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I know someone who does this.
Shut down an uneconomical bikeshop and started a mobile business working from van and home.
He does very well and is much happier than when he ran the shop.
However he mainly does higher end kit - contrary to some on the thread, there does seem to be a large number of cash rich time poor cyclists round here who want their bikes in top condition. His reputation as a bike whisperer is well know and it doesn't hurt that he's pretty handy on both the road and mtb.
He has a very active Facebook and instagram presence
He seems to have more free time when he wants it and more business than he can handle.
He has 10k worth of tools...
can be very lucrative.
I'd like to see some numbers please...
...and a bit less BS...
Holy STW member revival...!
I've been asking about Scotland winter silliness for a day or two!
Bizarre that this thread popped back up 😀
To update you:
Business name set up
Registered as a Ltd company last Friday
Business insurance sorted
Bank account and card machine sorted
2 jobs in tomorrow
Enjoying the ride so far 😀
Hope it goes well for you.
Just had a quick scan of that Cycletech web page and it basically reads like the marketing spiel for a pyramid scheme.
I'm sure it's not, but less hyperbole and more actual information would make it sound less like it was written by Scammmy McScam Face.
I do the same, albeit currently on the side as i am doing an internship elsewhere. It paid for fun stuff when at uni as well as buying my van. I have a core set of loyal customers with high end bikes but also get the occasionaly once a year BSO service. You can make more money on the shit bikes and as long as you are friendly and explain the cost of things to the customer you shouldnt have a problem. I give all of them an itemised breakdown. I wasnt able to get distributor hookup but having worked in a few shops alot of the time it isnt worth it especially for low quantities of stuff. As such i dont make money on parts aside from a 10% 'handling fee'.
can i pick your brains on a few things please?
Go for it
I did the same for four years between working for other people's bike shops and opening my own shop.
It's a relatively inexpensive way to get started, but don't expect it to be easy money doing something you think is simple.
The money is there, but you need to be *good*, be convenient (goodbye evenings, weekends, stepping away from your phone and thinking travel time was negligible) and have good kit.
You'll need good tools - don't buy cheap crappy ones, they fail when you really need them. Yes, a £50 "complete mechanics' set" with 40 parts may see you through a couple of services on your own bike, even a couple more on mates' bikes, but use it regularly on bikes in poor condition and you'll kill cheap tools - and probably your customers' components - quickly.
MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL, *you* need to be good. Not just I reckon I can do this, I've fixed my own bikes, I've watched some YouTube, I've done a course, how hard can it be, good. That will see you spend all day servicing one bike. Which is fine if it's your own bike and your own time, but while you're doing your business calculations you need to work out what that will cost you and what you need to charge for that service to make it feasible. A good servicing mechanic is knowledgeable, accurate and FAST. Most bike shops would expect a general service on a bike to take 90 minutes. Try fully servicing your own bike, which you already know, in that time to get an idea of how that feels. Then imagine doing it at least 4 times in a row, but on different bikes with different levels of problems, different "stuck" bits, internal cable routing, seized-in-place bearings, etc.
I wish you all the luck, but it was a shock to me even after a few years in the industry working for other people - there is no way you'll earn anything close to £45K for a few years if you jump now. And now is a really bad time to jump, unless you've found a geographical niche that's _really_ crying out for it.
Where are you based? I'll happily chat to you and even offer some optimism if you like!
To all those saying "just work on high-end bikes"... if you owned an £8K bike, would you entrust it to someone who had just done a CyTech course and bought a bunch of tools? And would you pay a premium price for that service?