@meganL asks:

Q7. Which cycle-based business would you most like to have in your city that is not already there?

(Businesses I've seen or read about: mobile cycle mechanic, cycle logistics/delivery, cycle blended fruit drinks, cycle silkscreen t-shirts booth, cycle espresso shop, cycle stroopwaffel shop, cycle green gardening [no power tools], cycle moving company, pedal pubs, etc}

#BikeNiteQ #BikeNite #BikeTooter #Cycling #MastoBikes cc @bikenite

@ascentale @meganL @bikenite
#BikeNite A7:
I wish there was a Brompton dealer here so I don't have to go the 90 miles to Minneapolis for service/accessories.

@ascentale @meganL @bikenite A7) Probably any that would hire me. #JobSearch

@ascentale @meganL @bikenite Q7. A mobile bike mechanic would do me a world of good right now. Looking forward to next spring, when I get a small pickup with a trailer hitch and a hitch bike rack. #BikeNite

@ascentale @meganL @bikenite

A7. Oh, wow, I had not even considered this… (I have been looking at VC-ing youth micro-startups locally.)

I live in a summer tourist town, with lots of bike activities.

* Mobile bike repair
* Cycle beverage and food carts/trailers
* Gardening/landscaping we already have, but moar?
* Grocery delivery would be year 'round, which would be great! if it works for youth. (Lotsa retirees.)
* Bike 'store' livery - building & renting mobile platforms.

#BikeNite

@ascentale @meganL @bikenite A7: I wish there was bike food delivery for the shorter trips from the restaurants in town to surrounding neighborhoods, the college campus, etc. it's only done by car here. #BikeNite

@ascentale @meganL@mas.to @bikenite A7: I'd really like a cargo trailer hire place, especially if they had one of those German power-assisted 3 wheel trailers. But it would be a really niche business and likely located unreasonably far away from me so I suspect I'd use it at most once. And I'm the load-carrying extreme! So not really a viable business.

There are a few trailers I have built in the community, including one with a 1m x 1.5m load platform that I gave a bike co-op. See pic :)

#BikeNite

@moz @ascentale @bikenite #bikeNite q7
could be a viable sideline as part of something else.
Hmmm. I"m sitting here imagining a cycling "center" ... a thing you join like a gym except it's thinking wider and it's not stuck indoors, they do group rides, pub crawls, kiddical masse, advocacy...

@ascentale @meganL @bikenite @BikeNite A7 They might exist in some places but a *lot* of end of commute facilities would be awesome.

With how many gyms there are around, them adding this as a service would make a lot of sense.

@ascentale @meganL @bikenite

A7. Yes.

#bikenite

@ascentale @meganL @bikenite

A7. More seriously, though. Bike-powered espresso stand. We do have a bike-powered compost program, which is super cool. I also love the idea of a general Bike Center with multiple different kinds of bike-related things (like the commuter station in a town I used to live in).

#Bikenite

@ascentale @meganL @bikenite #BikeNite A8. Yes! Anything!

@ascentale @meganL @bikenite A7. I would definitely appreciate mobile repair service! Saved my bacon in England.
#BikeNite

@ascentale @meganL @bikenite A7: I’d love to have a business that sells cycling-themed active/sport tops, such as T-shirts and hoodies. Regular (cotton) tops featuring cycles are available everywhere, but not moisture-wicking ones that can be worn while cycling. #BikeNite #MastoBikes #BikeTooter

@ascentale @meganL @bikenite A7. I’d so love having a mobile bike mechanic! #BikeNite

@ascentale @meganL @bikenite
I'd like to see a cycling centre that offered casual group rides at various lengths and levels as well as workshops on bike maintenence for dummies.

@ascentale @meganL @bikenite ive heard of a place that did year-scale electric bike with child seat(s) rentals. That seems like a cool model for something specialised and pricey that people really only need for 2-3 years (maybe swapping to a 2-carrier than back to a single as needed).

@ascentale @meganL @bikenite a7. lots more delivery services. Get most of those effin vans off the road!

@ascentale @meganL @bikenite #BikNite A7. used bicycle shop, and I would gladly run it, if I had the capital to get started.

@ascentale @meganL @bikenite

A7.

Bicycle repair and sales shop year round. Winters here make that hard. The closest one too me that I liked in a close town just shut down. The other one that's close by is more about renting electric bikes, though they do have some things and do repairs *when* they have a mechanic, which isn't all the time.

#BikeNite

@EclecticHuman @ascentale @meganL @bikenite

A7. Me too. One of my frustrations was so many bicycle shops were so geared to bicycle racing that I had a hard time getting the things I needed as a year round bicycle commuter.

#BikeNite

@ascentale
A7: A self repair space like what London Bike Kitchen used to be.

They had all the tools, 7 stands that you could book and a bad ass mechanic that could guide you with what you wanted to do.
@meganL @bikenite
#BikeNite

@jfparis @ascentale @meganL @bikenite broad bikez looks quite similar (maybe the same crew too) https://www.broadbikez.com/services

@MartyCormack @ascentale @meganL @bikenite We now have a Brompton dealer where I live, which is great timing for me with my recently-acquired G Line. It’s even walkable from my home! I feel fortunate.

