Bicycle Mechanics - Starting my own LBS... am I crazy?

A few months ago, a good friend of mine presented me with an opportunity to co-own/invest/manage a bike shop with him. It seams now that I jumped at the chance of doing things my way and in a way, fix the flaws of the other est. LBSs here. perhaps a decision with out a huge amount of consideration. oh well. But here I am ready to open in some time next month. With the ridiculously cheap overhead and a perfect outlet for my 43 used bikes for a start, it seams like a done deal, at least for the first few months. Being a college town we'll be catering to fixies, motorized bikes, bmx, and cheap affordable hardtails for everyone. So other than the legal stuff which we've got covered, what tips/tricks/pitfalls can yall tell me about owning an LBS. Oh and yes Ive had much experience working/managing in a shop. Also what bike brands are good to do business with? Im looking at GT, fuji, and kona specifically. Any advice is welcome.

I hope you have something to present to people who are a little more serious about riding than just casuals. With brands like Fuji and GT, you'll be competing with the likes of Performance, and they WILL be undercutting you; not intentionally, but just because they can afford to price their bikes that way.

Offer the customer something that Performance can't, such as a much closer relationship with your customer, etc etc. Get creative.

I think IareConfusE said it well.

People like Performances pricing. Their service ... not so much.

I think much of that is their desire to pay lower wages, stimulating fairly high turnover. If there's any way that you can truly get people with passion, interest, and product knowledge up front, and people who truly know and love working on bikes in the back ... you'll have a way to differentiate yourself from them.

But ... taking on the 10-ton gorilla on their terms ... is a pretty steep uphill battle.

let me give you an idea of what Im up against.
There are 3 bike shops I am competing with
LBS 1)excellent location next to campus, really small, poor selection of low end Treks mostly, little to none selection of accessories, horrible customer service and ridiculous labor charges, I know more about Trek than they do.
LBS 2)good location near campus, a tad bigger than #1, carries giant and specialized mostly, excellent knowledge and skill, fair prices, poor selection of bikes and prices suitable for college students. If your not there to drop $1000 go away. Also full of pot smokers, no joke, sometime score some good deals that way:lol: They have the colleges cycling team and any one at that level in their pocket.
LBS 3)hidden location, most people have never heard of them, huge store. carries wide range of Jamis for all levels of rider and level, fair prices, owner has good experience but has health problem and is senile, no experienced workers (I'm leaving and taking ppl with me :) ) excellent selection of accessories, gets alot of customers from #2 cause of pot smokers.

All the shops are independently owned and operated.

Ridiculously cheap overhead and 43 used bikes sounds like a great start to me! "Cheap, affordable used bikes for everyone" with good friendly mechanical service for bikes people already own sounds like the kind of shop I'd like to have in my neighborhood.

I've heard Jamis is good to their stores, their president took the staff of one of my LBS's out drinking. If that doesn't build loyalty, what will?

One independent LBS near me is a Felt dealer and is very high on them. They have a high-line name due to their representation in the Pro ranks so would be a good upper quality line for the serious rider.

BTW, have LOTS of liability insurance if you are selling used bikes.

Word of advice . . . probably would have nothing to do with you.

Don't flood CraigsList with a bunch of used bikes (no matter how good the condition), day after day, and list them as if they are individuals selling them and not a company.

We have a bike shop in Chicago, which sells (as far as I can tell) only used (and mostly crappy) bikes, probably post upwards of 10 ads a day on the Chicago CL. If anyone is in Chicago and has visited the Chicago CL lately they will know what "store" I'm talking about.

Constantly get flagged, repost, etc. People have even RE:Flamed them over and over. It really makes them look crappy and a**holish.

As a layperson, I wouldn't recommend selling used bikes along with new bikes. You will either be a "used" store with some new bikes, or a "new" store with some cruddy bikes. You are talking about catering to two potentially different clientele, I'm sure it could work, but most likely not well. Think about it, someone comes in looking to drop a thousand+ bucks on a roadie, and they see some old vintage bikes for sale, and think, "wow this is kinda low-end", and go elsewhere. Conversely, a college kid might come in looking for a cheap and reliable vintage bike, and see a bunch of new roadies, and think, "wow this is out of my price range", and go elsewhere.

