Hello STW

So I’ve just decided that life is for living, and after several years of pretty much constant 12hr days at work, I’m taking a year out from my ‘normal’ career and have handed in my notice. My last day was Friday last week.

In this year out, I’m going to:
See my friends and family more (mental health)
Ride my bike lots (physical health)
Start a business (more about that in a moment)
Read more books (learning)
Read more STW (just procrastination)
Travel to some new places
Say yes to some things I wouldn’t normally
…and a few more personal goals too.

At the end of the year I’ll either try to grow the business into something of real scale, or return to my proper career a little bit wiser!

I’ve realised there are a lot of positive things I want to do, and money isn’t everything. I’ve also always harboured an ambition to run my own business, and unless I commit to it, it’ll never happen!

So, time for a blatant promotion – about my new business, Refresh Cycles (.com)

I’m going to buy high-end secondhand bikes, strip/clean/service/rebuild, and sell on with a satisfaction guarantee.

I believe I can add value, and thus make some margin, by taking the risk out of buying second hand. You get a bike that’s guaranteed to work like new, even if its cosmetically worn and in last season’s colours/wheel size, for half the ‘new’ price. I’ve sold two so far, made some money on both, and take that as validation that there is a market for this.

I’ll be selling them on my website, on Facebook, on various other forum classifieds that allow ‘commercial’ activity, and maybe in the Real World too. Word of mouth will be crucial, so I’m doing all I can to make every bike mechanically perfect and offer really excellent service.

How will I buy the bikes? I have a few ideas I’m going to keep to myself for the moment, but I will buy from the public. I’m offering a quick, easy, safe sale rather than top dollar as I need to make margin too – I hope thats of value to some sellers.

(I am currently seeking to buy a couple of bikes – preferably full sus, less than 5 years old, and with a really good spec; think XT/XTR level – drop me an email if you like!)

I do have a hardtail in the works – a basic Whyte with mid-level build and really nice Hope wheels – that’ll be finished this week. I hope to focus more on the high end though.

Full disclosure: I did buy my first bike off this forum in Feb. After agreeing to purchase I realised I was breaking the rules – spoke with the seller and he was ok with it, but since then I’m specifically not using the STW classifieds to buy or sell for my business. I hope you’ll forgive me!

Something of a cathartic post. I welcome the STW hivemind experiences and advice on lifestyle choices, self employment and trading second hand bikes!

Bob

Good luck with the new venture Bob.

Brave move. I wish you all the success with your new venture.

Went Self-employed 2006, best thing I’ve ever done.

If you want a new business to work it’ll probly kill-off all the other things in your list – having said that… good luck 🙂

It’ll be the best decision you’ve ever made (from a work/life perspective)
Even if it doesn’t work out you will be wiser and no doubt spend a year pondering and have another go with a different or better idea

The hardest part is what you’ve just done – I’ve wanted to do something similar for a few years but never been able to pull the trigger.

Good luck and enjoy it.

Go for it, but be careful of thieves.

There is a huge market in stolen bikes in the UK.

We used to sell the odd second hang bike and were constantly hassled by thieves trying to sell clearly stolen bikes.
we managed to help get a few convictions and bikes recovered.
But so much aggro.
Also meant a lot of bike thieves and scally types hanging round.
A great option is to buy up end of season stock and sell it cheap. just a thought.

Thanks for the inspiring post. I’ve just received my redundancy notice after 20 years of daily grind. Feeling a mixture of elation and terror. Got a while yet to figure out the next step. Good luck with the plan!

Thanks for the encouragement.

Trailhound… sorry to hear that, I appreciate there’s a big difference between jumping and being pushed. Hope all goes well for you.

Sancho – thanks for the warning. I’ll be careful!!

Splitting bikes = more cash?

For high end at least.

robertgray05

Entrepreneurs are getting younger and younger

(Good luck with your new life!)

Nifty trades of gray.

Good luck Bob 🙂 .

Best of luck to you, sounds like a pretty good idea which might not make you a millionaire but might make you “enough” while spending most of your work time messing about in the workshop with bikes – nice!!

BUT

Please tell me you’ve got decent liability insurance?

Best of luck. I’m in the same boat currently 8 weeks from the end of my 6 month notice period.

Have decided life’s for living, but i’m just not sure if I can afford to live it yet… 😉

I’m currently very much thinking about a framebuilding course and some form of part time bike work a bit like you’ve described – would love to do something like superstar but the market is looking pretty saturated now.

Liability insurance… good idea!!

webuyany(push)bike.com

Good luck with it all, keep us posted with how it’s all going, could be the inspiration I need!

Cynic-Al – I had considered splitting, but I’m not convinced it is more profitable. I also then have multiple parts to sell and need a marketplace in which to do that – eBay fees make it expensive (10% plus 3.4% paypal). Not ruling it out… may just need to try one and see if it makes money!

What sort of guarantee are you going to offer?

A ‘satisfaction’ guarantee – basically I want you to be happy.

I guess that means it’s as I described when I sold it to you and mechanically/functionally it’s perfect.

If it’s not, I make it right as soon as I can or you get your money back.

If someone takes the piss I’ll make a stand, but I’m of the view that if I treat customers well, karma will look after me.

An update, a couple of months on, in case anyone is interested:

– I’ve made a reasonable margin on some bikes, and lost money on others.
– When I’ve lost money, it’s because I’ve found lots of serious problems needing sorted – knackered suspension, Reverb, whole drivetrain replacements, obscure bearings
– I don’t believe anyone has intentionally misled me – it’s just that many things aren’t obvious until they’re taken apart
– Some bikes have sold within 24h of being advertised, some have gone weeks without a sniff
– Wheel size really matters to some folks, and not at all to others – and there are glorious 26″ bikes available if you’re one of the latter
– There are lots of timewasters out there
– I have a very much expanded selection of tools 🙂

– I’m having fun
– I’ve met some really cool people
– I know a boatload more about bikes!!

I’m a little wiser/faster with every bike, tweaking the formula each time, still playing on them all!

Bob

So do you have any of the things in the main list?
Just reason it as a first post and was about to offer the good luck you will need it line. I guess if you get a Base of spares you can swap and go bad parts and customise a little (extra for a reverb etc.)

Excellent update, thanks for that 🙂

Glad it’s going OK, I remember reading this thread when you first posted it.

The one thing that came to mind then and is still relevant, is the seasonality of biking. Come October things will probably go really dead. That might make it a good time to build up some stock, but I would not bank on selling much from Nov-Feb !

Bob – sounds a great venture, you got a link to your FB page etc if allowed ?

(BOB)robertgray05

Guessing your in the UK,could do with something similar here in Eire.

We have DoneDeal a classified online add service ,but people are notoriously bad at descriptions that goes for all sales,vague is not the word.

Cheers all

FB page is Refresh Cycles

I do have a pile of bits now, but they’ve generally come off bikes because they’re either cosmetically worn or say a cassette that’s a bit worn and I wouldn’t use on a Refresh bike, but might use on my own for a few months. If anyone needs grips/cassettes/chainrings for a winter hack bike just ask 🙂

Seasonality – yeah not sure how that’ll play out!

All the best Bob. I have liked your Facebook page and notice you are near me. I will keep an eye out for updates as I’ll be looking for a new (to me) bike in the next few months.