....about opening a bike shop :facepalm:
No, it's not the whisky talking (/typing), it's an actual idea that's been floating around in my head for a good few months now. I've read through Tel's recent thread about starting his own shop, considered all the opinions and advice offered, and still find myself thinking that it could be a good plan.
I'm aware that I'd need to gain a qualification as a mechanic, along with all the other headaches & minutiae of starting & running a business, but I believe that the pleasure of being my own boss would more than compensate for the associated grief.
At present, there are no actual bike shops on the island on which I live. The nearest mainland town has one LBS (a fairly large outfit, whose prices could conceivably be beaten) and a Hellfrauds. The local council takes cycle tourism very seriously, and has a decent B-road network designated as a bike route; there are plenty of tourists who come over from Europe purely to ride on the island, or at least to start here before moving on to the mountains on the mainland.
I wouldn't be aiming for the BSO market (Hellfrauds is less than 20 miles away) and there are already at least 2 companies offering local bike hire, so I'd be purely a repair/quality sales outfit. I'm also aware that I'd need a good presence on the interwebz, and can get a very slick-looking site built professionally by a friend.
I guess I'm basically looking for problems that I may have overlooked. Apart from the obvious question of why there are no LBSs on the island (I don't know, and how would I find out?), I'd like to hear some informed opinions on why my enterprise would fail, so I can try and troubleshoot. I know I sound pretty green, but it's the one thing I'd really like to try before going back to a dead-end job.
No, it's not the whisky talking (/typing), it's an actual idea that's been floating around in my head for a good few months now. I've read through Tel's recent thread about starting his own shop, considered all the opinions and advice offered, and still find myself thinking that it could be a good plan.
I'm aware that I'd need to gain a qualification as a mechanic, along with all the other headaches & minutiae of starting & running a business, but I believe that the pleasure of being my own boss would more than compensate for the associated grief.
At present, there are no actual bike shops on the island on which I live. The nearest mainland town has one LBS (a fairly large outfit, whose prices could conceivably be beaten) and a Hellfrauds. The local council takes cycle tourism very seriously, and has a decent B-road network designated as a bike route; there are plenty of tourists who come over from Europe purely to ride on the island, or at least to start here before moving on to the mountains on the mainland.
I wouldn't be aiming for the BSO market (Hellfrauds is less than 20 miles away) and there are already at least 2 companies offering local bike hire, so I'd be purely a repair/quality sales outfit. I'm also aware that I'd need a good presence on the interwebz, and can get a very slick-looking site built professionally by a friend.
I guess I'm basically looking for problems that I may have overlooked. Apart from the obvious question of why there are no LBSs on the island (I don't know, and how would I find out?), I'd like to hear some informed opinions on why my enterprise would fail, so I can try and troubleshoot. I know I sound pretty green, but it's the one thing I'd really like to try before going back to a dead-end job.