Ekdog

This came up in the thread about Uber. Spinlister is a peer-to-peer bike-share system. I can see myself using it if I were travelling without my bike or if I needed, say, a cargo bike. What do you think?

ro-monster

I'm wondering how they keep the bikes from getting stolen -- not by the renters themselves, but due to people not being careful about where or how they lock up the bikes.

Ekdog

They say they'll cover the cost of replacing a stolen bike if the renter can't: "If your ride is damaged or stolen during a rental period, and the renter is unable to reimburse you for the fair value of your ride, we'll cover the cost up to $10,000 in some countries*. *The United States, Canada, Germany, UK, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Portugal, France, Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Austria, Japan, New Zealand, Australia."



https://www.spinlister.com/safety

Dahon.Steve

Good idea but poor execution.

I logged onto the network and noticed a number of good looking bikes but didn't know where they were located. I'm sorry but they need a professional to design their site and make it look like AVIS rent a car. No nice pictures of cars but text boxes where I can make a reservation. The pictures of the nice bikes are great but you need to know if they are even available in your city. Avis makes it simple but effective.

Second, it's an expensive service 25 dollars day or 5 dollars an hour. It should be 5 dollars a day and 1 dollar an hour. Yes I know that's cheap but the service has to come in at a price that makes it attractive at first. They can start raising the price once the service becomes successful and developes a user base. At that price, you're no better off then finding a bike shop with rentals. I'm certain you would not get to rent a Brompton but there are a huge number of people that have good bikes (like myself) who would not mind renting them out even for 5 dollars a day.

There must be millions of bikes collecting dust in garages that could be listed on this service if the website were designed better and the price was affordable. It's sad to say but another golden opportunity lost before it was even started.

Ekdog

Did you use the search function? I did a search for my city and three bikes came up: a a fixie, a mountain bike and a trekking bike. I'm not sure why you didn't know where they were located. The prices, which I believe are set by the people who list the bikes, ranged from $12.00 to $15.00 a day.

lasauge 

Same as Ekdog, I looked at the website and it was pretty easy to find bikes listed in my city. I clicked around out of curiosity and found that of the dozen or so bikes listed in town or nearby, none of them had any post-rental reviews, so I get the impression that this service has not achieved much popularity.

If I can speculate as to why: I wouldn't want to rent a bike off Spinlister myself, since there's no guarantee that the bikes listed will be in good, rideable condition, and there's an obvious potential for fraud. If I'm visiting a different city, I'd much rather rent from a legit bike shop that can guarantee that the rental bike will be in good condition, or privately arrange to borrow one personally from someone from one of the cycling forums online that I frequent. Same for the other way around, I wouldn't want to list any of my bikes on that site since there's no clear indication of how Spinlister assesses "fair value" and the renter's inability to pay. There are too many unanswered questions either way - do you have to take a renter who damaged your bike to court first? does Spinlister take legal action against renters involved in a dispute? what if the renter disputes the owner's damage/theft claim?

Dahon.Steve

I did use the search function but it wouldn't pull in any results. How sad that it works on some people's computer but not others. It's a poor design if that's the case.

I still think it's too expensive at $12.00 to $15.00 dollars a day. Netflix is $8.99 a month and they have millions of subscribers. If it were $15.00 dollars for a month, that might work out well. I have enought 10 speed bikes where I would not mind renting for that duration and price.

The designers of Spinlister were looking at the price local bike shops charge for rentals and figured they could do the same. You need to undercut them by 200% or more if it's going to become popular.

Roody

I imagine that a service like Spinlister would have more of a problem with supply than with demand.

ro-monster

Thinking about this, it seems like the logistics would be very challenging, since bikes come in so many sizes and the ride can be unpleasant or even dangerous if the bike doesn't fit the rider.

Ekdog

The size of each bike and the height of the riders it would fit are given on the site.

Ekdog

Why? There is certainly no shortage of people with extra bikes in their garages who would like to earn a few extra dollars.

Roody

I wouldn't loan a bike to a stranger.

ro-monster

That isn't really what I was talking about though. Unless an area had a huge number of bikes available, the odds of finding one in your size at a convenient location would be pretty low, especially if you had a preference for a particular type of bike, or if you happen to be tall or short.

Ekdog

The bikes used in public bike-share systems are all the same size, and they seem to work fine. It's just a matter of adjusting the seat height. A perfect fit for everyone? No, but good enough to get around town.

ro-monster

This is true, but the public bikes I've looked at had the seat and the bars designed so that they could be quickly and easily adjusted without tools. The same can't be said of most bikes that people own.

