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Also, this may sound cynical, but tag the tools and have the theft pillar things by the door- otherwise you'll have no tools in a week.
Some-one will check the workspace after each session. You sign-in, you sign out. All the tools will be on a shadow-board so anything missing will be obvious. People will have to put everything back when they're done so its ready for the next person.
As for tools getting broken, we'll be around to make sure people are using things correctly if they aren't sure... like tapping the thread in a bb the wrong way!
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Those are all good checks to have in place- I guess I'm just imaging something a bit more chaotic!
If you limit it to one person per stand then you would have a lot of control over it, I was imagining a load of people milling around doing stuff.
You idea is better than mine on that one.
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Four identical workbenches and stands, lots of space, no tripping over each other! You should see the state of the workshop where I am currently... jeebus.
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ask the council for premises on a rent free basis.
on the basis that it is an organisation that benefits the community.
if you never ask you never get ;-)
Wishful thinking.... although free rent would be lovely.
On a different note, having looked at many different locations its clear that the highstreet (any highstreet) locations are generaly up to twice as expensive for half the space, as for example a nice space in the backstreets of camden.
Obviously being hidden away means you lose most passing trade, this concerns me to an extent however i feel that with sufficient advertising/marketing it could become a destination. In other words as long as the word is spread and the reputation is good people will come...Thoughts? or does this need to be prime location for people to visit.
Here's to another sunny day!
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On the high street at the moment you can get excellent deals on property. You should be able to negotiate 6 months rent free without difficulty (as long as your business model works with the future rent). Landlords are desperate to fill sites.
Bear in mind that word of mouth can be quite a slow process (even in these twitter days), but the alternative can be expensive so you need to balance the two.
I think it sounds viable - I particularly like the idea of accepting web deliveries and then being able to fit them straight away. If you do this, you should charge a nominal fee (£1 or something). You should also approach CRC / Wiggle etc to see if they will help suport that - having a cantral delivery location for multiple packages might help their delivery costs, may be able to negotiate a discount etc.
Good Luck!
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On the high street at the moment you can get excellent deals on property. You should be able to negotiate 6 months rent free without difficulty (as long as your business model works with the future rent). Landlords are desperate to fill sites.
Bear in mind that word of mouth can be quite a slow process (even in these twitter days), but the alternative can be expensive so you need to balance the two.
I think it sounds viable - I particularly like the idea of accepting web deliveries and then being able to fit them straight away. If you do this, you should charge a nominal fee (£1 or something). You should also approach CRC / Wiggle etc to see if they will help suport that - having a cantral delivery location for multiple packages might help their delivery costs, may be able to negotiate a discount etc.
Good Luck!
Cheers villa-ru,
The problem i am finding with the highstreet is the cost of any decent sized space, while if you look at workshop spaces, railway arches, and industrial units you can find 1000+ sq ft for a very resonable price. The majority of london bikeshops have small workshops which would not have the space for a group of people to work on their bikes at once without knocking into eachother. -
Getting Wiggle or CRC to deliver their products to your 'store' is fucking daft and makes no business sense. Just become a dealer and Madison, i'-ride, chicken etc deliver in 2 days anyway. Then you get the margin even if you match the online price.
There are also some significant issues with lost and incorrect deliveries.
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If people are just getting their stuff delivered to you then it is not your problem, you are just acting as a letter box.
No warranty issues, no returns, no liability basically.
No margin, but that's low margin anyway =mugs game.
You want high margin, like mechanics labour at £10 to fit an inner tube in 130 seconds.
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If people are just getting their stuff delivered to you then it is not your problem, you are just acting as a letter box.
No warranty issues, no returns, no liability basically.
If you provide a service and charge a 'nominal' fee for it you are governed by the same trading laws as everyone else.
No margin, but that's low margin anyway =mugs game.
Contribution is contribution
You want high margin, like mechanics labour at £10 to fit an inner tube in 130 seconds.
The whole point of this place is that you don't charge someone £10 to fit an inner tube. Evans Cycles>>>>>
There is some dubious business acumen on display in this thread.
