LAGUNA HILLS, CA (BRAIN)—Two months after signing a rental lease and doing extensive remodeling, Cory Clayton and Kelly Crean unveiled their new shop with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and barbecue on Friday.
The co-owners of the OC Bicycle Service and Garage in Laguna Hills, California, said their business model differs from a traditional bike shop in that they are focusing solely on bicycle repair and maintenance, renting three Park Tool bike stands and fully stocked tool stations by the hour to riders who want to fix their bikes, and offering full repair services for those who don’t.
“People kept asking for certain services like quick repairs and lessons on how to fix their bikes,” said Clayton, who’s worked at local bike shops for 11 years including Revo Cycles in Dana Point and Cycle Werks in San Clemente. “We’re not selling new bikes, just used ones and we’ve given our place more of a garage atmosphere.”
Clayton will teach repair and maintenance workshops out of the shop aimed at beginners and experienced do-it-yourselfers.
Crean, who worked in advertising for seven years and also has a budding acting career appearing in films such as “Bratz” and the upcoming flick “Soul Surfer”, said their goal also is to build a support system for commuters.
“A lot of people are intimidated just going to the grocery store on their bike thinking what if they get a flat or something breaks,” Crean said. “We want to make commuting by bike a reliable form of transportation.”
To help riders get over that intimidation factor, OC Bicycle Garage is offering roadside assistance whereby a stranded cyclist could call and get picked up and taken to their destination or have their bike fixed on the spot. Crean, who is handling accounting, marketing and other back office tasks, said they will pick up riders within 30 miles of the shop for a nominal $5 pick-up fee and 50 cents per mile.
The shop also stocks and sells a wide array of parts, something Crean said is lacking at similar types of operations like co-ops.
Crean, who’s been brushing up on QuickBooks leading up to the opening, said customers began dropping by even before they were ready thanks in part to a highly trafficked location in a business park off of Moulton Parkway.
“Through our research we found that bike shops make money from repairs and parts sales not new bike sales,” Crean said. And should business take off, “we’d like to franchise the business model at some point,” she added.
(PHOTO: Cory Clayton and Kelly Crean cut the ribbon at the grand opening of OC Bicycle Service and Garage attended by Laguna Hills Mayor Randal Bressette and representatives from the South Orange County Regional Chambers of Commerce.)
--Lynette Carpiet
lcarpiet@bicycleretailer.com
