Post: #1

Hi all,


I am just doing some casual research into the possibility of bringing a beer bike (e.g. Bierbike.de) to a US location.

Basically 8-12 people pedal a bike that is steered by a sober employee. They are popular in Europe.

It works way better if you can drink on board but I believe that laws in the US make this an unlikely possibility.

They do have them in Austin (Pub Crawler) and you can drink in most of the areas it goes through although there are a few no drinking zones where people can't sip.

Has anyone any possible ideas? Ideally it will be a bit of a tourist spot.

Chicago would be great but I think the local laws make it impossible at this stage.

Thanks for any thoughts.

Post: #2

hey I saw that shit in Utah. can you believe that? btw,it's very hard to open a bar here since they rarely give out licenses. But I saw that damn thing here. so it would be a lot easier in other states?
but I don't know how many people want to keep pedaling that thing......
Is it proven model?

Post: #3

It is proven all over Germany and Netherlands. Also looks like it has been successfully set up in London, San Diego, Minnesota, Austin in the last few years.

People would love that around Wrigley field here.

Post: #4

Denver has it. There are many places in Colorado it would work, but the question is where would it work that they aren't already doing it?

Post: #5

(05-29-2013 02:06 AM)InternationPlayboy Wrote:  Denver has it. There are many places in Colorado it would work, but the question is where would it work that they aren't already doing it?

There is one up in Nashville that appears to do pretty well. You can check out their web site where they lay out their schedule and pricing and get a good idea of their business model.

http://www.nashvillepedaltavern.com

Based on my observations, this would be more of a fun sideline that ideally would be combined with some sort of other related business venture. You wouldn't have a problem getting enough riders on Friday/Saturday nights and maybe Sunday afternoons, but that thing would be doing a lot of sitting around Monday-Thursday.

The clientele that I observe tends to be young and (mostly) hot/fit girls, often as part of a bachelorette party/girls night out. I imagine the whole concept tends to select out the lard-asses, so there might be an angle for the player here.

The ideal location for this sort of thing would be college town/tourist destinations with concentrations of bars with outdoor patios/roll-up doors. Topography would also be a concern. Nashville has got some hills to climb and the tour routes these guys have mapped out are one way and generally downhill.

Post: #6

(05-29-2013 01:03 AM)Jbk Wrote:  It works way better if you can drink on board but I believe that laws in the US make this an unlikely possibility.

Forget any thoughts about trying this in California.

You would likely get the electric chair.

Post: #7

@IP - that is exactly the questioning I'm thinking. Chi would be perfect for 5 months of the year but the council rejected a license application from pedalpub 4 times.

@BD - very good points. I too see it only as a side earner project.

@G - haha will rule that one out then

Post: #8

http://www.pedalpub.com/others.html

A list of some of the locations this is running in

Post: #9

(05-29-2013 08:05 AM)thegmanifesto Wrote:  

(05-29-2013 01:03 AM)Jbk Wrote:  It works way better if you can drink on board but I believe that laws in the US make this an unlikely possibility.

Forget any thoughts about trying this in California.

You would likely get the electric chair.

swear i saw one of those in Hermosa Beach.

Post: #10

(05-29-2013 08:05 AM)thegmanifesto Wrote:  

(05-29-2013 01:03 AM)Jbk Wrote:  It works way better if you can drink on board but I believe that laws in the US make this an unlikely possibility.

Forget any thoughts about trying this in California.

You would likely get the electric chair.

Saw this in San Diego too. May not have been able to actually drink on it though.

Post: #11

I don't know if there are enough people who can afford this. what kind of crowd are you expecting?
I say young kids 21~25 hangingout at dive bars drinking cheap beers.
About $400 bucks to rent it? how about renting a limo or party bus instead?
$30 bucks per person? I totally imagine them spitting out '30 bucks each? fuck that. we can go to a bar and drink 10 PBRS' (it's $2~3 here depending on the bar)
those kids wearing RVCA shit don't have shit as far as I observed.

I saw this city tour bus and I thought it would be embarrassing to sit there as a local person. But tourists wouldn't mind. So it needs to be in a tourist area. (it needs to be flat ground obviously)
The weather affects it a lot. they want to ride it mostly at night. I can see them operating probably 4~5 months at the max here (right now it's pretty chilly at night here)

how much does it cost? $10k? I bet it's more than that.


