so i started a bike shop. update 28/11/24

[jonnyboy666]

Re:

Hey guys

The shop number is 02380 890712, but I'm currently on holiday in morzine so the shop is closed until the 25th!

 

[fagin]

Re: so i started a bike shop. update 01/07/17

Obviously making far too much money.

 

[66 triumph daytona]

Re:

I`d love to have an lbs like this,good to see its working out.

 

[Kestonian]

Re:

JB666 - I'm not on here much these days but just logged in to say that the shop looks amazing! So pleased it is going well for you.

I'm on the other side of the world now but will drop by when I'm next in the area!

 

[jonnyboy666]

Re:

hey Guys, thought i'd do another little update as it's been a while.

thanks for the comments etc and hello Kestonian, long time!

so the last update was really just after Mayhem, good weekend that and nice unexpected lap aswel which wasn't the plan!

first of all i'll tell you about the finances a bit, the first year i didn't pay myself at all, i made sure i had enough to live on so the plan was to start paying myself from may this year, which i have been doing but only enough to get by and no more, my attitude is that if i want this to look after me long term i need to let it grow slowly and not try and rip money out too early, by the end of this year i'll have paid myself the equivalent of minimum wage which is not too bad really, bear in mind i have also been trying to grow the stock aswel, at some point the stock level will top out at which point i'll be replacing stuff that sells as opposed to growing the stock, at this point i should be able to pay myself a bit more sensibly. but for the moment it's ticking over ok for the shop and me personally.

i managed to get a week in the Alps with some friends, i paid for this out of flogging my old stuff (so please buy the wheels etc i have for sale on the forum as that's going towards next years holiday!) the friends that came with me were my buddy Dave on his YT Jeffsy, Ben AKA B3, he came back from NZ with me a couple of years ago, he now works for Specialized UK, also our mutual friend from Burkes Cycles NZ was on a round the world after Uni trip so joined us aswel so the 4 or us had a blast riding there. Tom also rode the Isle of Wight with me before Morzine so that was fun to take him out on some local trails.

Tom likes the taste of Orange
IMG_7716 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

the Tennyson Monument
IMG_7719 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

the Burkes Cycles stickers get everywhere
IMG_7722 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

out for a curry night in Brick Lane in London, it was watch wars
IMG_7726 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

before i headed of to Morzine i went to meet CK and JB at Look Mum No Hands in London, i was a bit late but it was a great evening and because we were all staying in a similar place towards Heathrow we were on the Tube for almost another hour together talking bike stuff so that was fun, the next day i met them at Charlie the Bikemongers event in Swanage so i basically had 3 days with these guys including sitting in on the Cranked magazine interview with Mike D and Seb, awesome few days
IMG_7742 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

the only selfie i have ever taken and 2 legends were in the pic, this was during the Cranked interview
IMG_7749 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

the start of the ride on saturday in Swanage
IMG_7756 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

then straight back from Swanage to home, quick shower and off to Morzine the same day! first day riding, L to R. Me, Tom, Dave, B3. this was at the top of SuperMorzine.
IMG_7774 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

obigatory pic from the top of the Mossette peak looking back down Puncture alley.
IMG_7785 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

IMG_7786 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

while i was in Morzine Tom insisted i get pissed, he knows i'm not a big drinker, but i said i'd give him one night, he then said i had to promise i'd stay out till atleast 2am, this was Tom on his balcony at midnight after we'd lost him, B3 found him on their balcony and sent me this pic
IMG_7792 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

 

[jonnyboy666]

Re:

ok so back to the shop

slowly getting organized
IMG_7729 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

this bolt on tool to hold the BB tool in place has been worth it, so many seized BB's from the local refinery commuters, the atmosphere in there is so bad, salt corrosion/sulpher corrosion/rust etc means the tool can slip so easily when you're really swinging on the tool, this tool from Pedros is very useful
IMG_7731 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

this Casati bike was supplied by Comtat cycles over in Fareham, i recommended the customer go there for a bike fit as he was 6'5" and i said no shop locally with have anything for him in stock and the fit would be critical as he wanted to ride an old TDF route in August, this bike was about £2500 including the bike fit, Adam was so pleased with it and i serviced it for him before he went to France on it, his parents followed him in their camper and he rode about 3400km in less than a month
IMG_8024 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

then i get the opposite end of the scale to bring me back down to earth, a Boardman MTB, about £700 at retail and looks like this (should have taken after pics)
IMG_8047 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

