sykerocker 

Been a crazy couple of weeks in the workshop, or, I guess I'd better start saying, bike shop. Over the past year, being both anal and a bookkeeper (redundancy anyone?) I've been very curious as to whether or not my fixing and flipping was actually paying for the stuff that's now hanging in the garage. So, I dug up my favorite copy of Quick Books back in January and set up my bicycle work as an honest-to-ghod business.

The sign at the end of the driveway has been pulling me in a couple of phone calls per month this summer, and I'd just finished cleaning up a '79 Varsity and Panasonic Sport 500 both of which were in VERY nice condition under the shed patina. No cash layout for parts, and I had them each turned around in about four evenings.

Monday evening, I'm working in the shop and a pickup truck rolls up the driveway. The driver steps out and, "I've noticed your sign about buying bicycles, do you do repair work, too?" He's got a Trek 820 that he's owned since new, and it fell off the rack while going down the highway. Rear rim ain't tacoed, it's a mobius strip. Handle bar has a neat L-shape on the right side. Fortunately, I had a couple of spare identical rims on the rack (let us all sing the praises of parts bikes), no problem on the bar, I'll have it done by the weekend.

Next day, sold the Varsity and the tall Vista Silver Shadow I'd been sitting on for about three months.

Now, in between outside jobs, I've been getting a lot done on the Lenton. It's getting close enough to finished that I've got to start considering that I'm out of hanging space in the garage - something's got to go to make room. That's easy. My '64 Raleigh Gran Sport single speed retro replica (the one I based on that 48 BSA I saw last year) is going. While gorgeous (I've never posted pictures of it's final incarnation - will take care of that now):



it was an absolute pain in the ass for urban riding. The track bars were too low to comfortably ride in traffic while keeping the brakes at immediate reach, and changing the bars would have killed the look of the bike. So I remove the bag, swap out the saddle and pedals (no way I'm giving up one of my leather saddles) and Craigslist it, as well as a new listing for the Panasonic. That was at 0530 Saturday.

By 1030 I've got a customer who's interested. Real interested. Like, despite not owning a car, he's going to cajole someone to bring him out to Montpelier (all my sales up to this time have taken place at my place of employment in Richmond - I normally take the bikes in the day after I've Craiglisted them). By 1400, he's picked up the bike and loves it. I gotta build a couple of copies, I can see a market here.

Today was my repair customer picking up his Trek, another call regarding the driveway sign (he'll be by tomorrow night with what he wants to sell), and one of my riding buddies wants to hire me out on a couple of jobs that she isn't able to handle at the present. And I'll be meeting another customer at work Tuesday morning regarding the Panasonic. College is back in session!

After a 35 year absence, I think I'm back in business. And yes, I'm making a profit. Which is going to get blown on a Merckx frame and fork that I've been offered. Gotta build up more bikes.

lostarchitect 

Awesome, congrats!

Poguemahone

I visited Syke Friday, getting his opinion on a recent purchase of mine. He's got the shop up and hopping, I tell you. Mine is chaos. His is pristine. It's a wonder we get along...

BluesDaddy

Very cool. That's exactly the business model I'm trying to get rolling too. Maybe a driveway sign is in order. I'm also talking to the local police about possibly maintaining their bikes.

bibliobob

Congrats Syke! Besy of luck.
Shame that you're not closer....

RobbieTunes

Syke's easy to get along with, and he's always percolating something. Glad to hear a go-to guy is getting gotten to.

sykerocker 

As to back to college time - while I was writing the initial posting, I get another call on the Panasonic. Only this guy is leaving for college tomorrow morning. And needs a bike, RIGHT NOW! I don't think he had a clue just where Montpelier is (35 miles northwest of the center of Richmond, and it's another 3 miles down an unlit country road once you get off of US33). Right now, I'd kill for another half dozen bikes to knock out and have ready for sale before Labor Day. This is when the market gets crazy around here.

sykerocker 

It seems to work, and as I don't have the kind of reputation that has people dropping bikes off "because I thought you could make use of this", offering to pay a small amount is probably the next best possibility. I supposed I could have a easier time getting bikes if I actually lived in Richmond rather than out in the boonies.

