If you can fix a bike, you can fix a car.

[jcr]

but can you fix yourself stable and fruitful employment?

That is the question.

About 6 months ago I abruptly left my job as a ground handler at Stansted (in the same way I left my job prior at Halfords). The unsociable hours were beginning to make me ill. 

I had long given up trying to get a decent job, as I reckoned I wasn't cut out for office work, nor did I want to live in a damp flatshare in north London for four figures a month, where most graduate gigs are. Nor was I cut out for externally applied stress or pressure, or generally being told what to do. I could hack a grunt work, switch brain off job, but not until falling out with someone. So much for the student debt.

So I quit, after one 0350 wake-up / one shouty Essex dweller too many.

I had, however, been fixing (push/e-)bikes on the side with my friend and former Halfords colleague. He's actually good at it, and has years of experience, whereas I to begin with had never trued a wheel, tightened a hub or replaced a bottom bracket. We started in a hundred quid Clarke garage tent on the yard I rent, collecting and delivering them in my car. And it turned out people loved it. We caught the end of the summer season - just - and I ended up replying to customers inside the holds of 737s... Now we have two shipping containers, a long wheel base Citroen Relay, and turnover just enough to pay a pittance whilst building up stock and saving up for a new DMF.

I've always bought and sold the odd car on the side. Most have gone to mates at barely more than break even in recent times. All the rubbish ones I've been stuck with are still knocking around. This is going to be the account of me trying to mend them all, to reclaim a bit of space, and hopefully some bank balance too. And maybe the odd cycle trade insight thrown in.

It will become patently obvious I have no idea what I'm doing on most fronts and although I have a plan it remains to be seen whether it is a well-judged one.

Pictures to follow....

[New POD]

In my very humble opinion;

Stick to your niche market.  Make a go of fixing bikes. 

Ideas to make it more of a niche:

Offer curtesy bikes 

Offer Rental Bikes

Offer training courses on "how to fix a tyre" 

Sell spares.

You are already offering a collect and return service.  Don't forget how valuable this will be to many people.  Charge accordingly. 

Also you could go all in "cycle propogandarist" and pick in with a cargo bike.  Attend breakdowns and repair by the roadside. 

I'd steer clear of car repairs. Buying and selling old chod, is competing with facebook wannabes.  

[Mr Pastry]

5 hours ago, New POD said:

In my very humble opinion;

Stick to your niche market.  Make a go of fixing bikes. 

Ideas to make it more of a niche:

Offer curtesy bikes 

Offer Rental Bikes

Offer training courses on "how to fix a tyre" 

Sell spares.

You are already offering a collect and return service.  Don't forget how valuable this will be to many people.  Charge accordingly. 

Also you could go all in "cycle propogandarist" and pick in with a cargo bike.  Attend breakdowns and repair by the roadside. 

I'd steer clear of car repairs. Buying and selling old chod, is competing with facebook wannabes.  

Ex motor trader here and I would totally agree with this.  Stick to what you are good at, and pitch it as far up-market as possible.   Keep your cars as a hobby.  The bottom end of the motor trade is just that, a race to the bottom,  and it is very difficult to rise above that, especially if you are trying to learn on the job.

[N Dentressangle]

Several parents at our local primary now take their kids to school on e-bikes - 'Tern' perhaps? Obviously a growing market and one that needs mobile maintenance / repairs, as they're too big to fit in the back of a car.

Find a few big primaries and see if you can hold a bike repair clinic, with some %age going to school funds? Could be good publicity.

[BorniteIdentity]

You’re certainly in the right place to be doing bikes. I’d make a major fuss about the collection and delivery and - yes - if you can offer a loaner then you become a no brainer. 

If you need customers I’d look at advertising on community radio or even leaflets very close to your base. A lot of new housing going up where you are so - again - good customer base.

Good luck. I bloody love seeing people having a go. 

[Bren]

Cheap cars are a dead duck.

The cost of living will see more people using pedal power.

[Surface Rust]

You might already be doing this, but the large company I work for offers free bike servicing to its employees. They get a "Dr bike" in for a day and he just services bikes from his van all day. I think he then just invoices the company for the work and they probably write it off as part of its environmental/ social policy stuff.

If you can get a few of those gigs I think you'd do well out of it.

[delux]

As a real mechanic I hope you will take my advice constructively rather than dismissively. 

Firstly, the job of mechanic is one of those jobs everyone thinks they can do but to think that would be like shouting out the correct answer watching university challenge and applying for a job as a surgeon.

The usual career path to becoming a mechanic involves working as an apprentice for 4 years or so. Studying part time at college during this. After this you are considered a 'time served' mechanic. 

However, when you pass your driving test you arent the best driver on the road. Its the same when you graduate as a mechanic! Its more like completing 'Level 1'. 

