General Cycling Discussion - Opening a bike shop- need info. on small goods/accessories distributors

Our town has just completed a greenway project that is beautiful and bike-friendly, but there is no bike shop in our vicinity. I own a building 2 blocks from the Greenway, and I sense an opportunity. I have been operating a musical instrument business out of my building for the past 15 years, and I want to make a slow and gradual transition, rather than spending a mint to begin with. Consequently, I want to focus on used bikes, repairs and small goods in the beginning, plus keep a stable of durable rental bikes for folks who want to enjoy the Greenway. The immediate issue is that I need to get set up with a supplier of parts and accessories. Can some of you guys who are in the business advise me as to whom I should call? I should say that we are also going to be stocking canoes, kayaks and doing river outfitting... my business plan with the outfitting business is the same as with the bikes- avoid a huge outlay of capital and build it slowly. Can you help with info. on wholesale bike accessories sources?

Sent you a PM.

How long is the greenway? My wife and I love to rent bikes when out on trips.

Our town has just completed a greenway project that is beautiful and bike-friendly, but there is no bike shop in our vicinity. I own a building 2 blocks from the Greenway, and I sense an opportunity. I have been operating a musical instrument business out of my building for the past 15 years, and I want to make a slow and gradual transition, rather than spending a mint to begin with. Consequently, I want to focus on used bikes, repairs and small goods in the beginning, plus keep a stable of durable rental bikes for folks who want to enjoy the Greenway. The immediate issue is that I need to get set up with a supplier of parts and accessories. Can some of you guys who are in the business advise me as to whom I should call? I should say that we are also going to be stocking canoes, kayaks and doing river outfitting... my business plan with the outfitting business is the same as with the bikes- avoid a huge outlay of capital and build it slowly. Can you help with info. on wholesale bike accessories sources?

Several options out there. J&B (http://www.jbimporters.com/web/), SBS (Seattle Bike Supply) (http://www.seattlebikesupply.com/), The Hawley Company (http://www.hawleyusa.com/) out of Greenville, SC (locally owned BTW) Those are the ones that come to mind, you can also do Velo-Orange (http://www.voimports.com/) for the bling bits.

Let us know when you get up and running. I firmly believe in supporting my smaller local bike shops. My current go to for stuff has been Longleaf Cycles (http://www.longleafbicycles.com/) in Wilmington, NC. I also buy from Hawley's Bicycle World (http://www.hawleysbicycleworld.com/) in Fayetteville, NC.

Aaron :)

Hawley is out of Lexington, SC, wahoonc.

Hawley is out of Lexington, SC, wahoonc.

Brain Fart...only missed it by about 100 miles, I have actually visited their facility, nice.

Aaron :)

Quality Bicycle Parts (QBP) is the largest bicycle parts distributor in the USA per my understanding. They also own Surly, Salsa and Civia bicycle brands. Almost all bike dealers have an account with them.

Can you help with info. on wholesale bike accessories sources?

Many years ago I worked for Bike'alog: http://www.bike-alog.com/ , which is basically a catalog aggregator for everything bicycle-related. It might be useful to you if you know something about what you want but don't know where to get it. That being said, I think every bike shop I've visited lately has had a Quality Bike Products account and their "consumer" catalog (no wholesale prices) on display. You could do worse than get set up with them.

Quality Bicycle Parts (QBP) is the largest bicycle parts distributor in the USA per my understanding. They also own Surly, Salsa and Civia bicycle brands. Almost all bike dealers have an account with them.

Crap!....completely forgot about them:o

Regardless, there are lots of places to get pieces and parts from, the hard part is deciding what to stock and what is going to sell in your locale and make you money.

Aaron :)

QBP may be big, but Hawley and J&B can offer one day ground shipping to tarmusic.