Suppliers of Bike Consumables

arthur_scrimshaw

I'm the Manager of a Country Centre on the edge of the South Downs National Park. We get quite a few cyclists stopping by for refreshments and was thinking of selling a small range of consumables in our Cafe. It would be very small scale but we're already quite cycle friendly and have a track pump people can borrow, I was thinking inner tubes and puncture kits but wondered what else would riders find useful? I hoped I could pick your brains as to what you would want, not sure we want to turn into a fully fledged bike shop (although the idea is appealing)
Also, and this is probably for existing bike shop owners, where do you suggest contacting for stock, and what sort of minimum spend before you would go to a distributor?

TIA

CiB

Judging by the variations in replies to 'what should I eat?' threads on here, you'd need a shop full of all types of flapjacks, energy bars, energy gels, Jam sandwiches, Nuun tabs, Zero tabs, High Five powders, other powders, squash in small doses to avoid buying a bottle full, + CO2 cannisters, batteries of many types, rim tape, cable ties, spoke keys, chain tools, Power Links and Allen Keys of all sizes. And free water. That should do it.

Pross

I think you've covered the main emergency bits. Maybe keep a few tools to make / allow the cyclist to make basic repairs. It's basically covering the bits that break and cyclists may not carry.

arthur_scrimshaw

CiB wrote:

Judging by the variations in replies to 'what should I eat?' threads on here, you'd need a shop full of all types of flapjacks, energy bars, energy gels, Jam sandwiches, Nuun tabs, Zero tabs, High Five powders, other powders, squash in small doses to avoid buying a bottle full, + CO2 cannisters, batteries of many types, rim tape, cable ties, spoke keys, chain tools, Power Links and Allen Keys of all sizes. And free water. That should do it.

Well I think we've probably got the food angle covered, our cakes are home-made and we have a good menu. Batteries, Co2 cylinders are good and we could probably stretch to free water! We've got all the tools covered except perhaps a headset press although I'm sure our workshops could probably rig something up.
Our main role is as a vocational training centre for adults with learning disabilities and they work in the different social enterprise groups on site including the mentioned Cafe, furniture restoration, horticulture, open farm, horse rug wash to name just a few. We had been thinking about a bike workshop, a lot of the clients are interested in cycling and one option was to offer a bike hire scheme from the Centre with workshop facilities to maintain them. May have to revisit that idea!

Thanks for all the input so far.

Monty Dog

A range of inner tubes, rim tapes, puncture repair kits, chain lube, brake pads, spare brake and gear cable inners should see 99% of problems sorted. Maybe a few spare chain quick-links but anything else is probably overkill.

Having a few tools such as a set of Allen keys, cable cutters, cassette lockring tool, chainwhip, crank-puller, chainring bolt tool and spoke keys should be enough for most repair jobs. Most modern frames don't use a press-in headset so not needed these days.

Last time on the Southdowns Way all I needed was a big rock to fix a bent chainring!

desweller

Universal Derailleur Hanger

arthur_scrimshaw

DesWeller wrote:

Universal Derailleur Hanger

I thought that was a wind up - but it's real! Cheers 8)

natrix

What about putting together some cycling route maps (starting from your cafe) and either selling them individually or together as a booklet??