IMG_8048 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

IMG_8049 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

IMG_8050 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

IMG_8051 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

IMG_8052 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

IMG_8053 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

IMG_8054 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

i also manged to get enough Pre sales to make it worth stocking Exposure lights, most of my Tuesday night ride guys had them
IMG_8055 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

IMG_8056 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

IMG_8057 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

IMG_8061 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

the shop ride the night almost everyone in the 11 person group had got an Exposure light
IMG_8067 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

IMG_8072 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

IMG_8080 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

IMG_8082 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

IMG_8079 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

 

[firedfromthecircus]

Re: Re:

first of all i'll tell you about the finances a bit, the first year i didn't pay myself at all, i made sure i had enough to live on so the plan was to start paying myself from may this year, which i have been doing but only enough to get by and no more, my attitude is that if i want this to look after me long term i need to let it grow slowly and not try and rip money out too early, by the end of this year i'll have paid myself the equivalent of minimum wage which is not too bad really, bear in mind i have also been trying to grow the stock aswel, at some point the stock level will top out at which point i'll be replacing stuff that sells as opposed to growing the stock, at this point i should be able to pay myself a bit more sensibly. but for the moment it's ticking over ok for the shop and me personally.

Glad to hear it's working out for you. Sounds like quite a long hard road and you are sticking at it so you'll deserve the rewards when they come.

I'm interested to know what % of your income is from straight sales, what from servicing and what from servicing sales IYSWIM? The amount of work you can do on customers bikes is going to be the first limiting factor I suppose to how much more you can grow without employing staff. You anywhere near that limit yet?

 

[FairfaxPat]

Re:

Boy Jon, did you have a fun summer or what? The shots of Morzine are fantastic- I'd love to ride there sometime. That crusty bike was absolutely the worst I've seen in awhile, looks like a real POS. Also always nice to see pics of my homeboys, CK and JB...

 

[jonnyboy666]

Re:

in all honesty i don't know what the split is, i'm not computerized on the till so i don't have that information, it is something i will need to know and frankly (stupidly) it's a figure that i don't actually record but i should.

i could be worked back though via the books, but it would be a bit of a pain, it would be easier to just record it daily to build up a picture, i do that with my day planner in the front of my diary so i know exactly what money i took on the same day the previous year.

the biggest problem i have is that i'm in danger of breaking the VAT threshold, the problem with this is it means my labour will have to have VAT on it, it currently doesn't so to earn the same amount the customer gets charged more, not being VAT registered has helped keep the labour rate to the customer down, that said even with VAT i'd still be way less than any local shop in a 30 mile radius if not more.

the other issue the VAT would bring is another bill, but the biggest issue is that it's ideal to be just under the VAT threshold or about £20,000 in excess of it, suddenly increasing sales £20,000 in a year would be hard and the only way i can think of doing it relatively easily is with Electric bikes, there are several good brands out there and if you said an average electric bike cost was £1,500 then selling 10 to 15 of those a year would easily create that jump in turnover to make the VAT thing less of a financial issue, potentially selling one bike a month to get £18,000 to £22,500 extra a year is quite a good way to jump the turnover up without sacrificing too much time away from the workshop but then comes the flipside, space to house those bikes is an issue.

the problem is i never wanted to stock bikes, but i feel like some local shops are making such a mess of dealing with people that people are asking me to stock bikes or "can you get . . . .?" etc, it's a bit of a nightmare really, i'll make the decision by next spring as i don't want to put anything costly in now in the quiet season, i'd rather get stuff in March going into the spring as opposed to sit on that amount of high value stock over the winter.

we'll see what happens

 

[jonnyboy666]

Re: Re:

Boy Jon, did you have a fun summer or what? The shots of Morzine are fantastic- I'd love to ride there sometime. That crusty bike was absolutely the worst I've seen in awhile, looks like a real POS. Also always nice to see pics of my homeboys, CK and JB...

was pretty good to be fair but the hours have been hard just to keep up with the amount of work!!