SAN FRANCISCO (BRAIN) — Retailer Summit Bicycles, with five brick-and-mortar stores in the Bay Area and Silicon Valley, has signed on to Beeline Bikes’ Retail Partner Program to launch a fleet of seven mobile bike shops serving customers from San Francisco to Santa Cruz, California.
Five of those mobile shops and territories are the last remaining company-owned service trucks Beeline launched in 2013 around its home base in the Bay Area before taking its first franchises live in late 2015. They begin operating as Summit Bicycles’ mobile shops starting today. Beeline will no longer operate any company-owned trucks, according to founder and CEO Pete Buhl.
Summit Bicycles owner Ian Christie said, “With decades supporting cyclists in the Bay Area, I’m proud of Summit’s track record providing a great customer experience across all our locations. With the addition of Beeline, we are uniquely positioned to extend our reach and customer-friendly approach to the neighborhoods, corporate campuses and local events in our communities.
“The bicycle industry is changing. Summit will stay on the leading edge when it comes to customer service and getting more people out riding bikes,” he added.
In addition to service and repair, the mobile shops will offer bike order fulfillment and on-site assembly through Beeline e-commerce partners Raleigh, Diamondback, Competitive Cyclist, Backcountry.com and other brands.
“With the maturity of the Beeline mobile service model and e-comm partnerships, we’ve had tremendous interest from existing brick-and-mortar retailers seeking to complement their traditional business by reaching new ‘non-bike shop’ customers,” Beeline’s Buhl said. “We are excited to partner with local bike shops who are looking to the future — Ian and Summit Bicycles epitomize the forward-thinking mindset that we need to grow the bicycle industry and promote a healthy lifestyle through cycling in communities around the country.”
Beeline introduced its Retail Partner Program in January with San Antonio retailer Crossroad Bikes. The program enables brick-and-mortar retailers to add a mobile component to their business with Beeline’s full support infrastructure.
Look for an update on Beeline Bikes in the April 1 print edition of Bicycle Retailer as part of our series on North American mobile bike shops and repair services.
