Taking over the bike shop...
- Thread starter Andy in Germany
- Start date
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tribanjules
Guru
- Location
- Birmingham
@Andy in Germany can I thank you for the always inspiring thread through 2022 !
Great to read your challenges and successes with clients and cycles.
Best wishes for 2023
Frohe Weihnachten🎄🎄
Great to read your challenges and successes with clients and cycles.
Best wishes for 2023
Frohe Weihnachten🎄🎄
D
Deleted member 1258
Guest
I second that always an interesting read.
Reynard
Guru
- Location
- Cambridgeshire, UK
And I'll third it. 
This thread is an example of the very best of CycleChat.
Frohe Weihnachten @Andy in Germany , and keep up the good work xxx
This thread is an example of the very best of CycleChat.Frohe Weihnachten @Andy in Germany , and keep up the good work xxx
annedonnelly
Girl from the North Country
- Location
- Blyth, Northumberland
Definitely! A great thread. One of the few I have a watch on.
OP
OP
Andy in Germany
Guru
- Location
- Rottenburg am Neckar
Thanks for your kind comments; it's actually been a pretty good week...
My work experience intern finished this week after a six week work experience stint that became 10 weeks. I gave him a generally positive feedback and also passed on my impressions to his social worker.
Elder Son impressed the store manager by helping customers in the bike department, when she thought he'd stay out of sight. The boss dropped in to say hello and see how he was doing and on hearing that Elder Son is interested in doing a similar job to mine, invited him to the team meeting; something that he's never done with a volunteer before in my experience.
Meanwhile Elder Son himself made several "scrap" bikes run like showroom models and and learned a lot about bike maintenance and the social care sector. He also invested a fair bit of time in my work experience intern and gained his trust, and somehow managed to find time to straighten the life out of several "scrap" wheels so they had hardly a wobble vertically or horizontally. When I complemented him on the quality of his work his answer was "Why couldn't I do it this well this in my exam?"
The only "problem" we had was that we tend to work longer and harder together without noticing; and we nerded out in the evenings playing tabletop games and went to bed too late, so we were both exhausted by the end of the two weeks; I'm glad I've got a holiday until new year...
My work experience intern finished this week after a six week work experience stint that became 10 weeks. I gave him a generally positive feedback and also passed on my impressions to his social worker.
Elder Son impressed the store manager by helping customers in the bike department, when she thought he'd stay out of sight. The boss dropped in to say hello and see how he was doing and on hearing that Elder Son is interested in doing a similar job to mine, invited him to the team meeting; something that he's never done with a volunteer before in my experience.
Meanwhile Elder Son himself made several "scrap" bikes run like showroom models and and learned a lot about bike maintenance and the social care sector. He also invested a fair bit of time in my work experience intern and gained his trust, and somehow managed to find time to straighten the life out of several "scrap" wheels so they had hardly a wobble vertically or horizontally. When I complemented him on the quality of his work his answer was "Why couldn't I do it this well this in my exam?"
The only "problem" we had was that we tend to work longer and harder together without noticing; and we nerded out in the evenings playing tabletop games and went to bed too late, so we were both exhausted by the end of the two weeks; I'm glad I've got a holiday until new year...
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classic33
Leg End Member
Enjoy yer holiday.
OP
OP
Andy in Germany
Guru
- Location
- Rottenburg am Neckar
Having had these bikes and with some even more expensive bikes in the lock up, I've been looking for a way to sell them.
If we put them in the showroom we'll never get their real value so the suggestion was to put them on E-bay instead. However Freiburg, being Freiburg, has come up with a better alternative; an online portal for high quality used bikes. It looks like the prices there reflect the true value of the bikes sold.
Will have to investigate this on Monday...
If we put them in the showroom we'll never get their real value so the suggestion was to put them on E-bay instead. However Freiburg, being Freiburg, has come up with a better alternative; an online portal for high quality used bikes. It looks like the prices there reflect the true value of the bikes sold.
Will have to investigate this on Monday...
