# Advice on starting a bike repair business



## bkranich (May 7, 2004)

I've been brainstorming this idea lately, and am looking for advice, mainly on the logistics of the whole thing, or just to see if you think I'm plain nuts.

I'm fortunate enough to have a job with a great schedule with lots of days off. As for my background in bikes, I've been doing it for over 20 years now. I built up my second bike in high school from parts and a frameset, so I've pretty much been doing all my own work, with the exception of when I didn't have tools or the knowhow. Now I have pretty much all the tools and much more knowhow. I'd say I'm the go-to guy of the people I ride with when it comes to mechanical stuff, and I've even built wheels for some friends. I'm totally self-taught though, so I have no certifications or anything to give me "cred", so I don't know if that hurts. 

My area is dominated by one particular shop that charges really high hourly rates. When a lot of repairs are dominated by simple fixes on less-expensive bikes, I think it gets kind of ridiculous. There's no need to hose someone for putting on a new chain or adjusting a rear derailleur. I want to offer a cheaper, more approachable alternative. I'm not looking to get into this to get rich or as a primary source of income. Just to make some extra cash on the side. 

As for my house, I have a detached garage that would serve perfectly for this purpose. I have to check into zoning, but I think it would be o.k. for my area. 

Other things I want to explore is getting hooked up with QBP or something like that. I don't want to hose people on prices of replacement parts, and I could really offer a better bargain if I could buy parts through a distributor rather than performance or the like. I don't know if there are ways for a small operation like I'm looking at to work with a distributor. 

Ultimately I'm looking at attending wheelbuilding seminars anyway, because I enjoy that type of stuff. I don't know if there's anything else I'd need as far as a formal mechanical education. I don't plan on getting into frame repair, and I don't plan on selling bikes, just fixing them.

Obviously there's insurance and stuff I'd have to consider for liability reasons. Other than that, do you guys thing I'm nuts? I don't want to start a lawncare business like all my co-workers. I figured I'd do something I already know a bunch about and I'm good at doing. 

I'm curious as to what the community here thinks.


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## mandovoodoo (Aug 27, 2005)

Given the potential liability, I'd:

1. Put the business somewhere other than your house. You don't want customers at your house anyway. Really. I've done that. They STILL show up here, 3 years later!!!

2. Get certification. This is a liability reduction step, too.

3. Get a sales tax number and buy wholesale. No biggie.


Have to watch these "hobby" businesses. We gross over $500K per year (although expenses and overhead eat up most of the gross profit, of course).


Keep in mind that if one of your clients crashes and gets hurt someone will be looking to shoddy work on the bike as a possible cause. One of the reasons I do my own work. I want to know it is done right!


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## Dumbod (Dec 31, 2004)

I don't own a bike shop but I don't know of anybody who is getting rich running a bike shop. I suspect that you'll find that those "really high hourly rates" and "hosing" people on parts is what you need to survive. 

You also need to understand that there's a big difference between working on your own bikes and charging to work on somebody else's. It's a little like the difference between being a good home cook and being a restaurant cook.

If the idea really intrigues you, find a part-time job as a bike mechanic in a local shop. That will give you a better idea what you're facing and whether it's something you really want to do (and invest money in.)


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## mandovoodoo (Aug 27, 2005)

Good points. I have a business that involves working on things. An efficient way to flow jobs through is essential - and a certain efficient speed in working on them. I don't have employees in part because few people have the efficient flow-through mindset. They get bogged down rather easily.

The "cook" analogy proves evocative. I am a good cook in the kitchen, and I've done big meals working fast with a couple of others to feed 30 people. Very different way of thinking! There are things I'd do in bulk and other things I'd never try to make a buck on. In the bike world, I'd not build wheels in a general purpose shop. Except perhaps in dead time. Better off using specialists to do those. 

Specializing is a good thing. I used to do many steel frame repairs. I wouldn't do the paint, I wouldn't pull the bike down, and I'd prefer to have the paint off already. I was set up to slice & dice efficiently. Anything else really cut into the bottom line. "It doesn't take much time for you to strip the components off." I'd hear that. But it is time anyway! Everybody benefited from me being able to simply grab the next victim, slice off the front triangle, etc.


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## Lifelover (Jul 8, 2004)

I 2nd the "work at a shop" for a little while idea. It will give you a more accurate feel for pricing and may make you some contacts with parts distributors. Of course it may not be an option.

