New Ebike shop opening in Columbia Missouri- Volt Riders

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Jul 7, 2008
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I wanted to share with the forum that I just incorporated a new business and will be opening up an Ebike specific shop from within my current shop of Holmes Hobbies/ Holmes Bikes. The name is Volt Riders, and we will be supplying basic 20mph kits along with custom builds for the community. Wheels will be assembled in house with high quality components, and all other kit parts are being sourced independently so we aren't tied to one companies' "standard". Our city is small, about 100,000 people, and the majority of people commute less than 10 miles per day. I am just the brains behind the business and am only supplying factory contacts, troubleshooting, assembly, and marketing knowledge to train the workers. I will also be hiring out my spoke machine labor to the company so I will gain an extra 10 to 15 hours back a week for prototyping on the CNC and producing new Ebike and robotic components!

Along with the regular ebike stuff we will also provide service for 49cc scooters and mopeds. We all (my shop community) have lots of experience with them and constantly have people asking for service, so it just makes sense to have labor available.


With some luck we can really make a difference in our town! It would be awesome to get even 100 people out of cars and onto bikes for their daily commute and errands.
 
Congratulations John!

It is really good to see your business expanding. You have done work for me (5) times over the past 3 years - with (2) more transactions pending - and I've been pleased with your work every single time, and you have been great to work with every single time. I look forward to your new CNC work too!

-JD
 
Good to see! I hope all the best for you and your business
 
Thanks fellas! I'm pretty excited about it myself!


Not sure why this got moved to the for sale section. Nothing is for sale in the post. This isn't an online biz (already have one of those). I'm not selling the biz. I didn't even put in a feeler for work! Might as well have put it into the used section :lol: How about this gets moved back to general?
 
johnrobholmes said:
Not sure why this got moved to the for sale section. Nothing is for sale in the post. This isn't an online biz (already have one of those). I'm not selling the biz. I didn't even put in a feeler for work! Might as well have put it into the used section :lol: How about this gets moved back to general?

If it doesn't moved back to general, you are gonna have to put a price in the first post to meet forum guidelines. :lol: :lol: :lol:

-JD
 
Good luck! Let us know in the for sale section when the shop is up and running for mail order buisness. The closer people are to CS for a motor kit they buy the better.
 
Hey John,

I'm an e-biker up in St. Charles (hwy 40 & 94!) and hope to come up and see you when your open for business.

Happy opening!

Tom
 
litespeed, looking forward to having you come around!

Roadside assistance would be an interesting offer, but I don't want to be taking 3am phone calls :lol:


We have two or three projects that will be started this month. Essentially I want a new pusher trailer and cargo bike, and my buddy wants a light single speed E-bike.


Thanks for the kind words, I hope it goes well! Columbia is a great town, I'm sure we will be just fine.
 
See if your city can offer any 'clean vehicle' rebate to customers who buy an ebike from you. Here in Austin TX, if you are an Austin Energy customer you can get $150 off the purchase of an ebike at numerous shops here.

Good luck!
 
We are getting closer to the grand opening! 200 sq feet of my shop has been taken over and converted to a storefront. My spoke machine will become part of this new business, and there isn't much left to do except wait for parts and make the signage out front. And of course make the repair areas and get all the mopeds out of the space.

We should be operational in about two weeks!
 

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Nice. Can't wait to come up and see the place once it's done.....should be about the same time my DH Comp is finish too!

Tom
 
Just made an order of Pedego bikes to compliment the kits we will offer. I wasn't expecting to carry them, but after talking to the owner of the company at length I was sold! It will be great for people that don't have a bike and don't want to fool with the "kit" aspect of it.

Walls are painted, fire inspection is Monday, got a land line, QBP dealership is next. We are already getting a walk in every day for mopeds or ebikes, can't complain about that!
 
Get ready to deal with battery problems and customer complaints. I hope you have everything set up to take care of stuff like that.

Best of luck.
 
I've been dealing with that through Holmes Bikes for many years already, so I'm practiced at it! Pedego has a 3 year battery warranty, we won't have to do much in that regard. That is one thing that is nice about carrying another brand, let them deal with the hassles! For our own batteries we plan to keep a spare around for quick swaps in the case of warranty.
 
Geez 3 yr warranty is pretty good. Pedego might be eating their lunch over this generous warranty. But that's good deal for you knowing they will back up their stuff. I didn't mean to discourage you but from what I read on the forums there's a lot of picky people out there where one little thing wrong they will be calling you for.

Best of luck and let us all know how things go.
 
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