livedarklions

You talking through your hat or are those numbers based on anything in real life?

It's much, much more common to have a contract with your carrier that lets you pay the phone off while serving out a contract.

You're now so sure that leasing out bikes is a good idea, go for it. Otherwise, why are you arguing the economics with us? We don't give a crap.

Kapusta

Hey, I can do better than that..... why not buy take a $300 phone and least it for 3 years at $75 a month? That would make you heaps of money. It's a fool proof plan!

livedarklions

I've got a better plan--I start a "phone leasing club" where I sell memberships to 5 people who are subordinate to me. They each sell 5 memberships to 5 people, but I get a 50% cut of all of the money they get selling the dealerships, plus 50% of the 50% they collect from the members they each recruit and so on down a large number of levels. I won't even need them to lease any phones to make money that way. It can't miss.

Pretty sure OP is the one they see coming when they pitch that.

smd4

The question is, why would anyone want to lease a bike!? I want to OWN my bike. I want to be able to take it apart and put it back together as I see fit. I want to replace parts. I want to upgrade the tires. I want to install ceramic bearings. I want to change the bar tape. Heck, maybe I want to repaint it altogether!

Would I be allowed to do any of that if I leased it??

njkayaker

???

So what?

Some people lease cars. Some people buy them. Why do they do one or the other?

Koyote

It's easy to make a profit when you're just making up numbers.

livedarklions

This is a relevant difference between cars and bikes--people rarely want to upgrade major components of their new cars, and any given part of a car is a significantly smaller proportion of the vehicle as a whole than that of a bicycle, unless you're talking about the auto body or the engine. What exactly are you leasing when you lease a bike? Is it the same bike if I upgrade the wheels? How about the frame?

livedarklions

Worked for Elon Musk until a few days ago.

ThermionicScott 

As much as I hate to lend credence to this thread, @Germany_chris may have been onto something. E-Bikes are generally more of an investment than other bikes, and from what I've seen tend to be treated as a whole rather than something to be customized/upgraded in parts. Perhaps there is a market for people who want to ride e-bikes, but would be happy to keep trading them in for newer models every couple of years, allowing the older models to be sold off or rented at that point.

Generally, though, I figure that if there's money to made at something, it will have become a thing before I think of it.

smd4

Exactly. Tell that to njkayaker.

livedarklions

Who?

smd4

The guy who typed post 130.

njkayaker

Many people don't replace stuff on their bikes.

The fact that leasing wouldn't work for you doesn't mean it wouldn't work for other people.

If you lease a bike, you return all the parts (the frame, wheels, etc) that you got with the lease and keep the parts you buy for upgrades.

None of this is hard to understand. It's a bit sad to have to explain this basic stuff to the both of you.

smd4

Seriously?

livedarklions

I'm joking. He's on my ignore list.

I think you'll quickly figure out why.

smd4

70sSanO

Even though I have made fun of this, I did go out and look for US based bicycle leasing. There area number of them in Europe.

Basically what I found was a company that offers 12 month and 24 month leases. The example given on cost was a $2000 bike with 10% down would cost $80/mo and $50/mo for 12 and 24 months respectively. The bike would be picked up at a local bike shop. The leasee is responsible for theft and any damage and it would probably be prudent to have separate bicycle insurance. At the end of the lease the leasee just turns in the bike or has an option to purchase the bike at the agreed to residual amount. What is not known is the actual cost of the bike to the leasing company.

Suffice to say, at the end of the lease the leasing company has been paid $1160/$1400 and owns a 1 or 2 year old bike. I have no idea how the monthly funds are distributed, repayment of initial bike purchases, and any amounts from the sale of the used bikes. There are obviously business costs, losses, payroll.

I'm sure those in the industry can decipher these numbers to arrive at an anticipated profit. For me I don't see it as a panacea, but who knows.

John

CheGiantForLife

What was the news?
Fabricated something?

livedarklions

You're buying his nonsense about why he's bailing on the Twitter deal?
Almost no one else is.

It's off-topic, but I believe his whole house of cards is about to fall.