Go Big or Go Small.

Small buisness, where it is just truly a little extra spending money are very doable.

Going Big and having a shop and employees is a royal PITA but is also doable.

The middle ground is not very easy.

If you want to go small, skip the offical buisness stuff and really just do it on the side or cash. I cna't imagine there is really all that much risk with bike repair. Offer to sell them the parts at retail cost from Performance. Join team performance. You keep the 10% credit for you time ording the stuff. Doing it as a buisnesss will most likely take all the enjoyment out of it.

It may take a while to get some consistant buisness with this model but if you do good work at a fair price and are plesant to deal with "they will come".


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## wim (Feb 28, 2005)

*In my experience . . .*

Make a plan for dealing with situations in which the cost of repair would far exceed the initial purchase price of the bike. Home-based bike repair shops attract broken $49.95 department store bikes which would normally be set out for the garbage collection. But because you're there, some of these wrecks will come to you in the hopes that $20 or so will make them like new again. With a kid pinning all their hopes on you, it's difficult to say "no."


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## russellhitchcock (Feb 18, 2006)

i'm actually doing exactly what your doing. i worked at my college as a mechanic for about 7 months before i moved home and i missed my shop so much... it felt tragic to not be there so i started to work on my bikes all day, then my uncle paid me $100 to overhaul his whole bike and replace his shifters, cassette, and cables. Then my aunt paid me $25 to do a drive train clean, and my cousin paid me $20 to get her bike running. because of word of mouth, my other cousin is having me look at his fork and a guy from church is coming to be also. i've done this without any actual poblicity or anything... it's out of my garage with a cheap repair stand.
then i got into repairing and reselling bikes that LDS (mormon) missionaries had abandoned when they went home. this has brought me about 400 with no really cost to me. it's not that difficult, i am thinking about running a couple ads in the local paper.. my suggestions, have a biger place to work. I have a 3 1/2- 4 foot work bench that's not bad but i'm cramped in a corner between the freezer, the walls, and my dads 1970 dodge challanger. just make sure you have plenty of room...
As for QBP, you can go to www.qbp.com and go to "new dealers" and look at their requirements, but for short, you gotta: 
*application
*pictures including sign, retail area, and repair area
*business Liability Insurance Certificate
*A current phone bill or yellow page ad with your company name 
*gotta be paitent and happy and professional through the process
*face-to-face bike location for them to ship to
so really a garage won't work very well... that is if you wanna use QBP
and about the little kids bringing in the cheap bikes, just remember what you ride and how little problems you have because you bought quality and treat it right. i never had a problem saying, "sorry, but this bike is not worth repairing..." if you see that it was cheap, hasn't been taken care of, and was 50 bucks (or worse, 10 at goodwill *shutters and cries from the memories*) it's easy to say no...
i would encourage you to start a business, but start with your friends first. let some word of mouth get out and then make the move. never know, you might want to have some quality base and that's all. 
as for pricing, i usually use the cost from my old work, or i'll call 3 places. a shop in utah who i know was real quality, and then the 2 most LBS (45 minutes away) and then take the average price. if there was another shop in the area, i would take 5 or 10 off of that, but since they would have to go over an hour away roundtrip, i just use the average. 
good luck


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## ARP (Mar 7, 2002)

*A different twist to your idea...*

I have no idea how he does it but there is a guy in Pittsburgh over behind the West Penn hospital, Bloomfield I believe that has a shop. It is more like a bike salvage yard. Does a fairly brisk biz. The goof ball/ single speeder/ messenger/ college kids crowd frequents his place, but that is the few times I have been there searching for cheap parts for an old project bike.

Here is his ops model; he buys parts, tools, repair stands, and other bike shop goods from shops going out of biz. He owns his building, a dilapidated 3 story narrow building in the middle of a city block and this is where all the stuff goes. The tools, repair stands and advise to repair are free to the public. You buy parts from him, if you want him to do the repair this is going to cost you the standard shop rate. 

I have been to his shop several times as I have 3 so called older model project bikes I have built up and bought parts there that a more modern shop would have raped me for price wise or did not have on hand and had to order from somewhere like bike parts usa. I have also taken a bare frame into his shop and came out with the correct size parts (old style headset, apparently there were 2 different sizes, unsure on that) I do not own a headset press and used the shop press to do the headset I just bought from him with a little advice on press usage.

