VIC Lysterfield Park

Squidfayce said:
But they are selling bikes, which this project isn't planning on doing. The value prop needs fleshing out.

This is a great initiative and its success is something that would be amazing for the local and the general mtb community.

I like the idea of demo bikes, especially if you can get demo bikes that people generally can't get out of a shop for a propper ride e.g. intense, SC, Yeti, trannies etc. Arrange for a % of sale when you refer buyers to a LBS for that 10k bike (or act as a broker) etc. That could be a good way to keep the LBSs engaged. Share the love around a bit. Even act as brokers on second hand sales - remove some of the uncertainty for buyers
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Yeah, I'm probably the wrong fella to give you more specifics on the model. I've been given an overview, and I nodded and smiled while the little monkey in my brain just smashed cymbals together to my great amusement.

I believe it's got legs, the location is second to none and I do think bike demo/hire should come close to covering the gap that sales will leave. Happy for someone with more knowledge to weigh in, but I'm not convinced that bike sales represent enough of the overall profits to make this not viable.

If you want some more info on the model I can put you in touch with the people that spearheaded this? I'm sure I could learn a thing or 5 too

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teK-- said:
Same question. It's gonna be a steep uphill battle to raise 100K for a shop that then takes years to raise money for trails. Trails which are totally contingent on PV pulling their finger out and supporting MTB.

Trailmix was OK as a bike shop but I suspect they made more money as a cafe?
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Trailmix was a bike shop in a different era, they were out of there long before the slow explosion that we've seen over the last few years. They also had limited stock of parts and accessories, and focused pretty hard on higher end bike sales. They left and went to Berwick I believe? More room to move and easier to sell their road bikes I imagine? Maybe I'm being overly optimistic, but I feel like a different model and a better location has the potential to make all the difference here.



...I want to be clear too that this is all good discussion. We need feedback and thought and I'll definitely be both passing this along to the committee and suggesting that we start some similar lines of communication elsewhere

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What happens over winter when the trails are shut because the place has turned to mush, how will the shop keep operating with low income
 
@Plankosaurus my 2c:

Forget the bicycle stuff. Just make that work for the purpose of the shop and the enterprise. The real dough is in the coffee. No real competitors anywhere is sight. Get a decent setup, channel the brains trust here and go for broke. Shop pulling in 2000 cups a week at $4 a pop is $8k per week. Winter will be dead so call it $5k per week - that's $250k. The amount of times I've finished a ride and debated trying that stupid vet coffee (never been). Ideally you want folks to 'meet' at the shop, spend some cash on small good like granola bars or tubes etc. and then finish the ride with a fresh coffee.

If you want to excalate the staks a micro brewery would work also. Ok got carried away at the last it but the coffee is legit. For a good example, check out petty orchards in Templestowe. They get so much traffic from riders and walkers along the yarra trail it's not funny.
 
kip01 said:
What happens over winter when the trails are shut because the place has turned to mush, how will the shop keep operating with low income
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Hopefully going forward we don't get that unique mix of wet weather, explosion of users, and a pandemic that prevents any kind of works.

It's not out of the question though, it happened this year

I think the answer is going to be that we will hopefully be able to pay professionals to maintain the trails to prevent the soupy bits in a case like we just had. I'll pass it along

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Calvin27 said:
@Plankosaurus my 2c:

Forget the bicycle stuff. Just make that work for the purpose of the shop and the enterprise. The real dough is in the coffee. No real competitors anywhere is sight. Get a decent setup, channel the brains trust here and go for broke. Shop pulling in 2000 cups a week at $4 a pop is $8k per week. Winter will be dead so call it $5k per week - that's $250k. The amount of times I've finished a ride and debated trying that stupid vet coffee (never been). Ideally you want folks to 'meet' at the shop, spend some cash on small good like granola bars or tubes etc. and then finish the ride with a fresh coffee.

If you want to excalate the staks a micro brewery would work also. Ok got carried away at the last it but the coffee is legit. For a good example, check out petty orchards in Templestowe. They get so much traffic from riders and walkers along the yarra trail it's not funny.
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I believe that Montague's is putting in a cafe right next to us, not sure they'll look kindly on their tenant competing with them

I get you though. Sell gluten free organic paleo caffeinated beverages and watch the dollars roll in!

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Looking at those figures and the inability to sell bikes or coffee then I reckon an industry partner would be the best bet for the Montague site. It’s a shame that PV couldn’t have come to the party with the visitor centre, it is the perfect location and could be run on a shoestring as a co-op with a nominal rent charged by the land manager in return for all the free labour they get. Personally I’d just like to ride around lysty and have a good coffee or perhaps a beer, like we used to be able to. So however that happens, I’m not fussed. Good luck guys!
 
Plankosaurus said:
Trailmix was a bike shop in a different era, they were out of there long before the slow explosion that we've seen over the last few years. They also had limited stock of parts and accessories, and focused pretty hard on higher end bike sales. They left and went to Berwick I believe? More room to move and easier to sell their road bikes I imagine? Maybe I'm being overly optimistic, but I feel like a different model and a better location has the potential to make all the difference here.



...I want to be clear too that this is all good discussion. We need feedback and thought and I'll definitely be both passing this along to the committee and suggesting that we start some similar lines of communication elsewhere

Sent from my G8441 using Tapatalk
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Tbh even the servicing side of trailmix was hit and miss. They had a very wide range of bikes and customers they had to cater for, which made it hard to keep adequate spare parts in stock, or be able to provide more complex services in-house. (E.g. suspension servicing) without sending stuff elsewhere.

The only advantage over using another bike shop was convenience, because you could leave your bike there and pick it up ready for the next ride. Or for those last minute/mid-ride repairs.

Even though I personally wouldn't really need or use the services provided, I want to see this idea succeed for others, so hopefully there is support for it.
 
Calvin27 said:
@Plankosaurus my 2c:

Forget the bicycle stuff. Just make that work for the purpose of the shop and the enterprise. The real dough is in the coffee. No real competitors anywhere is sight. Get a decent setup, channel the brains trust here and go for broke. Shop pulling in 2000 cups a week at $4 a pop is $8k per week. Winter will be dead so call it $5k per week - that's $250k. The amount of times I've finished a ride and debated trying that stupid vet coffee (never been). Ideally you want folks to 'meet' at the shop, spend some cash on small good like granola bars or tubes etc. and then finish the ride with a fresh coffee.

If you want to excalate the staks a micro brewery would work also. Ok got carried away at the last it but the coffee is legit. For a good example, check out petty orchards in Templestowe. They get so much traffic from riders and walkers along the yarra trail it's not funny.
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Sell tacos and beer post ride and you'll be able to retire in no time at all from my contributions alone...
 
Anyone want to be paid to build trails?

Ranger Job in Melbourne

Contribute to Environmental Science & Natural Resource Management as a Ranger where you'll be at the forefront of delivering the day to day operations
www.seek.com.au www.seek.com.au

Looks like they are hiring 3x 2 day a week (weird) folks for parks maintenance. We should seriously coup d'etat and infiltrate PV!
 
Calvin27 said:
Anyone want to be paid to build trails?

Ranger Job in Melbourne

Contribute to Environmental Science & Natural Resource Management as a Ranger where you'll be at the forefront of delivering the day to day operations
www.seek.com.au www.seek.com.au

Looks like they are hiring 3x 2 day a week (weird) folks for parks maintenance. We should seriously coup d'etat and infiltrate PV!
Click to expand...
I'd like to get paid to build trails. Not so keen on being paid to rip down features though...


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