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I didn't read it to say that, just that it is very hard to be a mechanic only shop - they also need to sell something else to be a profitable business. In Lond
by ljf 5y ago
I didn't read it to say that, just that it is very hard to be a mechanic only shop - they also need to sell something else to be a profitable business.
In London there a few mechanics/coffee shops that stayed profitable that way.
If more people cycled I'm sure you would see more 'just mechanics' but in most places they can't afford to be that.
- mikepurvis 5y agoAn acquaintance of mine tried to do the cafe/sales/repair thing [1]; he went more high end on all three, selling fancy drinks, pricey Dutch cargo bikes, etc. It didn't work out. I think they lasted ~3 years, though it was clear by the end that the writing was on the wall. [1]: https://twitter.com/berlinbikecafe https://twitter.com/berlinbikecafe
- southerntofu 5y ago> he went more high end on all three Maybe that was the problem there?
- JCharante 5y agoYeah high-end cafe seems like a tough sell. A cheap cafe to go to during group rides sounds great for having people learn about your high end service shop.
- mikepurvis 5y agoI feel like high end bike service in general is a tough sell unless you have a huge local club-ride community of people whose time is extremely valuable. I know someone who operated a Velofix van for a few years, and I used it a few times, but the minimum cost was basically $100+. For that much coin, I would just walk my bike home or take it on the bus. Particularly if it was something like a flat tire where I know I can fix it myself at home for a few dollars.
- mikepurvis 5y agoPossibly, but it was also not a large storefront, and it's been replaced by a boutique donut shop. It's down the street from a creperie, a wine bar, and some other bistro thing. There used to be a health food store on this block. Basically just saying that some combination of floor space, rent and other fixed costs, etc etc led to pursuing a higher-end business model and it didn't work out. There may be lots of reasons for that, but one of the principles here is that you need to be able to bike to your bike store— it's not fulfilling its purpose if it's in a power center plaza that you need to drive to.
- jamincan 5y agoI'm not exactly sure why Berlin Bike Cafe didn't really work out in the end. I do think KW is very well served by existing bike shops, and while Graham focused on a market segment that isn't well-represented by incumbents, it meant that he needed time for it to grow as well. London Bike Cafe seems to be chugging along quite nicely on a similar model, so it doesn't seem like it was an entirely hopeless endeavour on the face of it.
- snovv_crash 5y agoBerlin is the wrong place for that. Even in tech salaries are often in the EUR45k range gross, and with mandatory medical insurance at EUR400/m, rent at probably EUR800/m and still taxes it doesn't leave much for expensive bicycles. Cheap bicycles plus good mid-priced service is where it's at. Of course, that's hard, dirty, skilled work.
- mikepurvis 5y agoNote that this is Berlin as in the pre-WWII name of Kitchener, Canada, not the Berlin in Germany.
- snovv_crash 5y agoAh, I saw a similar setup in Berlin, Germany at a location which has now been replaced by Rose Bikes, and the cafe seems to be gone.
- jandrese 5y agoBikes are pretty low maintenance, the repairs are usually fairly simple, and the parts are cheap. It's hard to make margins on a low price low volume service. If a bike is really damaged it usually makes more sense to just replace it wholesale. If e-bikes take off they could help. There are a lot more moving parts to break and especially electrical issues to track down. Electrical issues are real moneymakers in diagnostic fees on cars.
- Matthias247 5y agoI think you might underestimate the higher end bike market. Parts are often higher priced than what lots of people pay for complete bikes (e.g. a set of disc brakes 400$, a MTB fork 1000$, a groupset 1000$, a wheelset 800$, a dropper post 300$, etc). And the associated repairs like a brake bleed, a shock service or a wheel rebuild might take time and will have a high cost too. You don't have to look into ebikes. On Mountainbikes that are used as intended parts break often enough to keep mechanics busy. Ebikes might however indeed bring the higher priced bikes to a higher amount of people.
- jandrese 5y agoHigh end bikes are a tiny sliver of an already small market.
- aix1 5y agoAnd also, while a groupset might indeed cost $1000, what sort of circumstances might require one to replace the entire groupset? (We're talking repairs rather than upgrades.)
- snovv_crash 5y agoRiding 50k km on dust/gravel roads, and the frame and wheels will still be good but chain and groupset will be significantly worn.
- 5y ago