@Deleted Member 4210 Back when everthing closed down, I think I remember you saying that service and repair work wasn't profitable enough by itself to cover the costs involved in operating a city bike shop ? If remember right, it's probably going to mean a lot of old ebikes going to charity or to the trash pile after the warranty is up or the battery is dead.
Well first of all, DON'T confuse the above post with regular bikes. I was talking strictly ebikes. Regular bikes, MANY regular (i.e. not electric bike) shops repair all kinds of brands as they are using mostly standard components (as I mentioned) across the board. Second, dont take my comments about profitability out of context please. This season was abnormal, and shops kept of doing repairs, and had significant volume, and probably were easily able to charge a fully burdened rate across the board, so it not only was likely profitable but kept them flush with cash flow. If they had a hard time with getting bikes, it was a lifesaver for many. In normal times, with much lower volumes of business, repairs by themselves would not likely keep many shops afloat very well by itself. It all depends on geography and density of not only bikers, but also density of a number of shops, and size town or metro area you are serving. I don't think hardly anything this season went into any 'trash' as not only were used bikes being bid up, and selling super fast, but some dealers got into the business of buying used ones, who then reconditioned them, to have something on their floor to actually sell.
The above is purely my own observation, based on anecdotes, and what I experience at my shop and some who's books I looked at a few years before I started mine, and I was briefly considering buying an existing shop to then migrate to ebikes. The books i saw, convinced me, it was far better to start from scratch and to stay the heck away from regular bikes. But I also do not plan to have my service/repair business be any sort of meaningful 'profit' center. If that portion of my business holds its own, and doesn't bring front end sales down, then I am fine with it. Its going to grow no doubt, as both this industry and my own business is very early stages. I also reserve the right to change my tune about how service should be run of course.
Who knows, there may be a time when mobile service makes really good sense. Thus far, we've seen a lot of evidence, the 'chain' model of mobile service is a big time money sink. If big guys cant make it work, then lord only knows how a small one man van could make it work. Beeline went under, and Velofix is struggling in most areas... at least up until this year. Who knows maybe after this year, the mobile service model may make sense for some metro areas. Working on any ebike at a customer's home in a 'Covid world', would in my opinion be NO picnic, and would royally stink doing it everyday having to wear a mask, sanitize more frequently, etc. In shops you could create clean areas, where the mechanic or mechanics can go without masks. And personally, doing ebikes at a home, for me would be a non-starter, as trouble-shooting electronics, is very time intensive. I dont see how on earth you could make those numbers work. Your mobile repairs, have to be limited to quick fixes, very repeatable steps, and in and out very expeditiously. Its really a numbers game. Ebikes dont fit that model. At least presently, until they get infinitely more bluetooth on board electronic diagnostics tools, available on most brands, and the ebike industry has barely begun to scratch the surface on that. some are at best 'dabbling' in it, but then suddenly you are talking the need for ebike price points well above $3k to justify having it on every model a brand offers. Doing it piecemeal on only certain models, wont work either. The biggest thing you have to deal with is minimizing skus to stay competitive and so if you start changing electronics , some models with bluetooth, some without, you have a nasty mess on your hands especially when model year changeovers come, and you have so much different legacy stuff being created. I see the industry being 10 years away from that, so that actually would be my bar for considering mobile service for ebikes. 10 years from now at least before it begins to make any sense, and technology is much further along than now, and consumers tastes also much further along, with an appreciation for paying up more for quality craftsmanship, not this on line j**k at $1k to $1.5k price points. We have to jump past 'early mainstream' in terms of industry ebike adoption before this can be seriously considered.
