Shop Rides, Planning and Protection

Shop rides are a part of the culture and lore of the bike shop world. First, if you are doing group rides from your business, you should make sure your insurance is covering them. Scott Chapin of Marsh and McLennan agency is a partner of the NBDA and should be consulted as he specializes in insuring bicycle shops, and provides coverage for group rides that your current insurance may not be. Second, you should also be having riders sign a waiver of liability that has been drafted by an attorney in the state of your business to make sure the correct language is covered. Riders need not sign one each ride if you have a dated, annualized release of liability. Just be sure to always verify each rider has signed.

While group rides are a great way to build community, are you also directly appealing to these riders through marketing and product presentations/demos? Many groups rides that shops “host” become autopilot events where riders show and go. Maybe they utilize your bathrooms, look for a pump, buy a nutritional item, or need a last-minute adjustment. Some shops go a step further and make the ride into a social event after the ride by supplying some drinks or even grilling some burgers etc. This is typically done in the “community building” line of thinking. Have you ever stopped to consider the return on the investment that these rides provide? Could you be selling beer or coffee instead of giving it away (with the correct licenses of course)? Additionally, the problem with providing beer/alcohol for free is you are really opening yourself up to liability issues as you have no coverage in that case.

The rider release of liability should also be used to collect some data, particularly an email address and phone number. You now have a way to set up a list of people who have done the ride and can begin to market to them directly. There are dozens of unique ways to leverage that contact now. You could begin to promote products or even ask for help at a trail workday. You could also use the group ride as a built-in crowd for factory demo’s as well. Knowing who is doing your rides and being able to reach them is simply a great practice.

You should always consider ways to turn the rides into a potential marketing vehicle to drive business. As I write this many shops are still dreaming of outdoor riding and the start of your group rides – so now is a great time to take aim at the presented issues and plan your marketing attack for the potential benefits of hosting your group rides.

With all that legal talk and urging to collect data, you may also want to look to group rides as a way to highlight certain products such as lights for night rides, perhaps different types of rides than you have typically been doing to drive sales in other categories, women’s rides, early morning fast-paced rides for those who work 9-5’s and have kids…the ideas are endless. I have witnessed first hand the community building in our own business as my wife built up a shop ride over the years that has resulted in life long friendships, and even international trips as a group. It’s amazing to see something designed to drive business actually eclipse the original intent and become something bigger.

The main thought process here is to make sure that your rides have some focused goal for your business that leads to increased sales. As I speak to retailers around the country there are shops that have really leveraged the group ride into a customer creating and retaining events instead of just another training ride that happens to leave from a bike shop. What better time to market to your customers than when you are all actually enjoying the activity that brings us all together?

Words by David DeKeyser