Fixing bikes etc for a living again

Just started fixing bikes for a living again from home...........any suppliers out there who would like to supply me with the basic stuff , tubes , cables etc.........some of my old suppliers who i spent loads of money with over the years are being chicken regarding upsetting other local shops ! Hey i was trading before they were a twinkle of GT85 in their............
Just after cash accounts..........no credit ta

I'm doing this too (linky in sig)

I've not yet set up any accounts, but when working in the bike shop we used MooreLarge, who were very good, but a little limited (not much Shimano/Sram) but do stock all the normal usable items (cables brake pads, tubes, tyres...)

Massi were also pretty good & good value (got my SLX chainset from them) they can get some Shimano

Really need to get off my arse & sort it out soon as ordering from CRC & the like isn't good for the profit!

Both used cash up front payments before setting up a credit account with the shop.

Ditto Arthur neal in caversham, reading way (dunno where you are, so you may be off the radar for rep visits). Always supportive of the little guy, to the point of even selling 16 spokes rather than the box if that was what was needed. . .
May be worth a try.
Chicken etc needed large minimum orders (but a partner shop helped me out there when I needed Campag stuff), and they swung me the light engineering work too, milling and stuff. . .

Aye yes delt with all but 1 of those before, ......isn't Dale from the Silo working for Massi now ?......CRC will knock the vat off if your vat registered. I am gonna stick to profit on labour as it's so competitive out there stocking stuff at home is a waste of time............ profit on cables inners and outers and tubes is good if you can shift enough...........but labour charges is where it's at..........with low overheads it will be enough for me..........already had people knocking on the door and i'm not officially started yet.............but i still have my old customer base out there when i used to run a shop..................thinking of putting a couple of benches outside and doing tea and cake..................national cycle route outside my front door and in the middle (sort of) of a big forest with a built trail in it......looking forward to a more 'me' designed work day

Yup, carrying a lot of stock is a waste of cash seen as there are so many different types of X, Y or Z, I do keep a basic level of stock, all of which could be used by me on my bikes, so no big loss if it goes belly up.

Dunno about Dale working for Massi, I only dealt with the area rep (Steve... suumatorother...)

low overheads is the way to go as it was the overheads that killed the shop I was managing (financial stuff was done my the MD of the parent company)

it was quite an eye opener seeing what some bike parts do cost to the trade, but the same can be said for any sort of business there will always be some parts that give very good profit margins even if you do undercut the local competition cos you can due to low overheads

Sounds like you have an ideal location greenstiles, I'm stuck in the middle of a town with several bike shops in the area (although you can only really trust 3 of them to do a proper job @ a good price).

Being 'Mobile Bicycle Repairman' I also have to factor in fuel & wear & tear on the car, but as I get 40-50mpg it doesn't knock the profit too much

Good luck with your venture greenstiles, if mine goes belly up & you need a hand...

Hmm.........some interesting parallels ...........i'm doing 'call outs possible' using a weekly bus ticket (£15) as my motorbike was sold to fund this venture............will get another soon. I am right in the middle of the 2 towns i used to have customers in so a call out for me is just a quick ride on a bus to either town 10 - 15 mins............being in the sticks most people are concentrated in these 2 areas..........but when i used run a shop people were quite happy to bring their bike by car if they had to..........yes overheads..... and also bad budgeting killed our small chain of shops. In the winter the manager of one shop would spend reams of cash re-vamping his shop all the time hoping to draw people in............instead of saving it............say no more