Even if you had really nice vintage bikes, unless you are catering to C&V type riders, the general bike riding public will just see them as old, cruddy bikes.

My recommendation, flip your 43 bikes personally though CL, and invest that money in the store. Keep the vintage/new completely separate.

Dont forget to stock lots of accessories. Your profit margin can be at at its highest on those.

One thought on how you can differentiate your shop.

Go out of your way to cater to women. Few shops make any attempt to do this. Have a ladies night once or twice a month where you have some knowledgeable women riders in to talk to women customers. Have wine, cheese, and chocolate. I'm serious. I've seen ski shops do this with good success.

Get the word out in creative ways. Promotional activities at local women's fitness centers maybe?

Why cater to women? 1, nobody else specifically is. 2, they can influence the buying decisions for an entire family. 3, They don't try to BS you and act like they know a lot about bikes (like a guy will), 4, I would guess most are more likely to bring their bikes in for service than a guy would be (maybe sexist, but I think more guys like to work on their bikes than ladies).

Just a thought off the top of my head. Good luck.

One more comment that might provide some food for thought. I just bought a bike for my 11 year old daughter. I had gone to two LBS, had her on a Trek 6000, a Rockhopper, and a Hardrock. Was leaning really toward the RH (Comp Disc), but at $750 that just seemed too much of a stretch for how she will currently be using the bike. The Hardrock (Sport Disc) was around $540 I think.

I had looked at BD, and while there seemed to be some good values there -- their cheesy marketing and amateurish webpage just made me uncomfortable. Sort of like -- if they can't put an effort into a better storefront (webpage), then maybe some of the horror stories are true. Even though I've read WAY more positives about BD -- and not just here on BF either.

So finally I got around to finding IBEX. Their summer sale put their Alpine 550 at $500. Super spec. Not as cheesy in the marketing dept as BD. My email questions were answered within an hour or two by the company owner. IBEX bikes seem to get generally good reviews. So I ordered. It arrived yesterday and I put it together last night. For $500, I got a bike that is spec'd in most ways as well or in a couple cases better than the RH that was $250 more. Neither LBS would deal at all on price...so I guess they must be thriving even in the bad economy.

My point is, I think you will see the BD and IBEX model more and more. Think about how to replicate that on a local scale, then a regional scale. Offer tremendous value with one or two frames built out in a couple variations, and build volume. Maybe it's not the way to go...but it will be a growing force for you to compete against.

If anyone is in Chicago and has visited the Chicago CL lately they will know what "store" I'm talking about.

I do SS conversions on Chicago CL (I'm embarrassed to admit) and am familiar with the controversy.

Chicago's CL bicycles section is kind of sleazy, in my opinion. Most of the area's big CL bike traders that I've met have been pretty shady and unethical. It is sad because all of my customers have been wonderful.

(Sorry for the OT)

my lbs owner works 7 days a week and has a hard time getting experienced help. shop is closed on mon., but he is always there wrenching.

Maybe a bit weird, ..but I always figured I would locate the work stands and mechanic stations prominently in front. In my experience bikers either already have "wrench" tendencies, or they are fascinated by those who can wrench. I think repair stands up front would increase traffic and increase browse time. The longer you keep them in the store, the more likely they'll buy something.

I second the catering to women, as a former car repair owner I can state without a doubt women in the 18-40ish age group are by far the best customers, followed by men in their 50's+ (by then they are not trying to impress with their macho knowledge). May not translate to bikes, but I would wager it does.

Maybe a bit weird, ..but I always figured I would locate the work stands and mechanic stations prominently in front. In my experience bikers either already have "wrench" tendencies, or they are fascinated by those who can wrench. I think repair stands up front would increase traffic and increase browse time. The longer you keep them in the store, the more likely they'll buy something.