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OP
OP
Andy in Germany
Guru
- Location
- Rottenburg am Neckar
The 'showroom' is slowly looking more healthy:
Winter is giving me a chance to catch up, so hopefully I'll have a good supply by Spring.
In other news I got a new client today, so we'll have to see how things go; the Manager and The boss all like the new internet portal I mentioned last post, so I need to make an account; and apparently 61 bikes were delivered to the other centre today; I have to go and pick them up tomorrow.
Winter is giving me a chance to catch up, so hopefully I'll have a good supply by Spring.
In other news I got a new client today, so we'll have to see how things go; the Manager and The boss all like the new internet portal I mentioned last post, so I need to make an account; and apparently 61 bikes were delivered to the other centre today; I have to go and pick them up tomorrow.
OP
OP
Andy in Germany
Guru
- Location
- Rottenburg am Neckar
Went to pick up the usable bikes today, talk to my clients there and attend a team meeting. I took my new client with me.
To my complete lack of surprise this took most of the day. Also, I was talking to people all the time so I'm tired out. I'll hunt for some parts ready for tomorrow as I think that's about my limit.
annedonnelly
Girl from the North Country
- Location
- Blyth, Northumberland
It's surprising how exhausting it is just being polite to people!
OP
OP
Andy in Germany
Guru
- Location
- Rottenburg am Neckar
Isn't it?
On the other hand:
I remembered I'd dragged a couple of wrecks out of the scrap pile with parts I could use for Beautiful Daughters bike, so now it has 'proper' mudguards and a hub dynamo, thus real lights:
Gotta be some perks to this job, right?
classic33
Leg End Member
You get a discount of course?
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sevenfourate
Devotee of OCD
- Location
- Lowestoft, Suffolk
No one tops your haul in “…What have you got today” !!!! Showroom looks great too Andy.
Onwards and upwards 👍
OP
OP
Andy in Germany
Guru
- Location
- Rottenburg am Neckar
Warning: this is likely to be another post of me working stuff out by writing and may ramble. You have been warned.
I mentioned before that the same problems crop up on most repairs and these are the points which eat time. Apart from trying to find things, time eaters tend to be things like cleaning bikes in the first place, fitting and testing things dynamo lights, mudguards and luggage racks. These are common on bikes in Germany so most bikes will have them, and if we want to sell bikes, so will ours.
On the other hand, I'm spending less time on working things out as I gain experience; I'm getting pretty quick on the more common gear and brake systems. This means that actually assembling a basic bike is pretty quick once I've sorted the main issues, found all the parts, (and asked about whatever I don't know on CC). Then everything slows down while I sort out and find the mudguards, lights, and accessories.
The problem with relying on donations is that they're inconsistent and unreliable; what comes is what people donate. I can't build up a usable inventory that way, at least not yet. I've been guiltily ordering new lights because I realised it's far quicker to replace the wiring in a dynamo system than test everything and then try and make the old underpowered system work, especially as a replacement system will keep working longer.
This was grudgingly accepted by the accounts department on the condition that I make sure everything is documented so they know where the money, and the parts are going. I've developed a system where I to count a basic flat starting point for a bike, and a smaller flat cost for any used parts. After that I add the retail price of any parts I use, add everything up, and add about 10-20%.
It was Elder son who pointed out this list proved that the accessories were not in fact a necessary evil and a drain on costs, but in fact gave each bike a better profit margin.
On top of that I realised that the accessories are often the bits that make a bike look good or tatty; a 20 year old derailleur can be cleaned and will look presentable but a nice bike with manky handlebar grips looks awful. I's a bit silly to spend ten minutes searching out some halfway decent handlebar grips or nearly matching mudguards when I can use that time fitting a new set and make a much nicer bike which will last much longer, and make a better profit.
I'm trying to be careful how much I buy in new; this is supposed to be a recycling shop after all, but generally it's the accessories which don't last, like lights, mudguards, stands, and grips. If I have a stock of those ready to fit to bikes, it will reduce time not only searching but also a time swearing and trying to bodge things until they fit.