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I'd charge nothing for the post thing, no liability is worth not making a tiny amount of money.
Unless you can move massive volume then selling anything at less than 45% GP is for retards. Avoid.
And finally - some people are going to want the mechanic to do the work, so for them charge a fair market rate, in this case 25% below Evans.
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The idea of accepting mail is something that i see no harm in, as long as they are a paying member. There are certain items we will never stock so if someone wants them delivered then i really would not object. After all i think many people will be happy to buy parts from us if we are offering the ability for them to be fitted at no extra charge.
For example a un54 bb retails at £27.99 and an evans or cyclesurgery will charge £30 to fit it. So even if you price match and get the bb for £15, you still either need the bb whrench and bb reamer to chase the threads or you have to pay massive labour charge.
As a member of the workshop you could pop in buy the bb and fit it with the right tools, with someone checking you are doing it correctly. -
good idea...
when i lived in Vancouver this place was just down the road;
http://www.pedalpower.org/?q=our_community_bikes
very handy place...
i think it was self funding via rental charges and 2nd hand bike sales....maybe worth dropping them a line?....run as an non-profit co-op, also trained folk with learning disabilities so maybe thats an avenue/alternative funding stream yould wish to explore?good idea though, i like it....
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That place looks very nice^
Bike sales could be incoporated, for example you could have a bike building weekend, a customer would choose a frame and componants and have the bike built the same day under the supervision of mechanics. That way they have a new bike chosen and built by themselves.
Also with wheelbuilding evenings, if we provide hubs, rims and spokes then we are looking at £150-£200 or so per person, so if for example 4 people come to build wheels one evening we could be looking at anything from £600+ depending on the rims and hubs.
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^ it was nice....established, friendly and efficient......patronised by all sorts, not just activist types....
my 2p's worth....if it was me setting it up, i would definitely be going down the Co-op route....as Our Community Bikes proves, a not for profit (syndicalist) Co-op can be a reality....
BUT...it needs to be sharp/hip/cool......too many co-ops/community groups are populated by soap dodging vegan professional activist trustafarian wankers in my book (!)......no reason why a socially progressive endeavour cant be well lit/clean/modern aesthetic and OUTSIDE of the fucking activist ghetto!
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I'd be prepared to pay monthly/yearly fee, but not if I have to book my slot, as then I will probably never use the place.
You would only book a slot if you wanted to have a slot gauranteed at a particular time, otherwise you could pop in and hope that a stand was free.
Half of the stands could booked and half would be available at a first come first served basis. -
sounds like a great idea, i'd pay either fee... maybe like £30-50 a year would be pretty reasonable, especially if there were classes and such like...
Would there have to be some kind of booking, otherwise it could get pretty chocka around rush hour/weekends...You'd need to charge that per month, not per year.
Rents in central are not going to be cheap.
That said I think this is a brilliant concept- something I have given over a lot of thought to in my quieter moments.
I had come to the conclusion that you'd need more revenue streams to support it- I envisaged a cafe combined with a community style workshop, that also took in repairs.
As Dammit says, for the business to be viable when paying london rent and rates, depending on the number of members, the monthly fee would have to be high.
For example 100 members paying £360 a year, would mean £36,000 a year, which would cover rent, business rates, bills, and the money needed to kit out the workshop so that it stands out as one of the most impressive workshops.£360 is a large amount to pay a year, however considering a full service is costing as much as £130 in many bike shops, and that many of us have more then one bicycle. I still think that one years access to the workshop and advice of staff and mechanics for £360 is not bad.
Would people find the cost completly prohibetive?At the same time depending on the number of members who sign up, the membership costs could possibly come down quite a bit.
for eg: 200 members paying £240 a year = £48,000.
Dammit
Well_is_it
somebody
JD
villa-ru
deleted
Mocker
EEI-
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About
A Workshop for all of you! Your feedback please
Posted by
@Re-cycled
That's your USP, right there.
By all means sell chains, tubes, tyres, spokes and so on- stuff people need right away.
But keep your stock focused on service items.