PolyCycles Relaunches

We were a bike subscription company, now we’re a bike sharing and demos company.

Summary

PolyCycles (polycycles.com) originally launched as a bike subscription company. However, the upfront cost to get an inventory of bikes and a warehouse to store them was too large. So we pivoted the business to a bike sharing a demos company, read more below.

What is bike sharing a demos?

We’re letting anybody (individuals, retailers, direct to consumer bike brands) list their bikes on our website to do monthly rentals. However, we’re selective with the bikes because we want to make sure that they’re in good condition. If a bike listing gets approved, then we’ll see it in person to take photos and get all the details on its components, wear, and tear. We’ll then list the bike.

When a bike gets rented (for a month or longer), we require that the bike owner pay us to clean and tune it up (we’ll price match guarantee with surrounding bike shops and give a detailed report of the servicing needed). We’ll then deliver the bike to the consumer and offer them optional accessories and bike fits. During the rental period, if anything goes wrong then we’ll come out and take a look. After the rental period, the renter is required to pay us for any tuning, cleaning, and repairs necessary. The less damage the renter does, the less they have to pay. Bike owners won’t have to pay us for service work if they don’t use their bike between rentals.

Why rent a bike?

• Anyone who is tired of:
  - Replacing parts (eg. tires, tubes, chains, cables, etc.).
  - Cleaning their bike.
  - Maintaining their bike.
• Racers who don ‘t want to spend $$$ on bikes they only use in races.
• Adventurers who want to try multiple bike genres (road, gravel, mountain).
• Families with kids growing and changing hobbies.
• Casual riders who only ride a few times a month.
• Tech geeks who always want the latest and greatest.
• Seasonal riders who only ride when the weather is nice or in their off-season.
• Apartment renters who don’t have room for multiple bikes.

Why rent your bikes out?

Some individuals own too many bikes! Maybe they have a race bike that they only use a few times a year, or a mountain bike that they only want to ride in the summer. Why let it sit around when plenty of people would love to ride it? Bikes are assets! We ensure that it stays in good condition and we’ll replace anything that breaks.

Bike retailers will have bikes that they’re having trouble selling. PolyCycles provides them a way to clear inventory, make money, and resell the bikes as used whenever the right customer comes along. We also drive customers to their business by letting them know that they can buy the bike if they liked it after renting it.

Direct to consumer bike brands don’t have a way to let customers demo/try their bikes. PolyCycles is their solution. We won’t retail the bikes, we’ll just take a commission from any purchase that comes from one of our customers. This lets D2C brands stay direct to consumer while also letting interested customers try before they buy.

Where We Are Now:

We’re just operating in Berkeley, CA, and the surrounding East Bay Area at the moment. We’re getting new customers (both owners and renters) daily.

Down the road:

We want to spread nationwide and maybe go global. Our customers will then be able to travel to any destination and they’ll have a bike waiting for them. We also want to start a bike club and host monthly rides where customers can try out any bike they’d like for the day, for free!

Contact:

If you have a question or comment, send us an email at friends@polycycles.com!

Visit us on the web at polycycles.com