Considering opening ebike/bike rental business in United States. Have some questions??

[AgileMike]

Hello,

I'm considering opening an ebike/bike rental store in the United States. If anyone on the forums has experience working in the bike or ebike rental business I would like to chat with you. Mainly looking to answer these questions:

1. How long can I expect an ebike to be serviceable before it must be replaced? I'm figuring on two seasons, but I have no idea if this is realistic.
2. How much repair can be expected to be required on rental ebikes? I know what to figure for general maintenance, but I don't know how much damage the renters will do to the bikes on average...
3. What was your favorite aspect of working the bike rental industry?
4. What was your least favorite aspect of working in the bike rental industry?
5. If you could change/start over with the business (as an owner or employee) what would you do differently?

Any other words of wisdom would be appreciated...

Mike

 

[Donnie797]

Without having a clue about the business itself..... regarding question 1: the e-bike rentals i know from Lenzerheide, Switzerland do sell their ebikes at the end of each season. It's a win-win situation because they still get a good price for the bikes and they always have new bikes (and customers prefer to rent/test/compare the newest hottest stuff).
And as a customer you get a very good price for a bike that is only 1 season old, regularly serviced, inspected, washed and still have warranty on it.
And they sell their 1-season bikes pretty fast... you have to be on the "i want one of your bikes" list in april to get one or sure end of the season.

 

[AgileMike]

Thanks for the reply. When selling the one year old bikes, do you have any idea what price they sell for compared to new? Like new less $1,000, or 50% of new cost, etc? I'm working up a spreadsheet for the business and bike depreciation is the biggest unknown at this point.

I do agree that renting the latest/greatest model would be a big draw vs a 2 year old bike.

 

[Swan]

Thanks for the reply. When selling the one year old bikes, do you have any idea what price they sell for compared to new? Like new less $1,000, or 50% of new cost, etc? I'm working up a spreadsheet for the business and bike depreciation is the biggest unknown at this point.

I do agree that renting the latest/greatest model would be a big draw vs a 2 year old bike.

We haven't sold our demo Levos yet for the year, but on our standard analog test bikes, it's generally 25-40% off of MSRP that we sell them for all depending on how worn and used they are.

 

[GrandPaBrogan]

In Rotorua, New Zealand the bike hire change their eBikes every season as well. When I inquired about buying one of their ex- rentals it was about 30% off the recommended retail price... already told at mid-season that I would have to put my name down on the back of a waiting list.