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into the organisation to help support its key goal of getting more people on bikes.
The future Despite all the uncertainty, Kinsman-Chauvet is optimistic about the future of his business and the UK bike trade: “Cycling will still grow. We’re still far away from being a really active country in Scotland and the UK, so there’s plenty of opporunities. I think we need to rethink the way we do things. “I think the number of customers will grow, definitely, but we need to rethink how to make a profit. “It’s really important to be ready, to be planning. One of the things we learned as well is to be more proactive. Not that we weren’t proactive before, but using more digital tools to analyse.
“Before we were reviewing our finances every month with a big refocussing every three months. Now you will have to do things week-by-week, because things change so fast.” On future plans for the business, Kinsman-Chauvet said there is a big new service on the way that can’t yet be revealed. Meanwhile, reducing the seasonality of bike sales is a major priority for Bike for Good, by helping to promote year-round cycling but also by developing more products and services that can be used year-round The recent addition of Cytech training to the Bike for Good offering is an example of that, as training is needed 12 months of the year, and the winter months may even be better for many mechanics to find the time to sign up.
22 | March 2023
“Cytech has been really good. Cytech has got a reputation, so it’s an image for your organisation. It brings motivation to the staff,” said Kinsman-Chauvet.
An unknown quantity While Bike for Good has a major focus on bike repairs, refurbishing, and secondhand sales, e-bikes are a significant development in the cycle industry that could offer a huge potential to attract new customers and broaden the appeal of cycling.
But does Kinsman-Chauvet see an opportunity for his charity? “It’s really difficult, because there’s a lot of competition, lots of people are doing e-bikes.” “There is money but not so much money in e-bikes yet.
For us, the decision to invest in lots of e-bikes is quite difficult. “My question is ‘is there any profit to be made in e-bike retail?’ and that’s what a bike shop has to think about. That’s why we focus more on training and repairs. “So yes, there will be a growth in e-bikes, but is it for us? I don’t know.”
What could present an opportunity for Bike for Good however, is if the secondhand e-bike market in the UK matures as time goes on.
Kinsman-Chauvet said he has seen in France companies designing their businesses around the e-bike resale market. He added: “There’s already two or three companies in
France refurbishing e-bikes, but huge fleets, thousands of e-bikes. So the market is already happening. It’s going to arrive in the UK, but not yet.”
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