Ekdog

So you ask the renter to lend you a wrench and adjust the seat height. No biggie.

Dahon.Steve

Lets hope this is the case because that would mean the service is doing terrific. I could see this service taking off if they could get a number of people with high end bikes costing over 1K to become members.

However, it's more like the beater bike or hybrid that will be for rent.

Ekdog

I had a look in some of the Spanish cities I might visit, and there were some nice mountain bikes, fixies and a Brompton available. If I were to list a bike, though, it would definitely be a beater.

tandempower

If this system becomes popular, people will get quick-release seatpost clamps for their rental bikes. I'm surprised Spinlister doesn't send you one for each bike you agree to make available.

What a good way to utilize of all those garage bike mechanics who don't mind servicing an extra bike to rent out. I wonder how long it will be before the bike shop industry starts demonizing this kind of peer-to-peer sharing for 'stealing their business' the way the taxi industry demonizes ride-sharing.

wcoastbo

I had the same thoughts about damaged bikes in Spinlister so I first listed a bike I was going to sell. It's a 1992 Trek 2500 Carbon Pro, with full Dura-Ace 7400 down to stem and seatpost. Yes, the bike is in very good shape. Last summer I netted $600 with it! That's after giving Spinlister 17.5% of the gross cash-flow. Just about every person that rented my bike already owned a nice bike, but didn't want to fly with it. I've had renters from London and Barcelona, they were very happy not to pack a bike and only had to bring shoes since I have a decent collection of pedals.

I have even turned down possible renters, one guy wanted a lock for my Ti Eddy Merckx EX converted to SS. I told him it wasn't a bike to be locked up in the Venice Beach area. Also, the process is not anonymous it is face to face. I ask the potential renter questions ahead of time to help vet them. Anyone with a handle and semi-active on any bike forum or Stava gets an instant pass. Spinlister has their credit card info and that's a big incentive to keep a rental bike in good shape.

I've not had any real problems on almost 20 different transactions with 4 different bikes. One came back with a flat. The renter installed the spare tube and I patched the original. Another renter used my bike for a week to train for a local tri, during the race the chain dropped and she got grease on the newly installed handlebar tape. She even offered to pay for the new tape, but I was able to wash it clean.

I'm so glad I didn't sell my Trek 2500 Pro... it was rented so many days last summer that the money earned would have been the same as my selling price, I still own the bike and it keeps making me money. I've listed my spare bikes with Spinlister for about 3 years now and I love how they've become positive cashflow! Although, I have to admit my rentals have been very slow so far this summer.

Maybe I've gotten lucky, but every person that has rented my bike is also a cycling enthusiast and took care of my bike as if it were their own. I've not have a problem with a renter, knock on wood. If I do have an issue Spinlister is very responsive. They've been very responsive on other issues I've contacted on, such as problems with the app.

If you want to rent a bike then find a lister that's also a collector you'll know they maintain their bikes like a family heirloom. My bikes all ride exceptionally well and have nice parts. I've listed very nice bikes with quality components. My coasterbrake mtb is not for everyone, but the Cervelo, Merckx and Dean are sweet, check out the photos...https://www.spinlister.com/profile/9934. Give me a shout if you're visiting the Venice Beach/Santa Monica/Culver City area and get a discount. Search the 90066 area code and look for my bikes at intersection of Venice & Inglewood Blvd. https://spnl.st/s/eb2fdb

Seems the more my bikes get rented on Spinlister, the more bikes I collect. Yes, I have a bike addiction and Spinlister is an enabler. At least my hobby is no longer negative cash flow. I'm definitely in the black this past couple of years since I don't have upgrade-itis anymore. I have kept my Ellsworth and Merlin with full Campy Record off the rental list... nobody gets to ride those two bikes.

mconlonx

Sounds like a cool service. I used to go out to SF for business a couple times each year. At first, I stayed on hotels and walked. I tried renting a bike once; I packed a folding bike with me once. Rental bike was expensive and inconvenient; folder was an extra piece of checked luggage hassle. The last couple of times I was out there, I did AirBnB instead of hotels, and I'd definitely have taken advantage of this service, had I known about it.

