Small Bike shop owners… would you do it again??

[David Marshall]

3 minutes ago, madmarc said:

I've commented lots on this subject on other threads - As i did a full business case study for exactly the same idea. I wanted to start something that i could have up and running for retirement. - So in summary.

 

Go trade Bitcoin its a far easier and exciting way to lose money - In fact I did that and actually made money 😁

You have hit the nail on the head.  I have a busy workshop with no retail and the only reason it is still open is that I own the premises, have no staff and there are plenty of large retailers around me from whom I can get parts.  As for passion that can quickly be extinguished when dealing with the supply players and every new marketing gimmick that comes out on a bike - a product which of course you have intimate and detailed knowledge of  because you are a mechanic - even if it is the first time that you have seen or heard of it!

My estimate is that 1 to 6 years is the life span of most small shops - unless you are Piet se Fietse  with a captive market servicing commuter bikes in the Kalahari.  You might last a bit longer.

[GDG]

This was a really interesting thread to read.... Very negative feedback and that is for a really good reason.

A entrepreneur doesn't decide to start a business without taking HUGE risk. There are so many variables , you cannot sit and way up all of them. 

I started my "Small'' bike shop November 2019 . 3 months later we were closed for a month during lockdown. This was the worst then the best possible thing that could have ever happened. We were flying!! Then stock issues.... Then people running out of that ''holiday'' money they never spent. 

I have started and run plenty businesses in my short lifetime. However i can tell you that this industry is a different ball game.  The absolute hardest part is not the stock issues, it's not location its STAFF.  The turn over of mechanics is the biggest hurdle. To find trustworthy , punctual , enthusiastic mechanics is incredibly difficult. Your workshop is the bread and butter of the business.  Finally after almost 3 years we have found our groove and we are organically growing year on year.

 

Just a FYI, i still do not have a shimano or sram account as they refuse to open new ones since covid hit. I still make it work. I hustle every single day and focus every ounce of my energy on the clients and making sure they are happy. Everything else follows.

 

Take a leap, nothing ventured nothing gained.

[love2fly]

13 minutes ago, madmarc said:

Haha this was part of my idea as well - To have a drop box delivery system for customers like you - Order it online arrive after hours with a pin sent via sms that opens a dropbox door and collect your goodies. Very much like some courier companies do at petrol stations

Order online & arrive a few hours later depends where you are. Cycling suppliers are mostly based in the WC and that means 24-48 hours to Gauteng. Suppliers generally charge customers for courier. My one principle charged courier (and marked it up) no matter how large your order so now you need a R200 part but get billed R150 for courier - Can you imagine the customers reaction when you bill him adding in courier plus your markup for courier because if you don't mark up every expense you pay you lose money?

[love2fly]

16 minutes ago, Glen De Goede said:

This was a really interesting thread to read.... Very negative feedback and that is for a really good reason.

A entrepreneur doesn't decide to start a business without taking HUGE risk. There are so many variables , you cannot sit and way up all of them. 

I started my "Small'' bike shop November 2019 . 3 months later we were closed for a month during lockdown. This was the worst then the best possible thing that could have ever happened. We were flying!! Then stock issues.... Then people running out of that ''holiday'' money they never spent. 

I have started and run plenty businesses in my short lifetime. However i can tell you that this industry is a different ball game.  The absolute hardest part is not the stock issues, it's not location its STAFF.  The turn over of mechanics is the biggest hurdle. To find trustworthy , punctual , enthusiastic mechanics is incredibly difficult. Your workshop is the bread and butter of the business.  Finally after almost 3 years we have found our groove and we are organically growing year on year.

 

Just a FYI, i still do not have a shimano or sram account as they refuse to open new ones since covid hit. I still make it work. I hustle every single day and focus every ounce of my energy on the clients and making sure they are happy. Everything else follows.

 

Take a leap, nothing ventured nothing gained.

An interesting side note about staff. I know one Techie who trained from nothing at my LBS, although I mostly dealt with the owner. After a year or so I see he's moved to another LBS - A family member of mine had him change his chainring from a 32 to something bigger for a gravel race. Lo and behold, when said trained Techie fitted the chainring (and new chain so as to keep things in a bit of a set), he kept chain same length so it would complain when in 50 tooth gear....Speaks volumes about on-the-job training and that both LBS were happy with his services.

