[TheThinkTank] Random Thought: Creating a bicycle parts/tools distributor for Community Bike Shops.

[joshua muir]

I think it's a pretty great idea too, with lots of potential- would take
some capital and finding space and some heavy organizational structure, but
doable.

josh

On Wed, Mar 12, 2008 at 6:31 PM, yellow bike <austinyellowbike at gmail.com>
wrote:

> I think this sounds like a great idea, and only wonder who would run this
> distribution co-op.  At any rate, it seems worth looking into how hard this
> sort of thing would really be to set up . . .
>
> nice random thoughts and brainstorming always welcome in my book . . .
>
> jennifer
> austin yellow bike
>
> On Wed, Mar 12, 2008 at 6:32 PM, Jonathan Morrison <
> jonathan at slcbikecollective.org> wrote:
>
> > Distributors (
> > http://www.bikecollectives.org/wiki/index.php?title=Distributors) are
> > just the middle men separating manufacturers from retailers.  Just like food
> > cooperatives that buy in bulk and disseminate food at bulk rates, we could
> > do that with bike parts.  For those of us that buy using distributors it
> > would save an roughly 25% off of wholesale, and for those community bike
> > shops that aren't established enough to get a distributor account -- we
> > would be providing an option that is 75% off of MSRP.
> >
> > Ideally we would get accounts with tool manufacturers like park tool,
> > pedros, hozan, etc.,... as well as wearable items like grease, bearing,
> > chain lube, patch manufacturers, and then lower-end (but quality) parts
> > manufacturers for things that we don't get enough of donated, or that aren't
> > worth re-using.  This will be different for each shop, but as an example in
> > SLC we don't re-use bearings, spokes, cables or housing -- they get recycled
> > and we put new ones on bikes.  We also buy new road tires (27" & 700c)
> > because we don't have enough decent ones donated, either they are too worn
> > or dried out.
> >
> > I can think of 2 conclusions:
> >
> > 1) It isn't worth doing.  The 25% cut a distributor gets is worth paying
> > given the hassle and it is just another random thought that might result in
> > spending $5 to save $3.
> > 2) It is worth doing.
> >
> > --
> > Sincerely,
> >
> > Jonathan Morrison
> > Executive Director
> > Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective
> > 2312 S. West Temple
> > Salt Lake City, UT 84115
> > w: 801-328-2453
> > c: 801-688-0183
> > f: 801-466-3856
> > www.slcbikecollective.org
> >
> > Get Addicted to Crank!
> > http://www.slcbikecollective.org/crank/
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> >
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> >
> >
>
>
> --
> Web Servant
> Austin's Yellow Bike | www.austinyellowbike.org
>
> "Be the change you would like to see in the world." - Gandhi
> "Keep Cycling: it is Undoubtedly the Best form of Activism there is."
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-- 

Joshua Muir
joshua at santacruzhub.org

Frances Cycles -- francescycles.com
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