I agree, but being a mechanic at my store, It is a really awkward feeling to have people watching you. It makes me happy that our workshop is at the back. People CAN watch, but they aren't subject to do so when they enter the store.

open a co-op across the street. All the kids go there to work on their bikes and come to you buy all their stuff

of course easier said than done, but if the opportunity ever opens up...

Trying to make money selling new bikes is pretty tough. There is lots of competition and there is never any end to discounting. I would not worry about new bikes until your service business is really hopping. You need to build a rapport with a customer and show that you are willing to build , modify, or repair a bike to suit them. You want to get in tight with touring and serious recreational cyclists, like the types who are traveling some distance for rides, doing centuries, or commuting 10 miles every day. Mom and dad bringing in kid's bikes is also good business, though not terribly glamorous. AVOID RACERS! Most racers aren't willing to pay. If you deal with racers, make sure that they understand you write a service order for all labor. Their bike doesn't get touched until the prices are discussed, agreed, and signed. The art of doing bicycle service is to avoid wasting too much time answering questions from people. My solution to this problem was to always let people know that they should bring the bike in and drop it off. Then I could contact them later to chat. For some reason they spend a lot less time talking when they are on the phone and they are more decisive about committing to repairs and upgrades than they are in the shop. They also get your uninterrupted time and they feel heard. Good for everybody involved. They look at your shop as a place to bring their bike for service, and not just a place to chat. There is a lot of stuff being done to bikes that aren't well represented in the modern bike market, like city bikes, randonneur bikes, mountain touring bikes, and shopping bikes. These bikes can all be built using used bikes as a base, and I think this will be a growing market that doesn't require much capital to get started in. With the economy and the costs of operating a car, people are starting to NEED bikes, and making useful bikes from quality used bikes is starting to be a trend. In Portland and Berkely they can even support multi thousand dollar utility bikes in the university areas. How they protect them, I have no idea. You might also want to look into electric bikes because that may be a new trend starting to develop.

What about doing something like a free safety check-up for students at the college, perhaps once per month? Is there anyway that you can link up with any clubs or groups at the college? Building on the idea of marketing to women, if the school has any women's groups, offer something special for them. You haven't mentioned where the shop will be located? If it is near a coffee shop maybe you can work out some sort of joint promotion? Finally, what about offering paid classes on how to do some of the simple repairs/tune-up steps?

Sell new bikes and old bikes. Make sure you take old bikes as trade ins, and/or sell on consignment.

That said, there may be a reason the shops in your area don't have high end stock, nor a lot of it. College towns are not known for being flush with cash and the expectations of something for nothing run high.

If you want to make million bucks in the bike business, start with two million bucks.

Maybe a bit weird, ..but I always figured I would locate the work stands and mechanic stations prominently in front. In my experience bikers either already have "wrench" tendencies, or they are fascinated by those who can wrench. I think repair stands up front would increase traffic and increase browse time...
One of my favorite bike shops had the mechanic area up front next to the sales floor. It was separated from the show floor by a 3 foot tall half wall. The owner was usually wrenching in the mechanic area and casually chatting with customers as they came through. The half wall provided a certain amount of separation. Customers didn't walk through the shop area unless they were invited in.

Another great thing about that particular bike shop was that whenever you brought in a bike for service, the owner would say something complimentary or interesting about the bike. (Such as "This is such a nice blue Univega from the 70s, very classic, take care of it and it'll be a good bike for many more years." Never anything like "This is a real piece of **** that's not worth my time to mess with, why don't you just buy a new bike".) The odd thing is that this shop catered to the high end road crowd as far as new sales, but I always saw lots of classic & vintage bikes going in and out for service.

Unfortunately, Performance Bike plopped in a new store right next to them. They moved to a new location with lower overhead. I'm predicting many of their customers will follow them because the customer experience at Performance is just so unsatisfying compared with this other little shop.

One thought on how you can differentiate your shop.