The reason you have to work as an apprentice for 4 years isnt to try and learn you how to do every job on every car, its to drum into you a way of approaching problems. How to visualise, plan and prioritise tasks for each diagnosis or repair. How to carry out job after job to a high standard within the alloted time, time after time. You are putting building blocks in place rather than learning a job. It also tests the candidates commitment to the job! You really need to want to be a mechanic to spend 4 years being treated like shite for shite money knowing when you finish your training you will probably be paid the same as a Lidl shelf stacker!

The job of mechanic involves plumbing, electrics and electronics, engineering, fabrication and psychology. Some days your brain gets fried, some days its just hardcore physical graft. 

Its not impossible, not everyone being paid as a mechanic is 'time served' and not every time served mechanic is a good mechanic (some of the best mechanics I know have never done their apprenticeships but they are in a single figure minority) but to be paid as a mechanic, most garages will only pay you as a time served mechanic if you are one. 

If you arent time served you can still find employment in a role the uninformed would consider a 'mechanic'. Fast fitters, tyre fitters, used car prep techs, breakdown and recovery drivers, mechanical fitters, bodyshop fitters are all pretty similar but dont necessarily require trained mechanics to do them. I know several mechanics that have moved into these jobs but being time served isnt necessarily a requirement. Each role would involve plenty 'on the job' training and experience and may be more suited to your experience/enthusiasm.

Knowing what I know now, would I have become a mechanic? Nope! There are easier ways of earning more money for less effort. Other trades pay better, require less expenditure and you dont have to deal with as many people thinking they can do the job better!

[lisbon_road]

I reckon being able to fix Pedelec/electric/whatever bikes will be a massive business.  I have one temporarily and aside from being amazing, I'm not sure what I'd do if it went wrong.  You might also be able to buy them to fix and sell, but my own experience is that they aren't that easy to sell.  You aren't allowed to sell them on ebay unless you have a business account and then you have to give them a year's guarantee.  

Plenty of comments about cars above, but no harm punting the odd one that comes along now and then, as so many do on this forum.  You won't be living off it though.  

Good luck with your business.  

[castros_bro]

Maybe expand to electric bike, mopeds (as in food delivery things) and check places for used stock to be repaired/resold like (this is not near you).

https://www.tixtu.com/t/event/ussu/bike-sale-10-10-24

[Rustybullethole]

Love the sound of all this. Plenty of scope for expanding what you already do without mission creep. You do you though, as long as you're enjoying it thats the main thing. 

[lisbon_road]

31 minutes ago, castros_bro said:

Maybe expand to electric bike, mopeds (as in food delivery things) and check places for used stock to be repaired/resold like (this is not near you).

https://www.tixtu.com/t/event/ussu/bike-sale-10-10-24

There might be some real bargains in this, or they might have been picked over already.  One place I worked, we had a side building that was full of bikes.  Apparently it had been rented out and the rent hadn't been paid for a long time.  I got a man from some bike charity to come and look and he wasn't too impressed sadly - he said he got loads from being abandoned at railway stations.  I tidied up a few and sold them on but mostly it all got weighed in.  

[jcr]

There are some brilliant ideas from all here. 

To clarify, I'm not trying to be a mechanic or car trader. I'm just trying to move on the amount of crap I have acquired so I can focus on the main business. 

 

Ones that are staying:

Work van (needs work, but still in service)

My first car, a k11 I bought from @theshadowfor I think £350 in 2019

Electric Aixam I will eventually touch i bought off @Kiltox

 

Ones that I want gone:

307 I bought from @DaveDorson that served me very well. Needs some welding, abs fix, MOT, tyres.

These two Vauxhalls. Left I got given with a snapped cambelt. I have sorted the head, needs refitting. Right I got from @Dobloseven, did some work on, and gave to a colleague, who never paid me the cost price I asked, didn't get the belt sorted, it jumped a tooth, and dumped it in some guttering on the A1 for me to collect. Which I managed without the support of Highways England.... somehow....

 

Undecided:

A Jap import hybrid Vitz i got cheap. Needs registering

L322 seen in background 

Freelander (eventually, as useful for towing for now)

Another K11 I bought from @bramz7

My dead and rotten Convoy

 

Stay tuned for updates...

 

[castros_bro]

3 hours ago, lisbon_road said:

There might be some real bargains in this, or they might have been picked over already.  One place I worked, we had a side building that was full of bikes.  Apparently it had been rented out and the rent hadn't been paid for a long time.  I got a man from some bike charity to come and look and he wasn't too impressed sadly - he said he got loads from being abandoned at railway stations.  I tidied up a few and sold them on but mostly it all got weighed in.  

I worked there 10 years. 15000 students go  away at summer so any bikes left behind on campus are collected and disposed off either by initially selling for a few days (stupid as the students are not there to buy any) then scrapping by lorry load.

