The current alliance between local bike shops and manufacturers will sink both, and yet neither seems to have a solution. Financially speaking, direct-to-consumer products, especially bikes and components, are increasingly commodities, with players racing to the bottom on price -- few are making a good margin and the addressable market is smaller each year. Manufacturers can't figure out the inventory puzzle that firms have long ago mastered in other fields. All this failure will hurt the sport.
This is 2018, and the only really strong, profitable, scalable business I see in cycling is Zwift. I'd like to start a cycling/multi-sport endemic business that has the potential to make a fuck ton of money and make sense athletes and consumers.
The future of the bike shop isn't Velofix -- that is a good idea poorly executed through a bizarre franchise model that doesn't even solve the issue of up front capital investment and fairly massive overhead. The service doesn't work well in markets that lack population density. The wrenches cannot be assessed for expertise by potential customers in any meaningful way. And the service just is not that good: the idea of quality control for this master brand is hogwash and there if no dynamic pricing model or scheduling platform or network effect or anything like that.
There's nothing about Velofix or any other company, really, that smacks of what makes modern tech companies and services platforms great. So what is the AirBnb or Uber or [insert other wildly disruptive logistics/technology/p2p/network company] for triathlon and cycling services?
VeloWorks (Velo.Works is the domain) is my answer. VeloWorks is TaskRabbit meets UpWork meets Airbnb meets Angie's List -- a hybrid e-lance and freelance service platform that connects consumers/athletes with local, virtual, and long-distance/by mail professionals, whose work quality and merits are assessed by the network of clients who post a simple rating and review.
Local: Everyone knows what TaskRabbit is, but you cannot find independent bike mechanics on there -- they exist locally and may be willing to perform the dreadful services (brake bleed, internal cable routing, etc.) on your terms, like at your house, or with pickup from and delivery to your office, and they'll make a healthy wage and can do it on their own terms, perhaps double dipping in between courier missions. BikeFlights is easy, but packing up a bike carefully sucks. Why can't someone who is making $14 per hour at a shop come over and pack my shit up for double or triple that? This isn't brain surgery, it's just annoying as hell and it sucks to pay $70 for when it takes you half an hour and someone can do it for half that and do it in front of you while you ride the trainer.
Virtual: The tech platform that supports my (traditional) business has half a dozen full time engineers and they were all found via UpWork, a platform for freelance, virtual professionals. They are in the Ukraine, Russia, and Algeria, and they work for pennies on the dollar for services that would cost $200K per year in the Valley, which is our annual payroll for the team. This is how virtual services can drastically reduce the cost by connecting professionals with consumers over the internets.
Why isn't there a central site for coaching services, regardless of location, with profiles and athlete/consumer ratings and reviews? What about coaching consultations or power file review? Coggan could be on there consulting with and insulting athletes for a fee. Coaching services as a subscription makes no sense for a lot of people, but I'd like Joel Filliol to review my file and check my work.
Why can't I hire fitters and assess quality from a profile and portfolio in a single location, and judge from customer reviews whether they are charismatic charlatans without skills or actually worth the cost? There is no substitute for an in-person fit, sure, but the reality is the traditional model is broken because the comfort and efficacy of a saddle requires time on that saddle, and so when you change your most important piece of kit six or seven times, you need a re-tool of your fit every time. You don't need lasers, either. A single video and 15 minute interaction is enough to ensure that you don't purchase a Canyon that is a size too small.
Can somebody please get out to Xantusia and help slowman with road tubeless? Tubeless setup curricula should be taught in person, with live diagnosis, but who will teach it...your local shop? I'd love for someone to come over and break their thumbs on these awful tires so I can do something else that doesn't suck.
Custom/Remote: This is the "everything else" niche space where you can ship your bike somewhere for service work. Why can't I hire someone to make 3D printed parts for my bike? The single lowest hanging fruit in aero today is custom fairings for your front end, and the only way I'm getting those is by begging chicanery to do them for me or piggybacking off someone's efforts. Want a custom carbon mod on your P4? Open your wallet big as Calfee it is -- there isn't another service provider. I want these guys doing better work out of their homes to be offering custom services (that are superior to the incumbents) online for a price that's fair for both parties. HotTubes is it for paint as far as I know, but then again there's nowhere to find out my options. Want a true custom build that nobody can do locally? Send your bike to someone who likes fussing with this stuff through an efficient market of others who can offer the same. Custom Garmin mount? Glen Alden is great, but his website was build when dinosaurs roamed the earth.
Local shops are not excluded, but their services model is part of the problem. I can't stand when people ask who should fit them and posters recommend a shop, because shops don't fit athletes, people do. On VeloWorks, any entity can create individual profiles for staff members and market services, with those individuals reviewed and assessed by customers. The idea that you can get "great service" at a certain LBS is patent nonsense. The quality of your service experience and result depends on the individual who works on your bike, and there is only one mechanic in my city who touches my bike -- he works at the local bike shop, and he charges too much. I'd hire him outside of that place if he didn't own it.
The business model for VeloWorks is viable and obviously scalable if you can get users to the platform. Beyond that, there's a long term pivot to product showrooming -- I'd back a Tactical from Jim@ERO if he were warehousing it in a garage, but I wouldn't even consider buying a Canyon from Velofix. I have a sense of quality service and who delivers it, but the vast majority of consumers only know a local shop that charges them too much for too little to offset the declines in a business that is faltering under the weight of an operating model that makes less and less sense each year.