Go out of your way to cater to women. Few shops make any attempt to do this. Have a ladies night once or twice a month where you have some knowledgeable women riders in to talk to women customers. Have wine, cheese, and chocolate. I'm serious. I've seen ski shops do this with good success.

Get the word out in creative ways. Promotional activities at local women's fitness centers maybe?

Why cater to women? 1, nobody else specifically is. 2, they can influence the buying decisions for an entire family. 3, They don't try to BS you and act like they know a lot about bikes (like a guy will), 4, I would guess most are more likely to bring their bikes in for service than a guy would be (maybe sexist, but I think more guys like to work on their bikes than ladies).

Just a thought off the top of my head. Good luck.

There might be something to this. A local auto shop started up some time ago catering specifically toward women drivers, and the place has taken off! Since most shops don't, this place has cornered that market. If it works for cars, why not bikes???

Maybe your best bet would be to buy out LBS #3.

Acknowledge that online outlets exist and are a legitimate source for bike stuff.
Then, offer customers whatever it is that you can't get online.

My $0.02 as a total layman and official gomer who wanders into bike shops with a dazed look on my face now and again:

Its pretty intangible, but there's a lot to be said for making a non-expert comfortable in your type of place. In some of the LBS' I've to in my town, I've felt like they weren't quite sure what to do with you if you didn't walk in with an 85% complete idea of what you want. I know very serious riders who love those same places, but I came to like a little smaller shop where I can walk in the guys working there seem to get a better feeling for what I know and what level they can talk at. If I ever had a reason to buy a new bike, I'd head there in a second.

Otherwise, mixing new and used bikes doesn't seem like a bad idea to me, at least that wouldn't turn me out of the store. I would display them clearly separately and equally prominently, though, just to avoid having people think you only have one or the other. My favorite LBS also has the mechanics area right up front when you come in the door, separated by a half-wall. Nice touch, although it wouldn't make or break where I shop.

+1 on taking care of the image you project, though. Make sure you have a nice, clean looking website and ads and a well-lit, easily recognizable store. My LBS lacks a little in that area...a little too dark inside, and the outside makes you wonder about what could be good inside. That kept me from going there until I was desperately searching for a part.

I hope you're doing due dilligence regarding proper business planning, financing the shop, etc. You can find more information here (http://nbda.com/page.cfm?pageID=70).


Maybe a bit weird, ..but I always figured I would locate the work stands and mechanic stations prominently in front. In my experience bikers either already have "wrench" tendencies, or they are fascinated by those who can wrench. I think repair stands up front would increase traffic and increase browse time. The longer you keep them in the store, the more likely they'll buy something.

My LBS does something like that. Not right up front, but toward the back of the shop, their work area is open to plain view. It has a snack bar along one wall that you can sit at and buy snacks (on the honor system) and chat with the mechanics as they work on your bike. Behind the bar is also a seating area with 4 overstuffed comfy chairs and a coffee maker. They also supply free cold bottled water on hot days. They've said they want their shop to be a place where a person can just go and hang out, and several of us do just that.

The other thing they are is... approachable. I've been in bike shops where I feel intimidated to not even ask questions because I know I can't really afford too much in the shop. My LBS has a lot of affordable offerings that put value over having the hottest brand names. They carry several brands, the highest end of which is Marin (which are still quite affordable). Even if you are not actively buying a bike, they will explain things to you about how bikes work, why some bikes are better than others, etc. They know that in some cases people do their research with them before buying at another shop, but they still feel like they do okay with their policy.

The other thing they carry, and probably more than any other store within a couple hundred miles, is recumbent bikes. The have probably a dozen or more in various configurations on display and they are pretty laid back regarding test rides.

They are doing okay even in the poor economy, and even after moving into a store 4x larger than their old one early this year.

Excellent post, Doohickie.

Just wanted to chime in with one more idea for you to think about.

