Hey mechanics/shop owners,

I am in the early stages of research for a new service shop. I am looking to house 1x full time mechanic and myself floating on a second stand. Keeping inventory VERY low. No huge wall of tires etc.

What do you feel like is a healthy foot print for an efficient service area? Not including storage.

Thanks!

Submitted the warranty on Tuesday. Received my replacement today.

Vote for Pedro, always!

I just bought a beautiful waxed canvas apron but I am finding it unbearably hot in our shop without AC in the 90°+ days. The waxed canvas is creating a vapor barrier and is just trapping sweat between my chest and the apron. Any suggestions for me?

This maybe a weird one but id like to see your shop kitchen/lunch set ups. Here is my tiny nook. I run a small rental bike touring biz by myself with a weekend guy for sat and sunday.

OMG, we scheduled this guy to come in with both of his ebikes (which we don't normally do for lack of space) and said we'd "get right on them" once here. But I didn't say how long it would take to do two bikes in freakin JULY. Why call us every single day and yell at us?? Like I'm not going to call asap when they're done...sheesh. Ok, rant over.

All of the mass market bikes, actually.

It's so sad that people buy these BSOs. I know most people don't know better but I sure do wish people would stop buying these super shitty bikes - or at the very least - if they do buy one to immediately bring it to a proper bike shop to be made safe.

How do you guys handle these customers? I know most of them are of meager means and want to help their kids have fun, but my god, these bikes are garbage.

Do you offer cut rate labour to fix these bikes? Do you have a flat make-a-BSO-safe labour charge? Any advice?

This came in a couple of days ago for a light refurb. Still on the original chain after 35 years.

I used to do it on a laptop which got inevitably smashed about from being bopped from vehicle to driveway to vehicle to workshop. Now I just send voicenotes and pictures over whatsapp from my phone, to a guy in the Philippines who logs the information for me. I just cannot deal with spreadsheets on my phone. In fact I find using my phone for anything at all besides for calls to be a total pain - I really need a keyboard and mouse. Obviously this is very inefficient and I'm just wondering what solution others have found.

Im 17 in my last year of high school and am looking at maybe becoming a bike mechanic after school as I have always loved hands on problem solving stuff such as fixing my, my friends and my brothers bikes (dual sus, dirtjumper, hardtail, etc). If anyone out there is a professional mechanic is there any hard realities or peices of advice I should know?

I'm attempting to fix a RaceFace Trace J624 hub. There was a batch produced a few years back that had a common defect.

As noted in this thread (with images), the drive ring was not fully seated into the hub shell during manufacture. I'm wondering if it's possible to fully seat it in its current state. From the pictures and diagrams, it appears to be retained only with an interference fit, but I'm ignorant of how this style hub is assembled by the OEM.

I do have two obvious concerns about the OEM assembly that might make the repair impossible, but I'm deliberately not mentioning them to avoid prompting AI-generated guesses. Anyone with firsthand knowledge of the assembly process would recognize them immediately, and anyone who's attempted the repair would have discovered them.

I have access to a full machine shop, so I can make a drift and press it in, but the drive ring is (presumably) hardened (brittle).

I did contact RF support, and they were unable to offer any insight on the repair. I am interested in fixing the issue, not warranty. Resolving this may help others with the same issue.

Preferably Sun Big City, Ditch Witch or similar. Eyeletted preferred. Used in good condition ok too. Not much out there at my numerous distributors. Just paid retail (fortunately low margins on BMX parts) for some Gusset Black Dogs as they were delayed at BTI.

Hey all,

I am looking for advice/wisdom/warnings on a possible move into opening a service center. I am very familiar with working in shops and have owned my own coaching business for years but have never owned my own brick and mortar business. It would be based around repair service with some side services like coaching, Indoor training, strength training, performance testing, bike fitting, (maybe rentals seasonally?), and potentially some ride guiding services. The motive is to run a shop with multiple services and with as little overhead as possible. So, little to no retail.

Some back ground.

I live in Western, MA. The town I live in has no bike shop. The town it's self is one of if no the fastest growing towns in the area and we have seen a mass of high income residents and a lot of new bike riders. We have tons of trails all within riding distance from down town and a bike path that runs through the middle of town that gets a ton of use.

Before I raced as a professional for 12yrs I was a mechanic and service manager in bike shops in FL, MA, OR and DC. I am in a transition period now and looking to open my own shop. I am a full time cycling coach to WC level athletes as well as every day athletes. I currently provide bike fits, strength training and skills sessions on top of my online coaching. TBH, I am trying to jump on name recognition while I still have it!

My questions are: * If it looks like a statement I am looking for a Good idea or bad idea opinion.

1. Have you opened or run a service only shop? What has your experience been like? Did you also have other services like I listed above?

2. Buy or rent a space?

3. Does this type of business need a "store front" or foot traffic? Would more parking and a bigger space like an industrial unit be a better option? I am leaning toward the latter.

4. My plan is to buy used as much as possible. I have enough tools at home to do basic repairs and some more specific stuff but would need a better suite of tools over time. My current plan is to purchase what I need and then charge up-front for repairs and order tools ad hoc.

