Cycling has enjoyed a bit of a surge in popularity in recent years. Bradley Wiggins’ Tour de France win, the staging of ‘le Tour’ in the UK in 2014, plus health and environmental concerns have all helped make this a fast growing market to get involved in.
Better still, there are lots of different ways to make money from the cycling business, most of which don’t need a lot of time or cash to get up and running. (You don’t even need to be a cyclist for some of them!)
Here are a few ideas for real, hands on ways you could cash in on the popularity of cycling:
* Bike repairs. Years ago most towns had one or more independent bike repair shops. But, nowadays these are in short supply in most places. If you’re handy you could do bike repairs, servicing, maintenance and upgrades.
This is an opp. you could run from home spare time. Or, even better, offer a mobile service, travelling round to homes and workplaces.
* Bike tours. Ask many keen cyclists and you’ll learn they’re always eager to find out about new cycling routes that are interesting, safe and which offer cyclist-friendly facilities along the route. Riding as a group is also more appealing to many than riding alone.
So why not organise some biking tours of your local area – whether rural or using quiet urban routes? You can offer itineraries to suit different interests and abilities lasting everything from half a day to several days with accommodation organised en route.
If you live in a tourist spot and have more capital to invest you might even look at offering bike hire.
* Publishing opportunities. If you don’t want to get too hands-on with running bike tours how about compiling some interesting cycling routes up into guides and books and publishing them? The easiest way to do this would be as a Kindle book or other ebook.
You don’t need to be an expert writer. Instead pack out your book with digital photos and sketch maps of the route.
Here a handy article about publishing ebooks: Make Money from eBook Publishing: 7 Secrets Of Successful eBook Publishing LINK
* Equipment and clothing. You don’t need to know a thing about cycling to exploit this opportunity! Look into it a little, and you’ll find there are thousands and thousands of products designed to appeal to cyclists. Everything from clothing and helmets to accessories and training and maintenance products. Here’s a good idea – look for new and innovative products that no one else is selling, and aim to cash in on a new trend.
Cycling products are perfect for selling on eBay, or Amazon, or your own website.
Tip. You might look at sourcing and selling imported products – which offer innovative and high margins. If so, Alibaba is a real treasure trove of exciting import product opportunities. Here’s more information on Alibaba: Product Sourcing Made Simple With Alibaba! LINK
* Cycling lessons. Go back a few years and most schools had some kind of cycling proficiency training but today’s ever-increasing curriculum means it’s a rarity. So cycling training courses could be a gap in the market to fill.
Draw up a programme for your course – include such things as bike maintenance, cycle control and safe riding in traffic. Your course could be for adults who are new to riding or for children. If aimed at children you might be able to get schools to promote your courses for you in return for a commission (it could be a great fund raiser) and even let you use their playgrounds as a training ground.
One last thing. Remember that cycling isn’t just an elite sport for Tour de France wannabe cyclists. For every pro or serious amateur cyclist there are thousands of amateur cyclists – kids, adults, road and off road cyclists, commuters and leisure cyclists who just enjoy riding a couple of miles. For best results, think about what sub-market you want to target and tailor your products/services to suit them.