As a dad with two daughters about 18 months apart, I've been fortunate enough to space out their bike needs well enough that I could get a few years out of each bike. My oldest daughter, who I just bought an IBEX for, is on her 5th bike and she's only 11. Granted, the first was a $12 Toy-R-Us clearance (12" wheels). The second was a hand-down from a neighbor (16" wheel), the third new from a LBS (20" wheel), the fourth new from an auction house that was liquidating a bike shop (24" wheel), and then her current IBEX Alpine 550 (26" wheel, 16" frame).

Notice that my LBS only captured one out of five of those bike sales. Think about that, and how to capture more of that sequence -- because a LOT of parents are in this same situation, and most never even make it to the LBS -- because they think it's too expensive. AND, many of those parents decide to get bikes as their kids get more interested in riding. Multi-bike discounts, a trade-in or trade-up program, Parent/Child combo packages -- get creative, and get the word out.

There are SO many things a LBS could do to increase their customer base. Many of these things come back to addressing perceived affordability/value. Lowering the intimidation factor is another that was mentioned earlier too.

from someone who has never worked in a bike shop, but has about 40 yrs' experience of visiting them (often, lustfully for something with two wheels that's for sale...):

*Don't be too hip or cool or clique-y; bike snobbery is a big turn off...even to bike snobs, I think...

*get a wide variety of accessories to stock..stuff the local folks need...maybe racks, lights, bells, grips/tape, etc....someone else can fill me in here about whether you could expect the volume & markup to help keep the lights on with this stuff, but if you have it priced on par with Ebay, you should sell it...

*speaking of Ebay...seems like a real question to ask is, can I compete with online stuff? In a sense, am I competing with LBS 1-3 or LBS 1-3 + the Internet? If it's the latter, can you make pricing & service more attractive? Can you do things like offer tuning/setup for BD bike purchases? (I know, I know, blasphemous talk, but think about it....)

*(personal prejudice here) - a WWW site with either all your information, maybe even listings of your used bikes or parts OR one with only simple information...just not partial info & not chronically out-of-date

*support/sponsor/organize local biking events - be active

*offer free stuff to all the folks who offered helpful advice here on this thread

I totally agree with the "comfort" idea.

When I started riding in earnest, I checked out the LBS's available in my area. One in particular had some killer stuff, beautiful high-end bikes, well-stocked with cool accessories and such. But the attitude there was so stilted and elitist that it was uncomfortable. The owner had this semi-sneer on his face when I was asking him some noob questions. Ugh!

I went to another place; They had the selection the first guy had, plus some more 'family' oriented bikes and stuff. They also had a big repair shop out back. Everyone there was nice and polite and suffered my newbie questions with patience and grace. Guess which shop I go to regularly? I even bought a Big Dummy from one of the guys, it was his personal build.

I guess what I am trying to say is that while it is nice to have the elite racer-boys dropping by, don't forget about the customer who is either new, returning to cycling after a long time, or in there buying something for their kids. With the proper attitude, you will make them trust you and feel comfortable in your shop. You can't put a price on that!

It would probably be good to sell a variety of food (energy bars, maybe even bananas), and drinks. Also, if you have enough floor space, you could have spinning classes (where people bring their own bikes and put them in trainers) -- that could give you a small source of revenue in the off season.

It would probably be good to sell a variety of food (energy bars, maybe even bananas), and drinks. Also, if you have enough floor space, you could have spinning classes (where people bring their own bikes and put them in trainers) -- that could give you a small source of revenue in the off season.

Or even better than trainers, rollers, surrounded with spikes.

Go out of your way to cater to women.

Yes! Hire women, too. Everyone likes women. And if they don't, I'm sure you'll have dudes around, too.

There's a place near here that sells mostly used bikes and stocks new ones, as well. They sell used parts and offer advice. The place isn't terribly well organized, but everyone around here who knows about bikes goes there. They've gotten better about that, too: low pressure sales where workers respond to questions with a smile and answers that take into account the level of understanding of the customer.

Things are under-labeled, which means you have to ask about pricing on a lot of things, which is dumb. So don't do that.


