Hey Troy,
Our business model involves taking donated bikes & parts, using experienced volunteers to train inexperienced volunteers to overhaul the bikes and retailing the bikes back to the public to generate the income to pay our rent and buy tools & supplies. For each hour volunteered the volunteers earn an hour of shop time they can use to work on their own projects. We supplement our income by charging non-volunteers $5/hr to use the shop and selling surplus used parts. We include consumable shop supplies (grease, oil, etc.) at no additional cost.
Since we are only open in the evenings we are in talks with another group that wants to lease our shop during the day to train disadvantaged people as bicycle mechanics.
We have avoided retailing any new bikes or parts to minimize competition with the local retail bike shops many of which support us with donations of used bikes & parts and a deep discount on any tools or new parts needed to complete our overhauls.
Chris
--- "andrew L." anyone@breathingplanet.net wrote:
hello bike bikers and beyond,
I am looking for working examples of commercial/non-commercial hybrid
operations.... either commercial shops with 'community bike' programs, or community bike shops that are affiliated or have taken on a commercial angle - investing in or selling high-end bikes, tricycles, or other human powered vehicles. Please let me know! I am interested in learning about the pitfalls and benefits of such an arrangement and developing new and interesting models for this type of collaboration. I would be happy to share more information/discussion with individuals offlist.
ovr&out Andrew Troy, NY _______________________________________________ Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org
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Chris Wells (Head Mechanic & Email Handler)
re-Cycles Bicycle Co-op 112 Nelson St. Ottawa
Open 6pm-9pm Tuesdays & Thursdays
info@re-cycles.ca http://www.re-cycles.ca/