How To Start a Home-Based Bicycle Repair Business

How To Start a Home-Based Bicycle Repair Business

Discarding your car for a bicycle is one of the easiest ways to go green. Besides going green, bicycles are fun, and they offer a budget means of transport. By riding a bicycle to and from work every day, an individual gets more exercise compared to driving. Bicycles save money seeing that they do not need gasoline and they are affordable to maintain. Again, they do not emit carbon; making them safe for the environment.

Given the numerous benefits of owning a bicycle, most people are going for them, especially in urban areas where people can ride to work. The number of cyclists is thus increasing and is expected to grow even more. Governments have also helped in the situation by installing bicycle lanes on major roads and passing laws to favor cyclists. This is in a bid to reduce traffic congestion on roads and reducing air pollution. The growing number of cyclists increases the need for bicycle repair shops.

Top Reasons to Start a Bicycle Repair Business at Home

Any individual handy with tools and knows something about bicycles can start a bicycle repair business. It is a great green business that requires less startup capital.

One of the main reasons to start a bicycle repair shop is to reduce environmental pollution. By using bicycles, carbon emission is reduced. Kept in the right order, the bikes will be safe for the environment and for the user. By starting a bicycle repair shop, you offer people a chance to repair their broken bikes instead of purchasing new ones.

Bicycle repair shops encourage the community to engage in cycling and adopt bicycles as a means of transports which goes a long way in making the environment safer. The good thing, starting a bicycle repair shop does not need a large start-up capital. This is why it is easy to start the shop in your home garage.

What You Need to Start Your Bicycle Repair Shop

The easiest way to start your business is to repair bicycles for friends and family members as you tell them of your startup. They will spread the word for you and clients will start trickling in. If there is a cycling club in your community, you need to join and engage in all activities that the club undertakes. You can talk to the club members about your services or offer them business cards. Even better, you can join a local social network online dedicated to cycling such as Bicycling.com.

You can also market your business by partnering with local green business. For instance, you can request a local green coffee shop to place your business card on their counter or hang a poster of your business on your wall. In exchange, you can spread the word on the green coffee shop to your clients.

It might take a few months to get established depending on how aggressively you market your business. Once you are established, you can sponsor or partner in a race or any other community event that helps you promote your business further. This will help you expand your services and maybe even start a different shop. You can expand to start buying and selling bikes and offering winter bike storage or explore other options available.

Top Bike Repair Shops Helping Keep the Environment Safe

Wright Brothers Cycle Works

The business operates in Seattle offering bike repair and maintenance. Those who want to start their own bike repair shops or learn how to repair their own bikes are also offered classes at the shop. Besides, they offer a bicycle repair co-op where cyclists pay a small fee and are given access to all the tools they need to repair their own bikes. Co-op members are charged relatively low for repair and maintenance classes.

Bicycle Station

Bicycle Station operates in New York. The business was started by Mike Rodriguez, who has been offering bike repair services for more than thirty years. They offer bicycle repair and maintenance on all types and brands of bikes, and also sell bicycles and bicycle parts.

Warm Planet Bikes

This is a San Francisco bike repair and retail shop. They offer all services from the basics such as tune-ups to bike overhauls all at a great price. The shop is located near Caltrain station, making it convenient for bike owners to drop their bikes for repair when they go to work and pick them in the evening. They offer free bike parking as well for their clients.