Work & lifestyle changes cycle related
- Thread starter Oldhippy
- Start date
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I haven’t done so. However work has lost its allure and I’m thinking of taking the hit to my pension that it entails and retiring - possibly around June.
The town we are moving to doesn’t have any cycling related businesses and I’m considering offering bike repairs and servicing. It would be a big step up however, from doing my own work, to tackling whatever people throw at me.
I’ve some background in the voluntary sector and an alternative plan would be trying to get a bike repair co-op off the ground. I’m not sure there is enough population to make that fly, and there are an awful lot of people in what is a rural area wedded to their cars.
The town we are moving to doesn’t have any cycling related businesses and I’m considering offering bike repairs and servicing. It would be a big step up however, from doing my own work, to tackling whatever people throw at me.
I’ve some background in the voluntary sector and an alternative plan would be trying to get a bike repair co-op off the ground. I’m not sure there is enough population to make that fly, and there are an awful lot of people in what is a rural area wedded to their cars.
biggs682
Touch it up and ride it
- Location
- Northamptonshire
Thanks - in many ways undertaking bike repairs would be the more relaxed incremental way to do it. I have a garage which is going to be a dedicated bike space / workshop / turbo room. I also have a van to collect / drop off bikes.
A community co-op would need space of its own, funding, volunteers and more concerning to me would be that I could end up doing all the paperwork and not getting near the bikes.
I went to a pre-retirement course and was told if you’re doing voluntary work, do what you want to do, not what other people want you to do. He told us a story about someone in marketing who wanted to volunteer for some kind of woodland charity. They immediately said, you could design us some leaflets and help with fund-raising. His response was, “That’s not what I want to do, I’m leaving that behind. I want to push a wheelbarrow and tidy up in the woods.”
Good luck with it. Cycling advanced quite a bit in the initial stages of the pandemic, but we are seeing a predictable kick back from the motoring lobby now. I’d imagine you might need to explore other areas of funding than the council, given all they have on at the moment, but they might be able to help in kind, rent-free or low rent workspace for instance.
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
A mate has a bike repair business from a shed. He's also gone mobile with a little 3 wheeler van in the last 6 months. He was also working for a sports touring company but thats dried up.
That would be the plan. After 40 years of work stopping it will leave a big gap that I need to fill. My work offered phased retirement and that was plan A, to go to 3 days a week, but that no longer seems possible, ironically because they are struggling to recruit. They are putting barriers in the way of partial retirement, and may end up losing people completely. I wouldn’t need to earn from it, though there would be limited point in doing it for nothing. I need two more years NI to get a full state pension, so it would help with that at least.
All uphill
Still rolling along
- Location
- Somerset
I have repaired or rebuilt 20 bicycles in 2020, mostly for friends and their friends.
I quickly learnt that I enjoy helping friendly people within my network get back on their bikes cheaply, but dislike doing the same thing as a business - a couple of bad experiences with members of the general public reminded me why I am so grateful to be retired.
If I needed the income I would get a dedicated business mobile phone, liability insurance and record by email what I had agreed to do, and at what cost together with the (maximum) timescale.
Even in December I could have had one or two days work per week.
Good luck!
I quickly learnt that I enjoy helping friendly people within my network get back on their bikes cheaply, but dislike doing the same thing as a business - a couple of bad experiences with members of the general public reminded me why I am so grateful to be retired.
If I needed the income I would get a dedicated business mobile phone, liability insurance and record by email what I had agreed to do, and at what cost together with the (maximum) timescale.
Even in December I could have had one or two days work per week.
Good luck!
SkipdiverJohn
Deplorable Brexiteer
- Location
- London
I would put it to them like this; "I've decided I'm going to cut my work hours down regardless. Either I retire now, take my pension, and you can choose to re-employ me part-time if you need staff, or you let me go part time like I want and I'll continue to work for you"
If you have a lot of experience and your employer is having trouble recruiting, you have the upper hand remember. If you decide to walk, they have the problem of replacing you with someone who will give them what you offer. Retaining, say 60% of your services would seem to be a far better outcome for them than losing 100%.
Lovacott
Über Member
Many years ago I was a self employed plumber and ended up doing a lot of work for free. Anyone who knew me would make me their first port of call with any plumbing problems. I'd give them mates rates which I'm not even sure would have covered my costs. One of my pet hates was being called back by a customer looking to blame me for a new problem entirely unrelated to an issue I had fixed earlier (like a failed boiler after I had fixed the float valve in their downstairs loo). One woman phoned me up three years after installing a ceramic mixer to complain that it had started dripping.
In the end, I went to work for a company for a wage. So much easier.
A big part of my job is investigating complaints. I'm used to dealing with upset, distressed people. Issues about bikes would be quite a few rungs further down the ladder than the stuff I currently deal with.
My hobby is the restoration of vintage bikes, I’ve done 10 this year and it has made enough to buy a good used Van Nicholas Ti bike. I would struggle to make a living out of it though, I’m too fussy and far too detailed.
