DIY or Bike Shop?

[AHicks]

How about a DIY solution AND a Bike Shop, rather than either or ? The bike shop sells you the kit, lets you install it at the shop, provides access to specialty tools, awesome bike stand, custom fit wiring harnesses, and a friendly cup o' Joe, to help turn a weekend job (where you might curse and swear because you don't have the right tools), into a fun couple hours hanging out in the ultimate "tim-the-toolman" cave ?

Mike, I think there could be a market for something like that. It would appeal to folks with no tools, possibly no place to work on a bike, or maybe no confidence to work on one. Schedule something around the sale of a single bike, an annual bike sale (winter?), or maybe organize an occasional hands on/get your hands dirty workshop session with pro's (volunteers working for pizza) on hand for guidance? Could be for bike assembly, but could also be about something like spring maintenance? Something to guide people interested in anything from a tune up to changing out a set of tires, or maybe even resurrecting a bike that's been sitting for 10 years over a couple of sessions! I think it would likely take some advertising, but if the shop were to become known for having some type of (DIY) program available, you could do well with that. Be fun for you as well. -Al

 

[MadManMark]

How about a DIY solution AND a Bike Shop, rather than either or ? The bike shop sells you the kit, lets you install it at the shop, provides access to specialty tools, awesome bike stand, custom fit wiring harnesses, and a friendly cup o' Joe, to help turn a weekend job (where you might curse and swear because you don't have the right tools), into a fun couple hours hanging out in the ultimate "tim-the-toolman" cave ?

I guess as long as you are willig to pay more for your kit. The entire point of Rad's marketing model is that they sell direct to the consumer in order to keep prices lower. And I'm not sure what tools you are looking for that are relevant to this topic (assembly), they literally provide them all to you in the box. Yes you might want to have an LBS make adjustments afterwards, but there's no aspect of that unique to this bike, and that's not really part fo "assembly," it's more of a tune up.

This is not to say that I don't like the idea of a shop letting customers come in and do their own work, with expert assistance. In fact I've done this myself at my local REI, and am currently contemplating enrolling in a workshop on tubeless tire installation this spring