Seriously Thinking, Vintage Bike Rental.

[Gold Street Customs]

I am looking at a 800 square foot storefront in a little touristy town right across the street from my church, the price is right, 650 a month, with studio inside, So maybe splitting it with a trusty someone , right now it would be weekends, and of course it would be seasonal, so winter time. RENT SLEDS as its on the path to the mountain, but to be secure into jumping into this venture I may have to sell my baby, 72 Monte Carlo drivable project, what are your thoughts ?

 

[KJV]

look into the insurance cost.
this will give you more insight,
on your venture. if you can wing it.
go for it,man.

 

[subadrew]

Got enough bikes (how many are easily rideable)?

What would you charge?

Got a big biking community?

single speed or 3 speeds?


The ease of a traditional rental bike is most within a rental shop are all the same design/mfg/model so there's more routine and parts are fairly interchangeable. Vintage bikes are generally all a little different and in my case at least, require more maintenance (I ride cruisers at least 25 miles a week so they all see a fair bit of riding). I frequently have to fix bikes or tweak a bike mid-ride. I wouldn't want to swap parts between some of my vintage bikes because they're all original and I want to keep them that way.

If I were to open up a rental place, I'd have some "regular" rental bikes, then have a small selection of specialty rentals which would likely cost more to rent (but have more style). We have a HUGE cruiser seen in Denver during the spring/summer so I know I could rent some, but I also wouldn't expect people to pay more than $20-$30 a day and I know they'd start coming back in pretty bad shape...

 

[CCR]

talk to "jon" , he did just that

 

[socal_jack]

A friend of mine opened a bike shop a little over a year ago here in North County San Diego and he does classic rentals so it is possible although it's rather ideal for it here;

http://cardiffbikeshop.com/rentals/default.htm

 

[X-RAY]

i dont know exactly where lucerne is, but you mentioned mountains. maybe rent out a couple mtbs too, although repairs and upkeep may be prohibitive. i mean, you know how you beat on a rental car, right? its gonna be alot of work, and i wish you the best of luck if you do it.
p.s.- is there a discount for rats on vacation?

 

[Tailwinds]

On the location front you need:
1) Tourism

2) Bike friendly location meaning large state/national parks, paved trail system, etc.

3) Tourism

On the business side you need:
1) Storefront

2) Lots of bikes

3) Insurance

4) Marketing

The very first thing I would do is some benchmarking. Talk to a number of small business owners in the bike rental business. Pick up the phone and bend their ears.

 

[DougC]

I know that on the Katy Trail near St Louis, there are a couple shops that rent bikes. You might email them and ask what their advice would be; you're far enough away that I doubt they'll consider you any competition.

Also there is some info on the Worksman site about a bike rental company in Hawaii. They rent you a bike and haul it & you to the top of the mountains, so you can coast down. That sounds like an awesome idea--including hauling people UP the mountain. Lots of people who don't ride at all would want to do the "easy part" of such a ride. Nobody who needed to rent a bike would ever want to pedal up the mountain first.
~

 

[ifitsfreeitsforme]

I'd combine the space with some other income stream so when one is down, the other is up and your income is more dependable. Maybe some local artist consignment space?

 

[outskirtscustoms]

Yeah sounds great but insurance might be a bit pricey, I wanted to start a used part mart but insurance would eat up all my profit and then some. I just do it out of my back yard now and tell everybody they are used parts and no guarantees.

 

[Gold Street Customs]

The area I was thinking , is a little town called Upper Lake , the main st is mainly antique shops,an old hotel restored at the end of the st , there is even an vintage plumbing store with clawfoot tubs ect. I am thinking sales and rentals, I have a bunch of english bikes, maybe picking up a couple of BFK's and a few stretch cruisers, and building some old school bmx to rent, I also have like 10,000 hot wheels that I could sell on the side, still tossing ideas around :wink:

 

[gowjobs]

Klunker/Bomber rentals... that'd be AWESOME.

 

[udallcustombikes]

You should really talk to Jon and 10~18 Customs about their shop in the KC area. Good luck!

 

[rico]

I'd combine the space with some other income stream so when one is down, the other is up and your income is more dependable. Maybe some local artist consignment space?

i do agread something like a hot dog , ice cream parlor or even a hamburger spot combine you will never go wrong people got to eat after a great run specialy on a vintage bike :wink:

 

[StephenH]

My thoughts:
The average renter wouldn't know a vintage bike if it bit him. That being the case, you need vintage-style bikes, not vintage bikes. That way, they can all be the same type, brand, etc. It might also help if they were light, rather than heavy.

Your customers might equally like to rent surreys or other non-vintage bikes.

If you ride much, you build up your legs, and can tool around pretty good on a single-speed. But if you have ANY hills at all, people that rent bikes are going to have trouble getting around on a single-speed. I remember last year on the "Tweed Ride" here in Dallas, i saw some people walking bikes up a hill where I wouldn't have even noticed there WAS a hill.

Having seats that you can raise and lower without tools would be advantageous.

On the sleds, I'm not so sure. We used to live near Rocky Mountain National Park up in Colorado, and took the kids sledding some. What worked best for them was the saucer sleds, and you can buy those for like $8, or could then. I don't think I've ever seen snow conditions that would allow one of those Flexible-Flyer sleds to operate. And it was just hard to find good sledding areas, period. Cross-country-ski and snowshoe rental would be other items to consider, but those require a little expertise to use and to rent.

 

[Gold Street Customs]

I should explain my area a little better, the town of Upper Lake is a flat country town with posts for tying your horse up on main st ,there are some really cool levee's to ride on ,pear & walnut orchards make up the landscape surrounded by mountains. This town is on the north end of the largest natural lake in California, lots of roadbike tours go on around here, there are mt bike trails in the area, but I despise working on Mt Bikes unless they are early eighties period (plastic components suck ).

 

[socal_jack]

but I despise working on Mt Bikes unless they are early eighties period (plastic components suck ).

Can't speak for the lower end mtbs (Magna, Pacific etc) which aren't really meant for mountain biking anyway but I don't believe there's any larger percentage of plastic on newer mtbs than ones in the 80s/90s, however there have been many improvements in components; shifters, derailleurs, disc brakes(huge) even on medium-level bikes to mention a few that would at the very least make maintenance easier and the bike safer. My 80s and 90s mtbs were a PITA especially shifter/derailleur/rim brakes needing constant adjustment. Disc brakes just flat out work in any weather conditions compared to rim brakes, although I stick with mechanicals and have never even had to change a pad. My SRAM drivetrains are set and forget with smooth shifting.

 

[motopsyco]

I think that vintage style bikes rather than actual vintage bikes would be the way to go for a good example check out these guys in Charleston S.C. http://affordabike.com/
They have a cool setup based on cheap cruisers that they assemble themselves with various options and low cost rentals.

 

[arlingtonchopshop]

You should really talk to Jon and 10~18 Customs about their shop in the KC area. Good luck!

info/website?

 

[udallcustombikes]

You should really talk to Jon and 10~18 Customs about their shop in the KC area. Good luck!

info/website?

Website
http://www.1018kustoms.com/index.html

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