I strongly advise not to take on being a repair space. be ever skeptical of people leaving their bikes or bike projects in the space. By creating a space for learning and DIY comradery you will in return repair more bikes and accomidate more people within your cooperative/ collective / community.
Geoffrey B Bike Pirates Toronto
On 7/27/10, Gervase Gallant gervasegallant@yahoo.com wrote:
Andrew, we started doing doing repairs here in Des Moines, but eventually had to advise people we were too busy to take any more. First thing you should know is that drop-off repairs eat up a lot of shop space. We found that it was a very tight squeeze between bikes coming in and repair bikes. Also, there's a subtle difference between repairing someone's bike and refurbishing a donation. If a volunteer might completely ruin a part on a donation, we can usually find something to replace it. On a customer repair, we might have to order in a part and eat the cost. Also, you need to store repair bikes cautiously so that they don't get scratched or otherwise damaged. On the other hand, I don't think competition with LBSes in the area was a problem. In fact, most LBSes are so swamped early in the year, they would probably welcome some competition. Our shop is situated in an area of town where there's no competing LBS. You may also be fortunate in that you have someone who understands repairs and is willing to do what it takes to move the business along. Our co-op was so swamped with repairs that we had no resources for getting donations out... which is our primary focus. We'd like to someday get back to doing repairs, as there is a real need for it in the area. Please let us know how it goes for you. Gervase Gallant Des Moines Bike Collective: Commuter Corner http://dsmcommutercorner.wordpress.com/
--- On Tue, 7/27/10, Davis, Andrew ADavis@akronohio.gov wrote:
From: Davis, Andrew ADavis@akronohio.gov Subject: [TheThinkTank] Drop-off repairs To: "'The Think Tank'" thethinktank@bikecollectives.org Date: Tuesday, July 27, 2010, 10:46 AM
Do any of the co-ops do “drop-off repairs”? If so, how is this set-up? One of our founding members is a former bike repair shop owner (retired – with a lot of wrench knowledge), and wants to gravitate to doing this as part of service offered – his experience was repairs was main business with retail an add-on. I have some reservations – it wasn’t our intent to directly compete with local bike shops on repairs, the other is maintaining the educational focus. Anyone with experience on this issue?
Andy - Akron , OH
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