@ascentale @meganL @bikenite A7. We’re decently served with cycle-related shops and initiatives here in Waterloo Region, which I’m grateful for. But I’d love to see a cargo bike rental place. Here’s one I know of in Ottawa:

https://www.letsgocargo.ca

#BikeNite

@dan
Very similar but different team. Jenny, the person that started LBK, is now mechanic at herne hill velodrome.
@ascentale @meganL @bikenite

@ascentale
A7

Wow!

So many thoughts!

Here:
despite being a univ town,
we're an utter wasteland of ignored opportunities in this vein.
Complete subservience to motonormativity.

I've tried for 15yrs to do *something*, *anything*!

had truncated luck with vegan catering for a few events on behalf of my fav bookstore:cafe

but even they don't 'get it'.

my bikebasedbiz doesn't apply, as i use (battery) powertools.
&
no one cares.
all alone.

@meganL @bikenite

@cpm @ascentale @bikenite Aw, I don't mean to discount power tools! I was just saying that this particular guy I knew had the feature of it all being hand tools. It's fine with battery too if you need power tools (and the more disabled we are, the more we need them). #BikeNite

@ascentale
A7
part deux

i tried for a niche a few yrs back with my fav asian food spots & 1 asian grocery.

"You can't do that on a bicycle!"

let me try

"Lol! no!"

Students.
App Based Services
clog *everywhere* with AllCarsAllTheTimeEverywhere

the students are scraping for pennies

Soo much:
*Huge* delivery-based commerce, concentrated in 4 square miles, thousands & thousands of meals & grocery runs daily
&
None of it via bicycle or foot.
NONE

NottaDolla!

@meganL @bikenite

@ascentale
A7
part 3:

Oddly
funny
& ironically enough;

not frequent
only a few times over the years;

I've walked in late in the day to order carry-out (i only do this in person, pay in cash)

&

had folks brighten right up:
"Oh!
We're slammed!
We're out of drivers!
Can you deliver these orders?
Please?
I'll make you whatever you want!"

Since lockdown
nearly everything is carryout/delivery

even pizzahut no longer has a dining room.

@meganL @bikenite

@meganL
hey
it's ok

I'm trying to compete in a marketplace utterly dominated by diesel pickup hauling trailers loaded to the gills with gas powered tools, tax subsidized, code-enforced/required, businesses.

not a level playing field

side-note
most of these redneck (srry) locals?
they think my rig is awesome.

clients?
meh.

Also
Uber/Lyft/Fantaun/HungryPanda/Deliveroo/etc apps?

have woven themselves into regulations like a cancer.

@ascentale @bikenite

@ascentale @meganL @bikenite A7. #BikeNite
For a long time, I was looking for a cargo bike rental. Ended up buying my own in the end.

@ascentale
A7:

further thoughts.

Afore mentioned issues with App-Based 'gig-work':

being that they all wove themselves into the 'on demand' delivery realm via regulatory requirements viz contractor law, insurance, immigration status compliance, etc

Further:

Insurance/bonding underwriters & law firms struggle to even spell
'bicycle';

(outside the context of retail & repair service.)

@meganL @bikenite

@rowmyboat
Oh

It's a real thing.

Here in State College, home of PennState;

Not all? exactly, but a *lot* of the student body feel (With Reason) that they must have a car!

transportation options are thin.

given another covid, 911, etc?

They need cars!

Since many of them are already seriously strapped for $$

they do what they can to offset the $$ req'd to have a car at all.

There is no lack of car drivers needing $$

the apps love it!

@ascentale @meganL @bikenite

@ascentale @meganL @bikenite
A7. I would love to have more services positioned along bike/MUPs in my area.

Like there is one bakery at the end of one trail and along a 15 mile pathway only one cafe/restaurant in the middle with mostly evening hours. A bit more a short distance off the trails, mostly along roads.

#bikenite

@kimu
Hehe

When the bike shop I worked for closed during covid-lockdown:

I took over our repair parts accounts w/vendors. Changed billing, blahblah, chartered a biz with the state&fed, yadda:

Vendors:
'send pics of bricks&mortar'

me: 'I'm mobile'

Vendor: 'send pics of van&workspace'

me: 'I'm bike-based. Here's my tool inventory & trailer, & I have a pop-up tent'.

Vendors:
"wow! awesome!
But 'legal' says "No!" "

if legal says no?
then no.

shite

@ascentale @meganL @bikenite

@kimu
PS:

The rest of the story;

a local frame builder had the capital to get a transit van, and tool up.
&
He's super-awesome!

we collaborated a bit for some of my crazier clients (was a recumbent mechanic, me)
& he's been a superior service guy.

No regrets.

aside from folks not grokking
'bicycle-based'

@ascentale @meganL @bikenite

@ascentale @bikenite A7. For where I'm currently living, I think I'd most appreciate cycle food/grocery delivery that was run by the business itself. Wolt, Globo, and now Deliveroo saturate this place. Some of their delivery riders use e-bikes (usually like motorcycles...souped up), but largely they use motorscooters/motorcycles and they also CONSTANTLY block the cycle lanes so I have multiple reasons not to want to support them. I have never gotten corporatized food delivery anywhere.

