Greetings Kale,
The shop that I helped start (www.thebikecave.org) is in its infancy
and is aiming to maybe start the paperwork to become a non profit in
the next year. Right now it is a "community service" under auxiliary
services at Texas State University, but we are far from exclusive to
students with our open arms community view. Let me know if you come
up with good advice on this subject, and I echo the call for
experiences as well.
To get away from liability, we talked with the campus lawyer and they
recommended that we SELL bikes, parts, etc. outright to people thus
stripping the university of liability. That is one solution, and the
only we have tried yet. Just like a for profit bike shop - if someone
buys a bike, gets hurt, you cant sue the local bike shop that sold it
to them! Or at least I hope not!
Taylor the bike cave San Marcos, Texas www.thebikecave.org