Soma Roark

Man I wish I live next to you =).

skyrider

Great story, your rockin, good luck

ftwelder

Good to see you can enjoy your hobby and make some money also. I enjoy my vintage bikes after work. I don't think it work out for me.

wtgrantham

I was once a homebrewer and then opened my own brewery, then we started competition BBQ as a new hobby but took it further this year and started vending at ribfests. Sure is easy to ruin your hobby trying to make money and worrying about it!
To each their own I guess

sonatageek

Even with insurance, collecting sales tax etc you are still making a profit? Did you have to get any sort of a variance from your municipality or are home based businesses permitted? Just curious.

Well all questions aside, congratulations!

Glennfordx4

Congrats to you sir, my sales tripled this year also since my boss let me sell from our shop. I haven't had to list one bike on CL this season and selling at a bike shop I get top dollar for my builds. I don't have enough time to keep up with the supply lately with the kids getting ready to go back to school my bikes that I have been putting together are selling faster then I can get them finished ( I'm slower then the average mechanic because of problems with my hands ), I have more cheap bikes that I won't be able to get ready before school starts at the pace I have been going.

I have been putting more time at our shop lately to give my boss more time to spend with his family, his 21 year old son has terminal cancer and it has been really hard for him to keep the shop going and to be with his family at the same time.

Glennfordx4

That is the number one reason I didn't try to make a living working full time on bicycles on my own. I already had a successful business working on power equipment, motorcycles & ATV's and after 30 + years I now despise it, I don't want that to happen with bicycles I am still having fun when I work on one. I help out part time at a bike shop and the one thing there that I hate already is putting a new bike together there is no challenge for me in doing that, give me a dirty, grease covered bike with mechanical issues any day.

Poguemahone

It's really still a hobby for Syke. Everything he "earns" goes back into the bike fund to get his next ride... he's just making sure he's breaking even. At least.

sykerocker 

Been there, done that. During the 90's, I turned my love of 17th century re-enactment into a full time business, Syke's Sutlery (still in operation, I believe, the webpage catalog is still going). By the end of the decade, I'd burned out and sold the business. And the last time I kitted up and went into the field was 2003. Now I'm debating about finally selling off my collected kit which includes two matchlocks, a couple of doglocks, and a pair of flintlocks - plus body armor, clothing, etc.

I don't plan on taking Syke's Cyclery that far. In the first place, I won't bother being more than a repair shop - no carrying new inventory. And I'm not planning on hanging out a formal sign, at least not until the county authorities find out about me and hit he with retail license, sales taxes, etc. The biggest difference is that Syke's Sutlery was being counted on for paying living costs. Syke's Cyclery is only going to be responsible for keeping me in new(er) bikes and other toys.

Over the past four years, I've been caring for an invalid wife, who's currently in a nursing home but is finally coming back home in three weeks. If anything, the bike shop has been a real grounding in sanity for me during this time. And ramping it up a bit will help a lot.

sykerocker 

Haven't bothered with that - yet. And like my last business venture, I don't intend to until the proper authorities remind me that I'm supposed to. And I live out in the country, no zoning. As my yard is 10 acres of woods, I seriously doubt that you'd even know I live there except for the bicycles sign at the end of the driveway.

Don't even want to think about insurance. That's why I finally sold the Sutlery off. It was during the Clinton years, right around Columbine, and suddenly UPS decides I'm not allowed to ship my matchlocks anymore. And my insurer starts demanding that I drop them from my inventory to continue coverage. All for something that is not legally a firearm - and shipped with a plugged touch hole.

4Rings6Stars

I made a proper business of fixing and flipping bikes for a summer but it soon became too much like work. Like an old poem that I'm terribly misquoting, I was like a doctor who no longer can appreciate the rose of a woman's cheek.

I still have a barn full of mostly low end bikes in varying states that were destined to be flipped--I think I have somewhere between 10 and 20. Most of them are complete. Zero interest in working on them. I really need to get around to selling them to a local flipper. $15 a pop if you take 'em all! (80's Huffys and Columbias included!)

sykerocker 

Unfortunately, I'm in Virginia. On the other hand, I'm still hoping to take Patti up to her mother's in Bangor early in October . . . . .

Mike Mills

It ain't a business until the food on your table and the roof over your head derive from, and are dependant upon, its output. Using the proceeds to buy a Merckx frame means it's still a hobby.

DavidW56

A hobby that pays for itself. Nicely done! Mine is just about there, except I need to concentrate more on the fixing and flipping end of the operation, and less on the acquisition of more project bikes!

4Rings6Stars

Take a detour through central MA and bring a trailer or pickup!

rookgirl

Congrats!

sykerocker 

I'm considering the possibility.