PS: first few times I was out there, I shared taxis in and out of town, but once I figured out BART, I was happy to take the train.

tandempower

This could be a good way to grow bike share networks if there's a way to ensure that the bikes will get parked at docking stations at popular destinations and parking areas. The problem with the local bike share is that someone couldn't exit the highway, park in a lot near the exit, grab a bike-share and ride to a destination where the bike could be docked or just locked in an available status so someone else could take the bike. If that was possible, volume of usage could potentially create comparable or better revenues than someone paying $10+ for the day and returning the bike when they're finished. It would be good for a bike ride to be comparable to a bus ticket, e.g. $1-2 for a single trip and $3-4 for an all-day pass. Of course there would have to be a higher cost for keeping the bike unavailable while it's parked.

Now, as a potential lender, I'm wondering how much income I would be making for servicing a bike-share bike in this way. Will the service send/sell me maintenance parts at wholesale prices when they wear out? A benefit I see with bike share bikes is that they have pretty nice touring tires that will last a long time and not go flat, but such tires cost a lot, as do wheels when they're bent, derailleurs, shifters, etc. I would be willing to do the labor but paying for all the parts and shipping at retail prices seems like it wouldn't be worth it.

It might be nice to just have an app to farm out labor on bike share bikes whether they are privately shared or owned by the bike share service. If I could look at a map of bike share bikes needing service, what their user-reported problems were, and where I could get supplies at wholesale prices, I could plan a ride to fix some flat tires and adjust some brakes and shifters, maybe straighten some wheels, lube some chains, etc. and come home a bit richer and fitter from the ride.

Roody

Some people who might rent bikes have said the prices listed are too high. As somebody who rents bikes out to others, do you feel the listed prices are fair, or are they too low?

wcoastbo

All I can say is, it depends. Pricing is very subjective and each person has different price sensitivities. Since I already own several of my own bikes, then I probably wouldn't rent for more than what I list at. An exception would be when I was driving through Sedona and only had my roadbike during that trip. I searched on Spinlister for a nice mt bike that would fit me so I could check out the local trails. It's such a nice place to ride trails that I would have paid handsomely for the right bike.

On the other hand I'm not willing to list mine for a pittance. It's too much trouble to exchange texts or phone calls with someone and meet at a desirable time and place for both parties, for just a couple dollars. If I owned a rental shop and had bikes at different price points, then yes I would have many at low prices. Most of my bikes are nice, therefore the pricing is going to reflect that. Here's my Cervelo S5 https://www.spinlister.com/rides/221...los-angeles-ca I've even changed the stem to carbon. I'm not going to list it for $15 a day. Not worth my trouble.

I've looked at other bikes in my area and the lister that doesn't have any reviews is probably asking too much. A renter can always ask the lister for a discount. Supply and demand dictates price. In the winter, or after peak summer season, I am more apt to give a discount or reduce my listing price.

I'd say since most listers personally own these bikes, they might have an emotional connection to the bike and will probably charge more than they should. There are exceptions where a nice personal bike is listing for a very inexpensive price, but you have to search them out. You also want someone that maintains their bike well.

brianinc-ville

I just tried Spinlister for the first time -- as a renter -- and overall I was really happy with the experience.

The guy whose bike I rented was clearly an urban bike enthusiast, involved with all the local bike initiatives and very knowledgeable about biking in his city.

He delivered the bike to me at my hotel; to return it when I was leaving town, I simply locked it up to a rack in the parking garage and left the key with the front-desk clerk. In between, I had a great bike to use for my local business (during the workday) and for exploration and exercise (after hours).

There were only two minor hiccups to the experience:

1) when the owner brought the bike to me, he didn't bring an allen key for the seat-post bolt. The saddle was way too low for me, but I had a multi-tool up in my room, so I figured I'd just adjust it myself, later. Well, when I tried it, I found that the seatpost was totally stuck. However, the owner had given me the name of the bike shop where the bike was usually serviced. I brought it in to them and, after a few hours with penetrating oil, got it un-stuck (and, in fact, got a new seatpost) free of charge. Not a big deal, but it did add quite a bit of hassle. It would be a good idea to make sure the seatpost is easily adjustable before you rent out your bike.

2) When I got the bike, the tires were low. Again, not a big deal, but one more thing I had to deal with. Fortunately, the city where I was renting had installed a whole bunch of public bike-repair stations with pumps.

That said, compared to renting from a bike shop, the price ($15/day) was much better, the pick-up/drop-off were more convenient, and (after I got it adjusted) the bike itself was much better than a shop rental. I'd definitely do it again.