Friday, September 09, 2011

Markets in Everything: Vending Bike Repair

Bike Repair Vending Machine Sells Parts, Tools, And Snacks:

"Say goodbye to bike shops. Minneapolis's Bike Fixtation will sell you the parts you need to get your bike back on the road, and give you the tools to make your repairs right there. 

It's happened to every biker. A flat tire in an inconvenient place on your commute, and the nearest bike shop is a long walk away. Most casual bikers don't carry extra tubes or tools with them; and so any repair work on the road can mean an end to a bike ride, and potentially leaving your bike locked up somewhere slowly rusting as you forget about it in your frustration. That's why the idea of the Bike Fixtation is so brilliant: a place for you to buy new parts and then install them yourself."

HT: Dan Greller

7 Comments:

At 9/10/2011 12:21 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Agreed, good idea.

So long as the bike repair stations are financially self-sustaining, ie, the vendors aren't counting on grant money from cities & counties.

 
At 9/10/2011 3:37 AM, Blogger ws4whgfb said...

Anyone with the aptitude to make repairs will probably carry tire irons, a tire patch kit and a spoke wrench. I had a kit of tools that attached under the seat when I used to ride and I had to use them by the side of the road.

Maybe entire inner tubes, or fix-a-flat foam/sealant would sell.

A rubber mallet would be useful hanging from that post. I once hit a high curb and put a serious dent in my rim and had to pound it straight.

Do you have to put a quarter in to unroll the cables to use the tools or is their use free?

How useful is it to have these things when you could break down at any distance from one? Are they every quarter mile along a busy bike commuter route?

 
At 9/10/2011 3:38 AM, Blogger ws4whgfb said...

Maybe someone will try to make a career of standing near one of these offering repair services? Talk about low overhead.

 
At 9/10/2011 7:36 AM, Blogger Don Culo said...

The post is ridiculous when it mentions the distance to bike shops, are these self-serve bike repair centers going to be located on every other street corner?

Any serious/regular rider carries a spare inner-tube and simple tools needed to change the inner-tube.

 
At 9/10/2011 11:04 AM, Blogger juandos said...

Locally I can see where having a few of these sorts of vending machines systems might be seasonlly useful and maybe even quite profitable...

In the St. Louis, Mo area there are extensive bike paths on both sides of the Mississippi river and many places along these paths are food vendors and B&B places...

Assuming that price of these types of vending machines systems is relatively reasonable it may well be worth path side vendors to consider investing in one of them...

 
At 9/10/2011 2:43 PM, Blogger Don Culo said...

"Assuming that price of these types of vending machines systems is relatively reasonable it may well be worth path side vendors to consider investing in one of them..."

*************

Last time I checked you don't need a vending machine to seel inner-tubes.

 
At 9/10/2011 3:05 PM, Blogger juandos said...

Hey culo maybe you should consider checking out the site to see what else is possible with that sort of vending machine set-up...

Just a thought pendejo...

 

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