If you live in an area with many
exciting bike trails, you can start a bike rental business. Biking
trails often require the use of high end bikes that can withstand
the use of trail riding such as driving over tree roots, through
streams, etc.
Your everyday K-Mart bicycle will not cut trail riding in most
cases. By owning a bike rental service, you will supply reliable,
strong bikes to people who want to ride trails but cannot afford
$500+ for a trail riding bike.
Your start-up costs may be a little higher depending on the number
of bikes you want to have in your fleet. If you buy 10 bikes for
$500 each, your start-up costs are $5,000.
You can rent a bike for about $25 per day. Be sure to get some
sort of collateral so people are taking off with your bikes! Keep a
credit card or drivers license and return it when the bike is
returned in good condition. After just 20 rentals, your bikes are
paid off and you have an asset with pure profits from then on.
You can begin by partnering with bike shops and by posting flyers
at parks and the bike trails themselves. Place an ad in newspapers
in the entertainment section. Anywhere your target market will be is
a good place to advertise.
