collect the bag the day after, its a potentially sticky situation you're in as you may not be able to supply the bag.

Loads of places do it already - I'd steer clear of the faff TBH.

[JEA1K]

Logistics of getting boxes delivered to peoples homes and then returning them will be an cost that will make it difficult to compete with local bike shops who hire. I thnk you'd need volume to make money ... that means a lot of boxes out at once. Prices would need to be cheap to be attractive .... when potential customers factor in box hire and flight carriage vs renting at the location and the ease of that, taking your own bike can become more expensive/more hassle.

I have my own box and take my own bike, then again I spent 7 weeks in Spain last year so it wasn't really a hassle based on the time away.

[BlackTails]

mattvanders said:

Evening all, wanted to try and run a side project business idea past the PH collective.

I m thinking of setting up a up bike bag (for mountain bikes) and/or bike box (for road bikes). I been away for riding trips over the years and have got my own bag but due to living in a flat I had to store it way from home. With now being a home owner and a man cave that can store everything in one place. The wife s got into road a few years ago and is starting to do trips away and is borrowing/horsing boxes for this but could be interested in buying her own. With these being stored most of the time I was thinking of setting up a side business of hiring of both but want second opinions.

Have you hired before or own? Are you comfortable in packing the bike away or would that be something you would happily pay someone else to do? Would the ability to pick up mid week after work be a factor you would choose over using a bike shop that isn t opened up late mid week?

Sure there s loads of of questions I could ask but just want to bounce the idea past overs that ride and travel/want to travel

Owned and still own a Bikeboxalan. I count myself lucky that I have space to store it. I’m comfortable packing a bike in it (and I think that has to be a given, because one has to rebuild it at the other end, and then repack it for the trip home).

If I didn’t own one, was space-limited, and wanted to rent, I’d want a service that delivered it say Wednesday, ideally in the evening, and collected it say the following Tuesday (assuming a weekend trip). Going to collect it wouldn’t be ideal - they are big things that don’t fit into a lot of cars.

A soft bag might be better for collection and drop off, but I would take a carbon fibre frame in a soft bag when a hard case is an option.

There are BBA rentals on eBay if you want to look at the market rates, and how others do it.

[JQ]

I've hired a few times.

Always hired from someone off eBay or Marketplace, not a business. There's people doing this all over the country, so no need to get things delivered. There's a chap a few miles from me has about 20 Alan's hard plastic cases that he hires out at £8 per day from his garage. If you can make things work at those prices then worth a go.

As for packing - no chance. As a renter I want to take my time packing the case in the comfort of my own home with all my tools at my disposal, so that when I'm returning and having to pack my own box in a small hotel room, exhausted and with a stinking hangover I can still strip the bike down and get it in the box.

Also - if you offer to pack someone's box and their bike gets damaged in transit, you may get accused of packing it incorrectly.

If you do go ahead - I will only rent hard cases now after one of my bikes was damaged in transit in a soft bag, baggage handlers are not the gentlest of people.

Hope it goes well if you do go for it.