I'm also working on the supply of used parts. The bikes are received and for the most part dismantled in another centre about 15km north of the main shop. I currently have up to three people working on this at any given time, with various issues related to learning difficulties and/or psychological issues. Unfortunately this shows in the quality of their work; a lot of things that I could use go in the skip, and a lot of what I get is useless. I've got piles of broken mudguards; loose pedals; and for some reason, bicycle bells which I don't need but I had to dismantle a bike today to salvage a decent wheel.
I'm now working to motivate the people working in the other centre, and also to help them collect what I need and throw away what I don't need. I think on part of this will be keeping it simple so I'm reducing the list of "things to keep" so it's less confusing, and I've made a new set of photo cards to take tomorrow with the construction that the sorting team keep only what is on the cards; everything else can be scrapped. I'm also making sure what I do ask for is very clear, not just with what I want but how I want it:
Also using pictures as much as possible instead of written instructions:
And sometimes being very detailed:
Hopefully this, along with more regular visits and lots of encouragement, will help encourage and motivate the sorting team and we can make progress...
Yup, rambled...
I mentioned before that the same problems crop up on most repairs and these are the points which eat time. Apart from trying to find things, time eaters tend to be things like cleaning bikes in the first place, fitting and testing things dynamo lights, mudguards and luggage racks. These are common on bikes in Germany so most bikes will have them, and if we want to sell bikes, so will ours.
On the other hand, I'm spending less time on working things out as I gain experience; I'm getting pretty quick on the more common gear and brake systems. This means that actually assembling a basic bike is pretty quick once I've sorted the main issues, found all the parts, (and asked about whatever I don't know on CC). Then everything slows down while I sort out and find the mudguards, lights, and accessories.
The problem with relying on donations is that they're inconsistent and unreliable; what comes is what people donate. I can't build up a usable inventory that way, at least not yet. I've been guiltily ordering new lights because I realised it's far quicker to replace the wiring in a dynamo system than test everything and then try and make the old underpowered system work, especially as a replacement system will keep working longer.
This was grudgingly accepted by the accounts department on the condition that I make sure everything is documented so they know where the money, and the parts are going. I've developed a system where I to count a basic flat starting point for a bike, and a smaller flat cost for any used parts. After that I add the retail price of any parts I use, add everything up, and add about 10-20%.
It was Elder son who pointed out this list proved that the accessories were not in fact a necessary evil and a drain on costs, but in fact gave each bike a better profit margin.
On top of that I realised that the accessories are often the bits that make a bike look good or tatty; a 20 year old derailleur can be cleaned and will look presentable but a nice bike with manky handlebar grips looks awful. I's a bit silly to spend ten minutes searching out some halfway decent handlebar grips or nearly matching mudguards when I can use that time fitting a new set and make a much nicer bike which will last much longer, and make a better profit.
I'm trying to be careful how much I buy in new; this is supposed to be a recycling shop after all, but generally it's the accessories which don't last, like lights, mudguards, stands, and grips. If I have a stock of those ready to fit to bikes, it will reduce time not only searching but also a time swearing and trying to bodge things until they fit.
I'm also working on the supply of used parts. The bikes are received and for the most part dismantled in another centre about 15km north of the main shop. I currently have up to three people working on this at any given time, with various issues related to learning difficulties and/or psychological issues. Unfortunately this shows in the quality of their work; a lot of things that I could use go in the skip, and a lot of what I get is useless. I've got piles of broken mudguards; loose pedals; and for some reason, bicycle bells which I don't need but I had to dismantle a bike today to salvage a decent wheel.
I'm now working to motivate the people working in the other centre, and also to help them collect what I need and throw away what I don't need. I think on part of this will be keeping it simple so I'm reducing the list of "things to keep" so it's less confusing, and I've made a new set of photo cards to take tomorrow with the construction that the sorting team keep only what is on the cards; everything else can be scrapped. I'm also making sure what I do ask for is very clear, not just with what I want but how I want it:
Also using pictures as much as possible instead of written instructions:
And sometimes being very detailed:
Hopefully this, along with more regular visits and lots of encouragement, will help encourage and motivate the sorting team and we can make progress...
Yup, rambled...
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