I'd be really happy to support cycle riders who actually ride (or are disabled such that they cannot pedal but are still using an e-cycle rather than a gas-guzzler) if any business owners actually chose to do that. Same for grocery delivery.

I mostly want to shop myself, but there are times I'm in a lot of pain and if I'm not stocked, it would be nice to have delivery I felt good about.

I wouldn't mind seeing pedicabs here. I think they can be useful ways to get around at times.

#BikeNite

@ascentale @meganL @bikenite rental cargo bikes, secure sheltered bicyle parking (at bus transit centers and shopping plazas)

@ScoterD @ascentale @bikenite Those are cool, but what I meant is of mobile businesses run directly from a bike, trike, quad... #BikeNite

@gcvsa @ascentale @meganL @bikenite
We have BR Bikes that used to be out of a garage doing repairs and selling refurbs. (I'm afraid it might be what drives the Trek shop out of business.)

@ascentale @meganL @bikenite #BikeNite A7, part II. I forgot to mention "bicycle-friendly bed and breakfast", and "mobile bicycle repair shop in a high roof cargo van".

But, these days, I'd settle for business owners even bothering to think about the fact that some of their customers might wish to ride bicycles, and provide decent, safe, comfortable, and convenient bicycle parking options, preferably indoors, but at least protected from weather so I can load/unload my panniers in the dry.

@ascentale @meganL @bikenite A7. Food delivery. Might already be a thing, but very rare. Mainly to get rid of all the deliver drivers that park in the bike lane, under the “no parking anytime sign”, and frequently blocking a fire hydrant.

Oh the car expenses they would save! #BikeNite

@rand
In Chicago that transition is already complete with ebikes. Unfortunately, we don't have clear laws in place* to regulate where the bikes should operate, and so we have electric motorcycles ramming into pedestrians on the sidewalk.

*There's a new law; let's hope it's implemented well.

@ascentale @meganL @bikenite

#BikeNite A7: I don't think #WaterlooRegion still has a #BikeCafe.

There was the "Berlin Bike Cafe", but I don't know if it still exists. "Berlin" because that's the former name for #Kitchener.

@ascentale
@meganL @bikenite

@uxMark

Brompton dealer in #WaterlooRegion? Who dat?

@MartyCormack @ascentale @meganL @bikenite

#BikeNite

@Acitta

I thought so. It had just moved there s few years earlier from somewhere closer to downtown, but I never knew the new location.

@ascentale @meganL @bikenite

@meganL @bikenite A7. What a great list.. of those on the list, I think logistics/delivery. Seems practical and normalizes traveling by cycle. And also might broaden existing definitions of mobility in some people’s minds.

I would love to have more bike powered bike lane sweepers.

#BikeNite

@moz there's a place that rents all manner of car trailers not far from my place. I'm sure that they could easily expand to renting out a few bike trailers; they already have the space, and the smaller bike trailers would fit neatly between the larger car trailers. They would even have room for an e-bike or three for pulling them.

@ascentale @bikenite

@ascentale @meganL @bikenite there is a single brick-and-mortar bike shop in my town, but I wish there was another (and that it was mine, but I'll never be able to afford a real building unfortunately)! To my knowledge that's the only bicycle based business in town. There is a bicycle coffee place, but I don't think they actually ride, they literally drive the bicycle to wherever they're going to go and then park it with the pick up truck, the bike with the coffee stuff on the back is just for vibes, so I guess a real bike coffee truck would be nice too!

#BikeNite

@sam @ascentale @meganL @bikenite what on the trucking your bike somewhere? Lol

@sam @ascentale @bikenite Aw, it's too bad it's just aesthetic like that.

The stroopwaffel quadricycle was definitely cycled to outdoor markets in the Sacramento area by an actual Dutch cyclist! #BikeNite

@meganL @ascentale @bikenite oh man, I would kill for a stroopwaffel cart, what a good idea!

#BikeNite

@sam @ascentale @bikenite Looks like he does have a trailer for it, but on the day I saw him, he was definitely cycling it away. Looks like a big trike rather than quad.

https://dutchmansstroopwafels.com/ #BikeNite

@ascentale @meganL @bikenite

A7b. After the explanation by Megan, the one thing I would like to see is a Hot dog and bratwurst stand powered by bicycle or tricycle. With Lefse chips for the side.

#BikeNite

@ascentale @meganL @bikenite
A7.
One I'd like to see back is the Dicky Dee ice cream bikes my city had when I was a kid!

Cargo trikes with a cooler full of ice cream bars, crewed mostly by teenagers on their first job. They could get everywhere, into the interior of the big city parks and paths, far beyond the car-based food trucks.

By the time I was old enough to work for them though, they were gone.
#BikeNite

@ascentale @meganL @bikenite

Not exactly a business but every time I see one stuck in traffic I wish they would try out having the first responders on (e?)bikes followed by the ambulance or fire engine for the second level of response.