Obviously he has alot of faithful customers as a result of his set up. Last time I was in I found NOS Duraace silver brake housing to use on my project bike with silver components. And his location, rather close to the university district of the city provides him a steady stream of customers, so of course where your customer base will come from really needs to be thought out.

There is another lady nearby where i live that does what you are contemplating. She has a small shed to the rear of her house and sells kids level bikes(BMX and mtb) and some old parts. She owned a larger shop in the bigger town nearby when the bike biz of the 70/80's was humming, downsized to what she has now when the bubble broke. She is conventional, does all the work and charges for it.


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## MR_GRUMPY (Aug 21, 2002)

Run away.......very fast.


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## fleck (Mar 25, 2005)

bkranich said:


> My area is dominated by one particular shop that charges really high hourly rates.


I think when you fully research this you'll figure out why they charge what they do. And if you don't figure it out before you open, you will soon down the road. Inventory is often very high. How many guys do you know willing to wait a week for a part? Save yourself a lot of heartache by working in a shop first. Don't forget, your "best" customers always want a discount.


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## FatTireFred (Jan 31, 2005)

pick up & delivery would set you apart


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## Rob P (Apr 29, 2007)

PM me if you want some specific advice/feedback.


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## bkranich (May 7, 2004)

Lone Gunman said:


> I have no idea how he does it but there is a guy in Pittsburgh over behind the West Penn hospital, Bloomfield I believe that has a shop. It is more like a bike salvage yard. Does a fairly brisk biz. The goof ball/ single speeder/ messenger/ college kids crowd frequents his place, but that is the few times I have been there searching for cheap parts for an old project bike.


That's Gerry Kraynick's shop. I used to be a cop in Pittsburgh, and his shop was in my patrol zone. I frequented that place quite a bit. Really good guy, and an interesting business model to say the least. And if you needed somthing vintage, look no further. He had all kinds of odd Suntour stuff in there, lots of hard-to-find stuff. 

Ultimately my idea is going small on this thing, so going through Performance or something wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. If I make $200 extra a month I'd be thrilled. I'm not doing it to make lots of money. I'd be the sole employee, so I'm not interested in high volume. There's a lot to think about with it. I'll definitely take all this advice to heart.


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## bkranich (May 7, 2004)

dfleck said:


> I think when you fully research this you'll figure out why they charge what they do. And if you don't figure it out before you open, you will soon down the road. Inventory is often very high. How many guys do you know willing to wait a week for a part? Save yourself a lot of heartache by working in a shop first. Don't forget, your "best" customers always want a discount.


I'm sure having a shop with several mechanics they have to pay and insure factors in as well. Actually most shops I've dealt with don't always have the part I'd need for a repair in stock and it would take a few days. I don't think my lack of working inventory would really hurt me all that much.


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## ARP (Mar 7, 2002)

*Is that place the most amazing collection of bike junk*



bkranich said:


> That's Gerry Kraynick's shop. I used to be a cop in Pittsburgh, and his shop was in my patrol zone. I frequented that place quite a bit. Really good guy, and an interesting business model to say the least. And if you needed somthing vintage, look no further. He had all kinds of odd Suntour stuff in there, lots of hard-to-find stuff.
> 
> Ultimately my idea is going small on this thing, so going through Performance or something wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. If I make $200 extra a month I'd be thrilled. I'm not doing it to make lots of money. I'd be the sole employee, so I'm not interested in high volume. There's a lot to think about with it. I'll definitely take all this advice to heart.


you have ever seen!!? The first time in there is overwhelming. You have to go in with a shopping list or you will just get lost looking at stuff. Have you ever been to all 3 floors? Even getting from floor 1 to floor 2 is an epic event. I have a Schwinn Voyageur 11.8 chrome frame bike and when I acquired it the stem was too short. It is a goofball stem something like 21mm, the neck is shaved down and for me to use a regular stem would mean new headset and fork or take a stem to a machine shop and shave it down. Anyway Jerry had a 110 stem that is just long enough that was an original equipment piece. I called 1/2 dozen shops looking for a stem, was told if Jerry does not have the stem, it does not exist. It is my personal gold mine for old parts, you just never know when or for how much longer a place like that will stay in business. I was in there earlier this year and it looked like the roof was caving in. Imagine the person that gets that place "willed" to them in the event of his death. Where would you start?


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