I agree with the previous poster, as soon as you have people working for you, life becomes helluva comlicated. They bring their personal problems, theft, performance etc. In our one family business we have had to deal with theft and then large scale mutiny trying to disrupt staff and encourage them to all leave and go to a competitor, but when someone needs a staff loan or advice or a lift to work for a week due to no transport..../Eish, life has become so complicated! 🙂 

[Cycle Fan]

52 minutes ago, madmarc said:

I've commented lots on this subject on other threads - As i did a full business case study for exactly the same idea. I wanted to start something that i could have up and running for retirement. - So in summary.

Having only a bike maintenance workshop won't generate enough income on its own as a business. it will be a hobby business at best.

You will need wholesale prices on components and spares from the big brand importers - they won't even talk to you unless you have a proper bike shop and initially it will all be COD if you convince them to supply you

To generate any meaningful turn over you will need 2 or 3 qualified mechanics and you will need to be billing at least 140 hrs a month for each Mechanic - That there in + profit on components is the secret to a profitable workshop.

Go onto the Torque Zone academy and check what it will cost to qualify and certify a mechanic, it will make your eyes water. also build in the risk that they can leave afterwards and go work for your competition for a few 100 ronds extra a month.

You will struggle to get walk in business without a retail section, which is a whole new ballgame, here again getting importers to put their products in your retail section is a challenge and big investment. On top you will need to develop an online presence - even more investment.

Go trade Bitcoin its a far easier and exciting way to lose money - In fact I did that and actually made money 😁

Great advice and input! Thanks

[Cycle Fan]

28 minutes ago, Glen De Goede said:

This was a really interesting thread to read.... Very negative feedback and that is for a really good reason.

A entrepreneur doesn't decide to start a business without taking HUGE risk. There are so many variables , you cannot sit and way up all of them. 

I started my "Small'' bike shop November 2019 . 3 months later we were closed for a month during lockdown. This was the worst then the best possible thing that could have ever happened. We were flying!! Then stock issues.... Then people running out of that ''holiday'' money they never spent. 

I have started and run plenty businesses in my short lifetime. However i can tell you that this industry is a different ball game.  The absolute hardest part is not the stock issues, it's not location its STAFF.  The turn over of mechanics is the biggest hurdle. To find trustworthy , punctual , enthusiastic mechanics is incredibly difficult. Your workshop is the bread and butter of the business.  Finally after almost 3 years we have found our groove and we are organically growing year on year.

 

Just a FYI, i still do not have a shimano or sram account as they refuse to open new ones since covid hit. I still make it work. I hustle every single day and focus every ounce of my energy on the clients and making sure they are happy. Everything else follows.

 

Take a leap, nothing ventured nothing gained.

So great to hear you're making it work!! Good luck going forward!

[madmarc]

i am still of the opinion that a specialized business model will work. Although it will only get to a certain growth point and have a limited scalability.

Take RBC in PE for example - they specialize in suspension and they very good at it. Professional setup and everyone i know who have used them rate them 10/10. They have made sure their customers have access to them with their courier service country wide. They have the skills, products and tools on suspension that no LBS will ever have and is probably the reason for their success - A few other guys here on the hub that do the same thing successfully. 

I follow a guy on FB in the UK who has a similar business, its crazy when you see the amount of work he gets from all over the UK.

Wheels is another specialty one could look at - also a few guys her on the hub that do this successfully. But i doubt they big enough to chuck their day job.

But here again you need access components at wholesale from the importers - this is where i kind of started - I have all the professional tools already, probably 50% of the skills needed was pursuing the other 50% - then i started speaking to importers, rims, spokes, hubs & spares, tires etc etc. this is where i shelved the idea.

Take IDT's service and repairs ? - pfffft don't even go down that rabbit hole.

Investigated becoming an Authorised Campy service ctr, was prepared to go to Italy for training at my expense - Unless you know someone who has a mate who is related to your brother whose mother is your sister, you won't even get an out of office response from them.

 

[JA-Q001]

Just as a side question to those that have a shop and to those that does not:

Owners, what do you pay your mechanics?

Others, what do you think they earn?