[catsinthewelder]

2 hours ago, castros_bro said:

I worked there 10 years. 15000 students go  away at summer so any bikes left behind on campus are collected and disposed off either by initially selling for a few days (stupid as the students are not there to buy any) then scrapping by lorry load.

Really feel theres a business there for someone with space to buy the lot then sell them back to the students in September for £profit.

[DaveDorson]

Whoever buys the Peugeot I have a stack of paperwork for that car here 

[lisbon_road]

53 minutes ago, catsinthewelder said:

Really feel theres a business there for someone with space to buy the lot then sell them back to the students in September for £profit.

It does seem mad that they sell them off when no-one is there.  I think part of the problem is that the waste from students leaving town is so colossal that those involved in clearing up the mess basically just get used to it and become punch drunk with throwing away perfectly good stuff like saucepans, bikes, bedding and so on.  

[New POD]

18 hours ago, castros_bro said:

I worked there 10 years. 15000 students go  away at summer so any bikes left behind on campus are collected and disposed off either by initially selling for a few days (stupid as the students are not there to buy any) then scrapping by lorry load.

I have questions.

Why are students leaving perfectly good bikes? Are they expecting/hoping that they will still be where they left it?  If they left them in a public place what legitimate right does anybody or any organisation have to take them and dispose of them.?

Do you collect the frame numbers and let the police know just in case someone claims they have been stolen. 

If they are on University land and students have been told in advance that any bike left for more than 2 weeks will be removed, then why waste any resources?  Why nkt Just put a sticker on in July saying "Bike needs to be removed by August or the lock will be removed" and then come back again in November and if the bike is still there remove the lock and put another sticker on saying "Free to anyone that takes me" 

 

[Marshall2810]

11 minutes ago, New POD said:

I have questions.

Why are students leaving perfectly good bikes? Are they expecting/hoping that they will still be where they left it?  If they left them in a public place what legitimate right does anybody or any organisation have to take them and dispose of them.?

Do you collect the frame numbers and let the police know just in case someone claims they have been stolen. 

If they are on University land and students have been told in advance that any bike left for more than 2 weeks will be removed, then why waste any resources?  Why nkt Just put a sticker on in July saying "Bike needs to be removed by August or the lock will be removed" and then come back again in November and if the bike is still there remove the lock and put another sticker on saying "Free to anyone that takes me" 

 

They aren't bothered, its just a disposable "thing" for them. Same as all the perfectly good tents dumped after glasto every year. 

Good luck with getting everything organised @jcr. 

[catsinthewelder]

39 minutes ago, New POD said:

 Why nkt Just put a sticker on in July saying "Bike needs to be removed by August or the lock will be removed" and then come back again in November and if the bike is still there remove the lock and put another sticker on saying "Free to anyone that takes me" 

 

Sadly that would probably just result in bikes left all over the place as suddenly a bike is worth nothing.  Much like the piles of Lime bikes dumped outside London stations.

Presumably piles of stuff is being dumped as it isn't provided in the accomodation and needs to be removed.  If the rooms are fully furnished and equipped then students don't need to buy one of everything as cheaply as possible (that won't be needed back at their parents house).  The bicycles are one of the more understandable things to be left behind.  It's outside so not affecting the deposit, they might be planning to return and fetch it later if the cars already full.

 

[jcr]

The college clearances in Cambridge used to go to one guy on the market primarily who refurbished and sold them back.

Then gradually a charity (Owl) has taken over all the clearances.

We have secured a few removal agreements ourselves. 

Probably going to keep business ops relatively vague on here as public (and we have a few ideas we're working towards we don't want to publicise until ready)

[New POD]

1 hour ago, Marshall2810 said:

They aren't bothered, its just a disposable "thing" for them. Same as all the perfectly good tents dumped after glasto every year. 

Good luck with getting everything organised @jcr. 

When I was contracting, I used to look for digs locally that had secure bike storage, so that in the week I could travel around by bike.  My bike was worth almost nothing, but I would never have abandoned it. 

I went to view one place on spareroom.co.uk in Hemel Hempstead and the guy was renting out 5 rooms in his 6 bed mansion.  When I asked about secure bike storage, he got a bit cross and pointed at about 5 bikes in his garage that previous lodgers had left, and told me that he would no longer allow that.  I'd already decided he was a bit of a twat as he'd told me, that he didn't like people to use the bath as it cost moee than the shower and that confirmed it. 

 

[High Jetter]

My 2p worth - stick to the bikes as the day job, sort the cars in your 'spare' time and move them on, see how that goes before thinking about more car sales.

There's a bike shop next to one of my shops, they seem to have an endless stream of customers (and they charge like a herd of Rhinos)