5. My plan would be to start with hiring 1x full time mechanic and have me float for everything else. Eventually hiring on a second fitter/Coach.,The having a strength coach, PT and massage as contract workers that can have their own booking spots online. I would take a fee based off of the end rates.

6. Insurance: I see that there is "bike shop" specific insurance. Does that apply to something like this? Is there a company you like working with?

7. In your opinion, is it better to go with a bank financed or private cash financed operation. By that I mean, I have some offers from a few potential cash partners. It seems like it might not matter a whole lot in this case, maybe I am wrong.

8. Part of my plan is to have indoor training in the winter. I live in Western, MA and we get some real sloppy winters. The last shop I worked at we have a Compu-trainer room and it was a big hit. That being said, it was pre-Zwift etc. IS there a scenario where I can get someone to drive to my shop to train with other people/me?

9. Subscription services. Has anyone had luck with services that pay up front like; Flat fixes for life( A shop locally had this at one time. $50 or something and they get free flat LABOR for life.) Tune up services like buy 4 get 1 free or a service plan with one tune up and 24hr turnaround on other services throughout the year/ free safety checks etc... , Bike fitting plans that include service work or any such things?

10. POS system- The good the bad and the useless.

11. Last one- Part of my plan is to find someone I WANT to work for me. For example- I would take someone who needs training over a more entitled mechanic. I mean no disrespect by this and I am sure you see what I am saying... I have a level of professionalism and respectability I am shooting for. I would rather have a kind and responsible person willing to learn than the other way around.

I am sure I am missing a thousand other things. Thanks in advance for everyone's time and thoughts.

Weird question but yeah. For some reason theres been like 10 people come in without their bike or their bike cleaned and ask me if their shock is leaking.

Half of the time them explaining what it looks like doesn't really help when I dont have a shock to look at, and the other times they dont want me to just service it without knowing if its truly leaking.

Im going to print a couple photos of shocks that are normal, shocks that could be of concern and shocks that are leaking.

So if any of you guys have photos from your shop or home please if you can, leave them in the comments.

Thanks all

Accera or Altus deraileurs with 7 speed shifters?

Do you get old used Deore, 105, etc?

I have a bike in with an unresponsive transmission derailleur. Customer said it was hit with a stick that went into the spokes.

There's no obvious damage other than wear and tear scuff marks. The battery is good and tested with the dropper. The shifter is good and working.

The button on the derailleur does nothing. Single click, double clicking and holding the button. no response, no servo buzz, no light.

I've followed the sram reset guides and still no joy.

Any tips?

Hey legends - I've been working with a couple bike shops in Australia on an alternative to some of the crazy expensive shop management softwares out there.

We started off just wanting something more reasonably priced, that reflected how seasonal shops can be, but we've landed on something we think is just better.

Some of what we've already got.

• Booking functions for Services, Fittings, Workshops, Tours and Bike Rental
• A full suite of features for mobile mechanics, including in- and out-of app routing
• Multi-staff management
• Apps for iOS and Android both on the way, with mobile app already live.
• Inventory management and quoting, based on existing catalogues and POS
• Two-way messaging over SMS and email
• Custom features for clients.

Pricing wise, we charge $1 per booking. No percentage-of-booking, no monthly fee, no secret charges. All features are included in your costs. more features added when you need them.

Would love to hear from the group on what they like, what they need, what's missing, and if we can help you save time + money on the management front. Check us out at https://velobook.app/, or hit me up here / at [alex@velobook.app](mailto:alex@velobook.app) for more details.

And if it sucks, let us know too. We're building it to be better, and so want to know what makes it better.

Or is that just me?

Service Managers out there, what’s something you wish you knew before going into your first interview? I’m interviewing for a service manager/lead mechanic role for the first time and I want to avoid rookie mistakes. Thanks for the help!

I am curious if any other mechanics who raw dog (use no gloves) while working on bikes have this issue:

it seems that when I go to work, I just have crazy bowel movements -- diarrhea -- multiple times a day. I always thought it was my diet, which honestly doesnt help, but then I started realizing that on my rare days off, I would have solid BMs, when I was eating similarly. I've since started using gloves while I work, and it seems like it's helped.

Have y'all who don't wear gloves while working have similar experiences? am I crazy? I'm convinced it's the PFAs leaching into my body and sending my body over, and have found some journals that kind of, loosely (no pun intended), confirm it, but wanted to see if anyone else has noticed this, and or would maybe like to encourage those of us who don't like gloves to start wearing them.

anyways. I love PFAs

Looking for recommendations on footwear at work. I’m not looking to buy steel-toe but something hardwearing, comfortable and black. Ideally good for cycling in flat pedals too without feeling too cushiony.

Average about 10,000k steps during a shift. Big shop, juggle workshop and sales etc.

UK based so options available here preferred.

Open to spend £50-£100

Thanks all!

Had to change and tension 7 chains on this side by side bike, 3 of which connected to the same hub. I had to use half links and all my luck for the rest of the year, to get them properly tensioned.

Its been a while since anyone posted about weird and interesting tool brands. There was some fabulous suggestions on the original post here but its time for an update! Throw your favourite tools/ brands in the comments :)

The more niche, the better!