 

Unfortunately, in SA, we have a big problem with income. If you only earn R8000 a month, then R800 more at the next shop is a 10% increase. That Mechanic can also not work their entire life for a minimum type wage.

[NotSoBigBen]

As an aside ... I know quite a few bike shop owners that hardly ride regularly anymore. And yes I also know 1 or 2 that still do

Just an observation

[Shebeen]

48 minutes ago, NotSoBigBen said:

As an aside ... I know quite a few bike shop owners that hardly ride regularly anymore. And yes I also know 1 or 2 that still do

Just an observation

https://cyclingtips.com/2022/04/exposed-by-a-strava-kom-the-many-lives-of-a-fake-pro-cyclist/

 

easier to just fake your strava rides!

[Jewbacca]

3 minutes ago, Shebeen said:

https://cyclingtips.com/2022/04/exposed-by-a-strava-kom-the-many-lives-of-a-fake-pro-cyclist/

 

easier to just fake your strava rides!

Isn't the whole article more about how he faked his whole life and was busted via Strava? 

More than faking STRAVA rides anyway.... 

[The Ouzo]

6 minutes ago, Jewbacca said:

Isn't the whole article more about how he faked his whole life and was busted via Strava? 

More than faking STRAVA rides anyway.... 

I started reading that article a week or 2 back. It read like someone with an axe to grind with the subject, like it was personal.

Think I got just over halfway before reverting to skim reading to find out what happened or if there was a point to it at all.

[Shebeen]

7 minutes ago, Jewbacca said:

Isn't the whole article more about how he faked his whole life and was busted via Strava? 

More than faking STRAVA rides anyway.... 

yes, BUT also about how a LBS can be successful if it creates a community around it. Simple in theory, not so much in practice.

 

[Jewbacca]

1 minute ago, ouzo said:

I started reading that article a week or 2 back. It read like someone with an axe to grind with the subject, like it was personal.

Think I got just over halfway before reverting to skim reading to find out what happened or if there was a point to it at all.

I think there were definitely some sour grapes in there. I vaguely recall the authour says he researched the subject for 18 months or so and just kept getting sucked deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole.

2 minutes ago, Shebeen said:

yes, BUT also about how a LBS can be successful if it creates a community around it. Simple in theory, not so much in practice.

 

Yeah, definitely. 

When I read the article I was pretty blown away by how the dude had managed to get so much out of his little corner store. 

Albeit not always brilliantly executed!

I know ECC have shop rides and a number of other shops host various rides etc, but we as a nation and as a people are pretty junk at getting involved in stuff like that as a whole.

It usually doesn't fit in with the coach's training schedule or interval session...... 😋

Our culture in SA, especially our cycling culture, is a pretty tough nut. Groups are either way too fast, too slow, stop too much etc.... As a car centric country, we aren't very communal. We leave our enclosed house in our enclosed 3 ton death trap, park, go to the shops, ignore shop assistants, get annoyed at people who are in the way, then semi interact with the teller and go home, getting annoyed at the traffic which we are all creating.

Obviously this is an extreme, but one of the reasons 'community' doesn't really exist in many functions of life here

[SwissVan]

21 hours ago, Cycle Fan said:

So mid-life crisis looms and career change is in the air. Owning a Bike shop has always been a dream but the reality is very different I hear! 
 

So, the question is for those of you who are “living the dream” and own a small bike shop, would you do it again if you know what you know now?

what is the reality REALLY like? Rough hours, stress levels, difficult customers?

Would love to hear you war stories. 

Having read all the good advice and valid comments so far, I’m inclined to ask what kind of experience / qualifications do you have in matters of a small bike shop?

Are you already able to repair bikes yourself quickly and efficiently, or will you hire the brains for this?

This for me is the thing I look for in a bike shop, someone who knows his stuff, not someone who will practice on my bike (no offence meant).

 

 

[Eddy Gordo]

One thing most seem to forget is the cost to rent a premises. 

I have been down this road a few years ago, crunched the numbers etc, got all the same, you need a workshop, not just online business. So I gave up on the idea.

I now find myself looking at different business opportunities. One business franchise I can get, wont see me earning near to what I am earning now, after all bills are payed.

So I continue looking...