Presuming there are any left…
Doing a bit of research here, what would you want from a local bike shop?
Am in a position where I can see me actually having a shop in the near-ish future, rather than just talking about it, so, open forum. Likes, dislikes?
Will be able to offer mtb gear, but not stocking it, at least to start with, danger of spreading myself too thin.
Will be in the South West btw.

A decent ramp in the back of the shop, it will bring in punters, riders, help with promotion. Look at the empire shop, probably the only shop to have videos of tom dugan, chase hawk, etc riding their ramp… a sofa with a tv and dvds, plus a kettle and cold drinks to buy? I have been to 3 bmx shops really so ill give my opinions on them all.

rad bmx – A decent shop, the owner is very friendly, and i buy most stuff from there. Plus points are he is very good with prices, will instal compnents etc for you if he has time, and is just a nice guy. He has a good team as well. Minus, not the best stock levels so not a huge ammount of choice ( enough though). It kinda doesnt feel like a ‘riders shop’.

Custom riders – Only really two impressions- A HUGE ammount of stock, but the staff were a bit unfriendly.

Volt BMX – AGood shop, a shop run by bmxers for bmxers. Not got loads of stock either, but there’s allways people just hanging out having a good time. I think i’ll use them more in the future

btw swift, do you ride the motion park in bristol at all?
I’m thinkng of going there soon but was wondrering how busy it gets at the weekend?

No havent been. Bit further west than that, north west devon to be precise.

My plan to start obviously cant have the biggest stock levels, but thats what ill be building towards.

Plan to have a riders shop, pure and simple. Not needing to make a living from it, so can afford to be very competitive with pricing (starting now in fact, try me, you might be pleasantly surprised.

Will be in a small town, so its whether to have a high street shop, with all the benefits of that, or just out of town (3-4 miles) on a trading estate, that will get me enough space for ramps etc, but wouldnt really attract the “passing trade”.
Really looking to start building the business, bespoke orders, and see where it goes, and tailor my approach to the scene there. Have to see how it picks up with the new park too.

what new park? where are you based exactly?

I’d say go out of town with the ramps, people will come to ride. whereas your average joe isnt going to walk past and buy a 60 pound pair of handlebars or a a 100 pound pair of cranks….

my

In 5 weeks I’ll be based in ilfracombe, and the £156000 new park will open a few weeks after.

I ride track bmx, so I’d be more interested in armour and full face helmets, proper sized chainrings, lightweight bling components, carbon forks, etc. etc.

i use grind bmx or custom riders. http://www.grindbmx.co.uk/

Realman, i know theres a big race scene down there, which is something i’m going to try cater for too.

I only really buy bike parts if something breaks or wears out which never really happens on my BMXs. dunno how BMX shops make money! there are pretty much none left in Scotland.

Lol well I work/associate in one now, and it’s scary how much stuff normal riders break.
Like I said, not in it to make money, more to grow the scene, and fund my hobby, and see where it goes.

GHP (yep,greg hill!) race frames etc will be distributed out of scotland, gw.how cool is that!

Ive worked in a few shops that tried to do a bit of bmx over the years but i think you have to be bmx and bmx only for it to do well. If theres a race scene nearby and you are the closest shop.. then this will help a lot.