Acknowledge that online outlets exist and are a legitimate source for bike stuff.
Then, offer customers whatever it is that you can't get online.

Yeah. Like it or not, these are your competitors. On the other hand, use Ebay and Craigslist to your advantage. I hear a lot of shop owners complaining about Ebay when they could be using it to support their business as well as any other strategy.

Where are you? Your profile is wholly and deliberately unenlightening.

In the UK theres one shop in particular known by bike enthusiasts all over for using a bike fitting machine to find out the best frame size and then from his knowledge of frame geometry make suggestions from that. Also apparently he helps sort out back problems with this method.. Don't know if theres something in that, but back problems are something lots of cyclists seem to worry about..

Be community friendly!

There is a shop in Pittsburgh ( Kraynick's) where anyone who wants to can stop and wrench for themselves for free in the back with a whole set of repair stands and tools. I use this all the time and I almost always end up buying 20-50 dollars worth of parts from him while I'm fixing my bike up I'll always go to that store for anything I need because they have been so generous to me. This shop is legendary in Pittsburgh because of this and does good business because it is so well respected.

You should have a section for coffee. Being college town and all, you will get students coming in to get their bikes fix and wait at the cafe section. They can start to twitter their friends about how good a bike guy you are. How does that saying goes.... crowds attract crowds. ;)

Choose your employees wisely; Invest in them (and I don't necessarily mean money); and teach them good customer service skills. You will reap rich rewards...

Choosing employees: I would look for attitude over experience. You can teach skills, but a positive, caring, responsible attitude is very hard to come by. Advertise and interview for these qualities and consider them strongly. You need to be that type of person yourself, though, or you won't easily recognize them in others...

Invest in your workers: You don't have to pay more than market value to make this happen, but you DO need show them they are a valued part of the bike shop team. Give them small perks and privileges; Include them in meetings and solicit their input; Outfit them in company attire (could just be t-shirts); send them to appropriate trainings or seminars... In short, let them know that you value them. They're far more likely to work hard for you and put your interests above their own in a thousand small ways..

Customer Service: This is a lost art, but with some diligence and focus you could truly set your shop apart from the herd. Here are some simple, concrete things that will go a long way to doing that:

Answering the phone properly -- TEACH them to answer the phone "Morton's Bike Shop, may I help you?" You'd be surprised how many places don't identify themselves when you call. They should also use a positive, upbeat voice - as though they are actually eager to help.

Always get an answer to the customer's question: If they don't know, they need to be trained to make it their personal mission to find out: i.e. "I'm sorry, sir. I don't know what size you need. Let me go ask Mike right now. It will take me just a minute. Is that all right?"

Hire personable people and make them technical people -- Usually shops do this backwards. Your staff needs to be likable and customer-oriented. That's the hard part. Start with employees who walk in the door with those characteristics THEN train, train, train them to be informed and knowledgeable.

If you do these things, have a halfway-solid business plan, and enough starting capital to lose money for the first year of business and still keep the doors open, then you have a 95% chance of succeeding. Remember every business starts out believing they'll succeed, but two-thirds fail within three years. It is harder than it looks.

The world needs more good bike shops. I hope that yours is one of them - and that it thrives beyond your wildest imaginings.

best of luck.

i would skip the "family" angle. moms are going to buy their kids new crap bikes at walmart. they aren't going to make a special trip to your shop.

however, i like the women-friendly angle. since you are in a college area, your market is college kids and people who live around the college (20 and 30 somethings). women like colors. buy up mixtes, paint them white/blue/pink/etc, throw a basket on them and put them in your front window or on the sidewalk.

don't waste your time with new bikes, at least yet. your margin on used bikes can be high, especially now that you have a shop where people can bring them in to sell them for "pizza" money and when they leave school.

do your fixie thing (flip flops w brake), but also buy up some old MTBs, maybe paint, put racks and skinnier tires on them for commute use.

maybe you can advertise "how to lock up your bike safely" nights on campus where you teach people about locking techniques and quick release.

don't close on sundays. i dont understand why shops close on sundays or mondays for that matter. help serve the commuter market because sundays are the days when we get our bikes prepared for the week. advertise as such.

edit: how about also having cheap/quick flat repair (at cost)?
edit2: also, i know accessories were mentioned a few times, but instead of focusing on quantity, there are a lot of good products out there that are inexpensive, like the PB Superflash. there isn't much need to stock many other rear blinkie. you can buy loads of cheap colored seats for your fixie and female crowd.

