General Cycling Discussion - Start a Co-op

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Vernon Huffman
12-12-07, 07:11 PM
I think I'd be willing to relocate to almost any city that didn't have a bike co-op and start one if I could find a machinist and a philanthropist who were excited enough about the idea to be on the Board of Directors. Know anybody who fits that description or should I just keep cycling around the country looking for them?

jgedwa
12-12-07, 08:05 PM
A machinist? I can imagine how one might be useful, but hardly seems necessary for a bike store or co-op. Do you mean a mechanic?

Good luck. I wish there were more bike co-ops in the world. I wish my town had one. I wish I helped run it.

Is a whole lot of money required to start one? Seems like in many towns it would not be too hard to rent a cheap garage off the beaten track. Tools are expensive, but I would think that the bare bones requirements for tools might only be several thousand dollars. One could wait to get a spoke threader and such.

jim
wahoonc
12-13-07, 08:56 AM
A machinist? I can imagine how one might be useful, but hardly seems necessary for a bike store or co-op. Do you mean a mechanic?

Good luck. I wish there were more bike co-ops in the world. I wish my town had one. I wish I helped run it.

Is a whole lot of money required to start one? Seems like in many towns it would not be too hard to rent a cheap garage off the beaten track. Tools are expensive, but I would think that the bare bones requirements for tools might only be several thousand dollars. One could wait to get a spoke threader and such.

jim

$500 would get you more than enough to get it started...unless you are planning on building bikes from the tubes up.

Aaron:)

geo8rge
12-13-07, 09:43 AM
philanthropists are mostly in two forms, government and your parents.

1) Find a place where real estate interests would benefit from bicycling. Get involved with local politics and see if there is a 'need' for your services. You might intern for a year at one if the bicycle tours like NYC 5 boroughs. NYC also has a number of co op type organizations that you could learn from and organize the same somewhere else.

Example from outside NYC
http://mobikefed.org/2005/11/misunderstood-issues-about-katy-bridge.php
http://www.fayettenewspapers.com/artman/publish/article_3879.shtml

2) I suspect that many philanthropists are really wealthy people flipping cash to their trust fund kids. If you do not have wealthy parents developing connections to wealthy people in your area is certainly possible. Such networking is a full time job.