Seeking feedback - Bike Build Services? please read

[Ziggy]

Had you also thought about going the other way and buying up whole bikes and parting them out? Don't know if there's much money in it, but at least you'd still be faffing about with bikes.

I'd have thought you'd do better from something like the above (and possibly building up bikes to sell too). Keep a constant watch on eBay for anything local that's collection-only!

Personally, I'm quite happy spending more time tinkering than riding

 

[lewis1641]

Had you also thought about going the other way and buying up whole bikes and parting them out? Don't know if there's much money in it, but at least you'd still be faffing about with bikes.

i did that with a kona once. made £3 clear profit!


wadsy, dont be put off by negative comments. people tend to err on the side of caution.

you copuld do all manner of things on a small scale with little outlay such as repairing local bikes, buying bikes to break for spares etc.

i see plenty of bikes on ebay missing parts like wheels and they fetch nothing. you might not make a full time living but its worth giving it a go

 

[wadsy]

Thanks again for the input I think a combination of bike related 'faffing' may well be the way forward and see how it goes - health permitting :?

Cheers

 

[Andy R]

How about specialising in wheel building ? Most people don't seem to want to tackle it themselves (unlike most other stuff on bikes). You don't need that much in the way of expensive equipment (truing stand, dishing gauge) and, depending on where you live obviously, you might find that there's quite a demand for a high quality, fast turnaround service.

You don't need a workshop or anything either, you can work wherever suits - in the house in winter, out in the sun in the summer...

You'd just need to do a few and get known for doing a good job.

Just a thought anyway (I've considered doing this myself actually, but so far I've been too slack to do anything about it) .

 

[CAS]

How about specialising in wheel building ? Most people don't seem to want to tackle it themselves (unlike most other stuff on bikes). You don't need that much in the way of expensive equipment (truing stand, dishing gauge) and, depending on where you live obviously, you might find that there's quite a demand for a high quality, fast turnaround service.

You don't need a workshop or anything either, you can work wherever suits - in the house in winter, out in the sun in the summer...

You'd just need to do a few and get known for doing a good job.

Just a thought anyway (I've considered doing this myself actually, but so far I've been too slack to do anything about it) .

Think CycleWales have a short course just on wheel building if you don't already have the skills. - I've thought about it but still have far too much to learn to go there for awhile yet!

 

[fatandforty]

tooling could be an issue as well. You need a few specialist tools to take things apart and put them back together again but as time goes on that list could be endless. And also some jobs that you may find yourself having to do on older bikes that need fixing can be a lkot of money. I'm thinking BB taps and facing kit, drop out alignment kit that sort of stuff.

Most Bike shops alrady have this and don't charge to much just for one quick job.