Hey guys,

Im not sure were to post this...

Theres a clothing/barbershop/art gallery that is a meeting place for 60+ cyclist. This store has offered me a space there to sell tubes, patches, levers, pumps, cables, etc.

I would be very happy to do this but im not sure were to beggin...started looking for lots on ebay..but if you guys know were i can start my product search?

im was thinking about selling:

tubes
patches
levers
tyres
kevlar liners
cables
oil
pumps
valve adapters
basic pedals
bells
reflector
cheap lights

and some cool cycling oriented clothing like caps and socks.




The ryders are not serious and care very little for their bikes...so i need to keep it cheap.
any suggestions are very very welcome.

I would begin by checking with the city about the niceties such as a business license, which may be required, and with the State about a sales tax license, which is definitely required. Also get an education about what in general is involved in being in business and maintaining inventory. Then if you still can go forward check ebay, ask Bike Nashbar, etc. about quantity discounts and see if any wholesalers would be willing to deal with you (unlikely in my opinion).

p.s. You might also start by being more careful in your public interactions. Multiple misspellings and typos leave a bad impression

So the customers will generally be these 60 or so bikers? Do they go elsewhere for bike stuff, or will you be pretty much their main source? Are they recreational or utility cyclists?

The picture I'm getting in my head are folks who see their bikes as vehicles as opposed to toys, but maybe don't take care of them as well as they could. From this, I'd suggest stocking small maintenance supplies and maybe safety products over accessories and parts. I'd put an emphasis on things that they'd look at and say, "Oh yeah, I needed that."

Tell us more about who these folks are what you think they are looking for.

thanx ill have this in mind...about spelling, ill spell check this when i get home.

I wont be needing a license, the store will handle almost everything. I would need to keep inventory organized and promote my space.

Ill ask a friend from the NY that works at a big store...i ussualy get cool equipment with his employee discount. maybe he can be my indi distribuitor....

you will have a hard time finding wholesalers if you are not a full fledged bike shop who also sells bikes. However there are a small handful that may work with you. which ones will depends on where you are located and how you handle yourself when you approach them.

This store has spawned a spontaneous event called "Bicijangueo", bicycle bar hoping, everyone gets together at the store and they ride around the urban areas of San Juan. I would say 25 is the average of people every friday. but last friday we had 60+, so its pretty big.

Most of them have recycled franken bikes, they found and rode to bicijangueo. So their recreational cyclist, but some are starting to refine even change bikes. When i started ryding with them at leas 10 bicycles didn't have brakes!!!!!! saw a couple of nasty crashes, darwin awards anyone? they had no lights..but now is a bit better, less and less of them are brakeless...it pisses me off a bit, some people need see their lifes flash to realize how stupid no brake ryding is...

https://www.vimeo.com/14899665

ps most of them are changing their kmart bikes for fixies ...


about were they get gear...i have no idea...since we ride at night most of the sales will bet at 6:00 pm when they start getting together...mostly i was thinking of starting with patch kits, levers, and tubes, keep it stupid simple and go from there. Is convenience a good motto?

Bar Hopping with bicyclists who have no brake, lights (nor helmets I assume)? This screams not only danger but big-time liability for anyone "officially" connecting themselves with such an event.

I won't post any more to this thread. If you don't care to make your posts more readable by using decent grammar and spelling I don't care enough to respond.

1st aide kits.

Jive turkey above has some very sound advise. You need to get into their heads and think about the sort of stuff that they would look at and buy on the spot. Tubes, levers and patch kits and maybe an "all in one" bike multitool for working on the bikes is always a hit with such a crowd but from there it's very hard to say what they may need or want. A seat bag kit that you load up with a tube, patch kit, levers, bike multitool, a shop rag and some bandaids and sell for a slight discount over buying the stuff one at a time may also prove to be a decent seller. If they don't sell just return the bits to open stock.

These sentences are missing two commas. The question mark is placed at the end of an incomplete sentence. This sentence is also not properly structured as a question; it is a statement. Hence, the question mark is not appropriate. These sentences contain a word in singular form, where a plural form is needed. They also exhibit a misuse of quotation marks.

You're a smart person with ideas that need sharing. I'm certain that the O.P. would appreciate your input. No one here, including both of us, uses correct grammar. I probably made mistakes somewhere in this post, because I am a mathematician, not a linguist. We all have strengths and weaknesses. Let's forgive each other and answer bicycle-related questions. It's a lot more interesting than discussing grammar. Grammar forums are tedious, as the following link shows.

https://forums.about.com/n/pfx/forum....grammar&lgnF=y

Very good, but some of your points are a matter of style and debatable. The use of the sentence fragment/question was intentional - for effect. There is a large difference between colloquial usage and an apparent lack of any attention to spelling, capitalization and apostrophes. I posted my comments because the OP's style made reading the post very difficult and, frankly, showed not much respect for the people who read it.

The video link the OP posted is in Spanish.
Maybe the OP's first language is not English,
in which case he is doing very well.

What volume ( $ value) of sales per week would make the venture worth your while?
Is the potential clientele capable of generating that volume?
What is the risk of losses due to shoplifting?

WTF, you promised!

walz caps. carry walz caps. they are awesome; i own three of them. plus you don't need to have an account with QBP.
https://www.walzcaps.com/

Dont be a dickhead, you understood what he wrote, thats all that matters. Go get a real college education and you would know that. I post on here from my touchscreen droid all the time, sometimes you miss a key, other times the predictive text is wrong and you don't notice it. It's really not a big deal.

OP, China is where it's at, I bet you can source lots of cheap stuff from China, like tubes in volume and heck, I'd even pick up one or 2 of the carbon fiber stems and handlebars to display and tell them you can order them for them if anyone is riding a type of bike that would be appropriate for that stuff. lots of good stuff cheap on ebay

Apostrophes are not used for pluralizing nouns.

I believe he mentioned San Juan as in Puerto Rico. This sounds like a social bar hopping group that happens to ride bikes. I think tubes, patch kits, pumps and cheap lights and reflective tape are a great start.

Edit: some of the gimmick lights like the valve cover lights and mini LED's might go over well also for this type of group.

Stock Dura Ace, Record and Red. Margin is there....

Oh man!

You'd think that something like inner tubes would be easy. Wait till you find out how many different sizes you need. And no matter what brand you carry, you'll have an otherwise good friend and customer who will ONLY use something else.

Everything else is even harder.

I buy lots of stuff to resell or to do repairs. These are the items I buy most frequently:

brake cables
brake shoes
helmets
chains
handlebar tape
handlebar grips
gloves
saddles
allen keys
water bottles
freewheels

retro grouch, what you say is true, but I manage to keep a low stock AND anticipate people's needs. I don't always have what people need, but I usually do, and I don't have things like 22" inner tubes lying around.

The apostrophe in "typo's" is there to indicate truncation, not pluralization, and is therefore valid. Now let's try to stay on topic.