Check out the clyde/athena forum. There was a recent discussion about needing LBS's to understand the needs of larger riders in a sport that caters to the tiny. You might find a clyde ride and pass out your cards. I realize you can't just put a sign in the window saying "we like big people" but you can network and get it known that your shop knows what it is doing when a larger rider comes in the store (more spokes, saddle fit, etc).

Another great thing about that particular bike shop was that whenever you brought in a bike for service, the owner would say something complimentary or interesting about the bike. (Such as "This is such a nice blue Univega from the 70s, very classic, take care of it and it'll be a good bike for many more years." Never anything like "This is a real piece of **** that's not worth my time to mess with, why don't you just buy a new bike".) The odd thing is that this shop catered to the high end road crowd as far as new sales, but I always saw lots of classic & vintage bikes going in and out for service.

I'd consider that basic manners combined with a passion for bikes. Falls under the "if you don't have anything nice to say..." rule. I see tons of bikes every day and I swear sometimes I have to convince the customer that with a little work (much less than they imagine) their "piece of crap" is a perfectly serviceable bike. Once you make their bike run like new again you've got a customer for life after that.

Good Luck!

I agree with the suggestions regarding marketing bikes & repairs to women.
Also: stock a range of bikes for the differing children's age groups, and offer to take the used "outgrown" bikes you've previously sold in trade on a new one. That encourages the parents to come to you instead of opting for Wallybikes for their kids. Offer specials on kids bikes at Christmastime.

Be sure that you and your employees avoid that aura of bike-shop snobbery so common today in speaking with customers.
EG: "Nobody around here buys touring bikes anymore."
" Is it a cheap bike you're buying this for?"
" Well, I suppose you COULD do that."
Try to find a tactful way to steer people away from buying a sexy high-end carboniferous bike that would be way too wrong for them.
Don't assume that everyone walking in the door knows the meaning of Fixie, Rohloff, and Index-shifting. Many of us haven't bought a bike since the seventies.

Around here (Boston), some people opened Open Bicycle recently in an already-saturated market. I don't know how they're doing moneywise, but they've gained a good reputation incredibly quickly just by being approachable to newbies and explaining what they do and why...to the point that I'm considering riding clear across town just to check them out. Speaking for myself, things I find lacking in the LBSs around here: 1. Quality used parts (only really applicable if you're already going to be selling used bikes). 2. Hours that fit a working-man's schedule. Many of the stores here close early on weekdays and have reduced hours on the weekend. On the occasions when I've been in the stores early during weekdays, they're always dead quiet anyway, because everybody's at work. 3. A good, well-updated website.

If you haven't taken a good, hard look at the numbers, then yeah...you're crazy.

I put years in at my local shop, building up management experience, took business planning classes at the local college and did a metric ton of research...and then walked away from it all.

The numbers just weren't there to allow me to pay my bills, feed my family and service the debt and overhead of the business. Couple that with retail sales being down across the board and you have a great recipe for failure. As exemplified by the shop owner working 7 days a week, even when the shop is closed, you may end up working your ass off just to keep the doors open and the debt collectors from taking your house. None of this is a dream plan for any business....unless you like the idea of giving up your entire life for 5 years, working 80+ hour weeks just to see it all go down the toilet anyway.

