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How to start your own small-town bicycle shop
On Apr 10, 9:11*am, Eric Vey wrote:
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Moder...-03-01/How-To-... Here-for all the folks who want to get out of a big city and start a little business in a friendly, peaceful spot-is yet another small-town self-employment suggestion: Become a bicycle dealer in the small town of your choice. My wife, Sharon, and I have run a bike shop for a year now and feel sufficiently expert to pass on a few basics (enough, we hope, to help you decide whether or not this trade will suit you as well as it suits us). [more] I read some of the article and it was great humor. "With the remaining $3,300 of your original investment you'll buy everything else you need, including $1,500-$2,000 worth of bicycles. This should get you 17 to 21 medium priced 10-speed machines which will retail for about $125 each." "Obviously, you'll need tools to put bicycles together and keep them that way but there's no need, in the beginning, to spend more than $100 on this equipment." There is one bike shop listed in the Independence, KS chamber of commerce. Different owner than the person who wrote the article. Quite a few years between this 1974 article and 2008 of course. Wonder if its even the same lineage. |
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How to start your own small-town bicycle shop
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How to start your own small-town bicycle shop
Dennis P. Harris Wrote: On Thu, 10 Apr 2008 10:11:21 -0400 in rec.bicycles.tech, Eric Vey wrote: Here-for all the folks who want to get out of a big city and start a little business in a friendly, peaceful spot-is yet another small-town self-employment suggestion: Become a bicycle dealer in the small town of your choice. and he didn't have the liability problems that bike shops now have, either. one of our local dealers went out of business because his liability insurance became so damn high and the insurance company required so much paperwork, including having customers sign waivers wben they bought new bikes or got warranty replacements. Hmm. Well perhaps it's just that we here in Canuckistan are a slightly less litigeous society than our southern neighbours, but the liability element of my shop's insurance is not very high, and they certainly don't ask for any waivers. They have suggested that I ask for signed waivers when I rent bicycles, but they have made no such demand. I can't immagine doing business in the environment you describe. Dan Burkhart www.boomerbicycle.ca -- Dan Burkhart |
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How to start your own small-town bicycle shop
| and he didn't have the liability problems that bike shops now
| have, either. one of our local dealers went out of business | because his liability insurance became so damn high and the | insurance company required so much paperwork, including having | customers sign waivers wben they bought new bikes or got warranty | replacements. | | Dear Dennis, | | Can you tell us more about these new-bike insurance waivers? | | Are they just for certain bikes? Are they a common practice? | | I believe the OP's in Alaska, which is a commercial environment unlike | any other. Must be. That's certainly not the case elsewhere. Insurance *is* quite expensive, but the paperwork isn't that onerous, and there are no requirements that we have customers sign waivers when they buy a bike. Some shops will say that insurance requires that customers wear helmets on test rides, but even that's likely not the case. We require them because it's *our* policy. Just as we explain that we don't allow customers in our repair area because it's *our* policy. Many find it easier to claim that their insurance doesn't allow it. And there could be some cases in which that's true. --Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles www.ChainReactionBicycles.com |
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How to start your own small-town bicycle shop
Mike Jacoubowsky wrote:
[...] Some shops will say that insurance requires that customers wear helmets on test rides, but even that's likely not the case. We require them because it's *our* policy. Even though all the properly performed population studies indicate that foam hats are ineffective for anything more than bump and scrape protection? Do you require gloves on test rides. Just as we explain that we don't allow customers in our repair area because it's *our* policy.[...] The last time I was talking to an LBS proprietor while he was fixing a bicycle, it led to the eventual sale of a $1K+ bicycle. -- Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia The weather is here, wish you were beautiful |
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How to start your own small-town bicycle shop
On Fri, 11 Apr 2008 09:56:46 -0700 (PDT), "
may have said: I read some of the article and it was great humor. "With the remaining $3,300 of your original investment you'll buy everything else you need, including $1,500-$2,000 worth of bicycles. This should get you 17 to 21 medium priced 10-speed machines which will retail for about $125 each." Then: mid-price roadie (probably closer to low-end, though) $125. Now: mid-price roadie *saddle and post*, $125. "Obviously, you'll need tools to put bicycles together and keep them that way but there's no need, in the beginning, to spend more than $100 on this equipment." Now, I remember what the price of good tools was like in 1972, and $100 would get you a decent set of very basic stuff, but not much in the way of what you'd have needed in order to be credible as a repair facility. As usual, Mother Earth News had somebody writing the article whose proclivities matched their own; anything that could be improvised was pretty much good enough. There is one bike shop listed in the Independence, KS chamber of commerce. Different owner than the person who wrote the article. Quite a few years between this 1974 article and 2008 of course. Wonder if its even the same lineage. Probably not. Given that the info I found seemed to indicate that the current shop had changed name fairly recently, and there was no hit that linked the article author's name with the city and subject other than the article itself, I'd say that the attitude and approach had the end result that I'd have expected. -- My email address is antispammed; pull WEEDS if replying via e-mail. Typoes are not a bug, they're a feature. Words processed in a facility that contains nuts. |
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How to start your own small-town bicycle shop
Mike Jacoubowsky wrote:
[...] Some shops will say that insurance requires that customers wear helmets on test rides, but even that's likely not the case. We require them because it's *our* policy. Tom Sherman wrote: Even though all the properly performed population studies indicate that foam hats are ineffective for anything more than bump and scrape protection? Do you require gloves on test rides. No need to go down that road, Tom. I don't want to speak for Mike, but it's probably just a CYA policy. Regardless of how and if they work, requiring helmets on test rides probably would help an LBS out in the most unfortunate case of a lawsuit related to a test ride injury. Just as we explain that we don't allow customers in our repair area because it's *our* policy.[...] The last time I was talking to an LBS proprietor while he was fixing a bicycle, it led to the eventual sale of a $1K+ bicycle. All of the shops around here have a repair area behind the counter. It is completely possible to speak to anyone at a repair stand. -- Paul M. Hobson ..:change the f to ph to reply:. |
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How to start your own small-town bicycle shop
On Apr 12, 10:30 am, "Paul M. Hobson" wrote:
Mike Jacoubowsky wrote: [...] Some shops will say that insurance requires that customers wear helmets on test rides, but even that's likely not the case. We require them because it's *our* policy. Tom Sherman wrote: Even though all the properly performed population studies indicate that foam hats are ineffective for anything more than bump and scrape protection? Do you require gloves on test rides. No need to go down that road, Tom. I don't want to speak for Mike, but it's probably just a CYA policy. Regardless of how and if they work, requiring helmets on test rides probably would help an LBS out in the most unfortunate case of a lawsuit related to a test ride injury. That's exactly why I require them of all our house guests, before I allow them to climb the porch steps. ;-) - Frank Krygowski |
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How to start your own small-town bicycle shop
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