Discuss...and tell me why I shouldn't do this.
This is 2018, and the only really strong, profitable, scalable business I see in cycling is Zwift. I'd like to start a cycling/multi-sport endemic business that has the potential to make a fuck ton of money and make sense athletes and consumers.
The future of the bike shop isn't Velofix -- that is a good idea poorly executed through a bizarre franchise model that doesn't even solve the issue of up front capital investment and fairly massive overhead. The service doesn't work well in markets that lack population density. The wrenches cannot be assessed for expertise by potential customers in any meaningful way. And the service just is not that good: the idea of quality control for this master brand is hogwash and there if no dynamic pricing model or scheduling platform or network effect or anything like that.
There's nothing about Velofix or any other company, really, that smacks of what makes modern tech companies and services platforms great. So what is the AirBnb or Uber or [insert other wildly disruptive logistics/technology/p2p/network company] for triathlon and cycling services?
VeloWorks (Velo.Works is the domain) is my answer. VeloWorks is TaskRabbit meets UpWork meets Airbnb meets Angie's List -- a hybrid e-lance and freelance service platform that connects consumers/athletes with local, virtual, and long-distance/by mail professionals, whose work quality and merits are assessed by the network of clients who post a simple rating and review.
Local: Everyone knows what TaskRabbit is, but you cannot find independent bike mechanics on there -- they exist locally and may be willing to perform the dreadful services (brake bleed, internal cable routing, etc.) on your terms, like at your house, or with pickup from and delivery to your office, and they'll make a healthy wage and can do it on their own terms, perhaps double dipping in between courier missions. BikeFlights is easy, but packing up a bike carefully sucks. Why can't someone who is making $14 per hour at a shop come over and pack my shit up for double or triple that? This isn't brain surgery, it's just annoying as hell and it sucks to pay $70 for when it takes you half an hour and someone can do it for half that and do it in front of you while you ride the trainer.
Virtual: The tech platform that supports my (traditional) business has half a dozen full time engineers and they were all found via UpWork, a platform for freelance, virtual professionals. They are in the Ukraine, Russia, and Algeria, and they work for pennies on the dollar for services that would cost $200K per year in the Valley, which is our annual payroll for the team. This is how virtual services can drastically reduce the cost by connecting professionals with consumers over the internets.
Why isn't there a central site for coaching services, regardless of location, with profiles and athlete/consumer ratings and reviews? What about coaching consultations or power file review? Coggan could be on there consulting with and insulting athletes for a fee. Coaching services as a subscription makes no sense for a lot of people, but I'd like Joel Filliol to review my file and check my work.
Why can't I hire fitters and assess quality from a profile and portfolio in a single location, and judge from customer reviews whether they are charismatic charlatans without skills or actually worth the cost? There is no substitute for an in-person fit, sure, but the reality is the traditional model is broken because the comfort and efficacy of a saddle requires time on that saddle, and so when you change your most important piece of kit six or seven times, you need a re-tool of your fit every time. You don't need lasers, either. A single video and 15 minute interaction is enough to ensure that you don't purchase a Canyon that is a size too small.
Can somebody please get out to Xantusia and help slowman with road tubeless? Tubeless setup curricula should be taught in person, with live diagnosis, but who will teach it...your local shop? I'd love for someone to come over and break their thumbs on these awful tires so I can do something else that doesn't suck.
Custom/Remote: This is the "everything else" niche space where you can ship your bike somewhere for service work. Why can't I hire someone to make 3D printed parts for my bike? The single lowest hanging fruit in aero today is custom fairings for your front end, and the only way I'm getting those is by begging chicanery to do them for me or piggybacking off someone's efforts. Want a custom carbon mod on your P4? Open your wallet big as Calfee it is -- there isn't another service provider. I want these guys doing better work out of their homes to be offering custom services (that are superior to the incumbents) online for a price that's fair for both parties. HotTubes is it for paint as far as I know, but then again there's nowhere to find out my options. Want a true custom build that nobody can do locally? Send your bike to someone who likes fussing with this stuff through an efficient market of others who can offer the same. Custom Garmin mount? Glen Alden is great, but his website was build when dinosaurs roamed the earth.
Local shops are not excluded, but their services model is part of the problem. I can't stand when people ask who should fit them and posters recommend a shop, because shops don't fit athletes, people do. On VeloWorks, any entity can create individual profiles for staff members and market services, with those individuals reviewed and assessed by customers. The idea that you can get "great service" at a certain LBS is patent nonsense. The quality of your service experience and result depends on the individual who works on your bike, and there is only one mechanic in my city who touches my bike -- he works at the local bike shop, and he charges too much. I'd hire him outside of that place if he didn't own it.
The business model for VeloWorks is viable and obviously scalable if you can get users to the platform. Beyond that, there's a long term pivot to product showrooming -- I'd back a Tactical from Jim@ERO if he were warehousing it in a garage, but I wouldn't even consider buying a Canyon from Velofix. I have a sense of quality service and who delivers it, but the vast majority of consumers only know a local shop that charges them too much for too little to offset the declines in a business that is faltering under the weight of an operating model that makes less and less sense each year.
Discuss...and tell me why I shouldn't do this.