If you're unsure, get some outside help. Ask your accountant to look over the books. Check with your local economic development office and see what the average profit margin is for the gross receipts you expect (and calc in for a bad year) for other regional bike shops. If you have to spend a little money and time for evaluation, believe me, it's nothing compared to what you may stand to lose by not doing your homework.

illwafer, your post sums up my shop almost exactly.

I am at the shop now, so as always am short on time - but I have a few observations (I just started my shop this year - in winter - and have learned a lot, but still have tonnes (TONNES) more to learn. I started with used bikes plus parts and service. I have since taken on several lines of high end european city bikes.

-Women riders - I would make this a priority. The best thing you can do is offer friendly, down to earth service - no snobbery. Taking time to fit bikes correctly and giving honest advice is appreciated by everyone, but women tend to be extra appreciative of it. Embracing the artistic side of biking will also help.. panniers that don't look like gym bags, nice baskets, funky bells, jewlery, etc.

-Kids bikes - these have been the bane of my existence. They are horrible and time consuming to work on because they are the cheapest of the cheap. Meanwhile, the parents generally place minimal value on them. Often they are purchased for $20 from a garage sale, or for $60 new at a box store. You can easily sink a half hour into a tire change, fiddling with chain guards,training wheels, coaster brake arms, etc - and people are reluctant to pay more than the value of the tube. It's sad, but I avoid bringing used kids bikes in and I try not to waste time fixing kids bikes. I often advise people asking about kids bikes to go to garage sales, or even to buy a new one (even though I don't carry them). I struggle with this because I am passionate about saving bikes from the dump, and also about the environmental problems of disposable culture. But on the other hand, every hour I waste on a crappy department store kids bike, simply to cripple it along for a few months, is an hour not spent fixing up a good commuter bike that might replace a car or even building rain barrels (a side hobby of mine). Just be wary of them. On the other hand, I will not turn down a kids bike repair for parents who are passionate about cycling and "bike family" kids bikes. I place customer service above my reluctance but I personally would never advertise as specializing in kids bikes.

-Mixing new and used - I do this and there is no problem. My used bikes are sold in "running like new condition". As far as new bikes go, I'd be careful because that is where you can kill yourself early. Most brands have strict requirements about purchase numbers per year. If you don't sell out, you have to discount until you do - because the next season brings another required minimum purchase (in new paint colours!). I got in with a really great distributor who let me start with two bikes plus a third which they did for me ON CONSIGNMENT(!) And the bikes I chose are very unusual brands which have drawn people from other cities for purchase. It is unlikely I will ever go with a large name brand north american bike maker - not impossible but unlikely. I'd prefer to eventually source frames in quantity and build house brand commuter bikes with minimal logos and understated colours that don't change year to year. To put things into perspective, I net the same profit from two used bikes as I do from one new bike, but the new bikes are a much harder sell since they start at $800.

This brings me to distributor relationships. I'm not sure if you have set any accounts up yet, but the responses I received from most distributors ranged from no answer to "forget it". I was told by one rep to call him back after I have some new bike brands in my store, otherwise i am just "a waste of time" to him.

The industry can be very exclusionary and competitive but you have to power through it. I have one supplier that I rely heavily on for day to day operational parts - nothing fancy - and they get me through almost any repair that I need to do.

I have been very lucky so far and I am always busy with repairs. I am completely sold out of used bikes right now, so I'll be putting in some extra hours to build more up. I lucked into a great locatino and I made it into a small unique shop where I'm already building a good army of loyal customers. I provide very competitive repair rates, and I pay attention to details - I usually do a little more work than I charge for, and each customer appreciates it. I have even received calls after the fact with people expressing extra thanks.

The biggest thing a small shop has going for it is friendliness and service. Many many people are timid about bike shops and if you can break that stigma, people will keep coming back - and they WILL bring their friends!

a p.s. about craigslist - I had planned to post all used bikes on CL but they kept selling before I even had time to do so. What I'd recommend is not trying to act like an individual seller. Through winter I plan to do a weekly CL post that clearly identifies the shop and lists "this weeks new arrivals". If you are up front with CL readers they are generally respectful.