---------------------------------------------------------
a. Reserve the bike privately for your group. Sunday-Thursday $350, Friday & Saturday
$420. You can have up to 16 people (a minimum of 8 people is required). A $100 credit
card deposit is required and the remaining balance is paid on the day of the tour with
cash or credit.
b. Reserve individual seats and join another group! Each seat is $30 per person. We
require a minimum of 8 people to operate the bike. We will do our best to combine
groups to get to 8 people if your group is less than 8. Your payment is due at the time
the reservation is made for all single seats which your group books.

Post: #12

(05-29-2013 05:34 PM)Sebastian Wrote:  I don't know if there are enough people who can afford this. what kind of crowd are you expecting?
I say young kids 21~25 hangingout at dive bars drinking cheap beers.
About $400 bucks to rent it? how about renting a limo or party bus instead?
$30 bucks per person? I totally imagine them spitting out '30 bucks each? fuck that. we can go to a bar and drink 10 PBRS' (it's $2~3 here depending on the bar)
those kids wearing RVCA shit don't have shit as far as I observed.

I saw this city tour bus and I thought it would be embarrassing to sit there as a local person. But tourists wouldn't mind. So it needs to be in a tourist area. (it needs to be flat ground obviously)
The weather affects it a lot. they want to ride it mostly at night. I can see them operating probably 4~5 months at the max here (right now it's pretty chilly at night here)

I just found that you can't drink on the vehicle in my state.
So basically people are using it as a recreation vehicle or a taxi to bounce from bar to bars. this sounds really lame to me....

here, you can bring your own drink.
http://www.nashvillepedaltavern.com/faq.html

it costs $40,000.
http://www.hammacher.com/Product/12225

I don't know. you can buy a hummer limo with that money.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Hummer-H3...500wt_1184

I think it's better to figure out how to make this things, make it under $10,000 and sell it for profit.


---------------------------------------------------------
a. Reserve the bike privately for your group. Sunday-Thursday $350, Friday & Saturday
$420. You can have up to 16 people (a minimum of 8 people is required). A $100 credit
card deposit is required and the remaining balance is paid on the day of the tour with
cash or credit.
b. Reserve individual seats and join another group! Each seat is $30 per person. We
require a minimum of 8 people to operate the bike. We will do our best to combine
groups to get to 8 people if your group is less than 8. Your payment is due at the time
the reservation is made for all single seats which your group books.

Post: #13

My ex is good friends with the guys who started the Pedal Tavern in Wisconsin. I believe they have one in Nashville and are starting one up in LA. They were going to do San Diego as well but I'm not sure where they are with that. I have seen one around here in SD now so maybe that's them.

From my recollection their Pedal Tavern in Wisconsin was booked solid when the weather is good. I think they told me it was like 15k to buy a used one.

When I rode on this I loved it. Everyone we passed by loved it. Every bar we went to people would come out and talk to us about it. Every stop people would come out and talk to the driver and ask how to book it.

(05-29-2013 05:34 PM)Sebastian Wrote:  I don't know if there are enough people who can afford this. what kind of crowd are you expecting?
I say young kids 21~25 hangingout at dive bars drinking cheap beers.
About $400 bucks to rent it? how about renting a limo or party bus instead?
$30 bucks per person? I totally imagine them spitting out '30 bucks each? fuck that. we can go to a bar and drink 10 PBRS' (it's $2~3 here depending on the bar)
those kids wearing RVCA shit don't have shit as far as I observed.

I saw this city tour bus and I thought it would be embarrassing to sit there as a local person. But tourists wouldn't mind. So it needs to be in a tourist area. (it needs to be flat ground obviously)
The weather affects it a lot. they want to ride it mostly at night. I can see them operating probably 4~5 months at the max here (right now it's pretty chilly at night here)

how much does it cost? $10k? I bet it's more than that.


---------------------------------------------------------
a. Reserve the bike privately for your group. Sunday-Thursday $350, Friday & Saturday
$420. You can have up to 16 people (a minimum of 8 people is required). A $100 credit
card deposit is required and the remaining balance is paid on the day of the tour with
cash or credit.
b. Reserve individual seats and join another group! Each seat is $30 per person. We
require a minimum of 8 people to operate the bike. We will do our best to combine
groups to get to 8 people if your group is less than 8. Your payment is due at the time
the reservation is made for all single seats which your group books.

Post: #14

Bloomberg would ban this. He probably already has.

Post: #15

This.


@Sebastian - people love these things. They are just a bit of silly fun that gets you a lot of positive attention and make a normal night out a bit more special. Popular with bachelor parties, birthdays etc.

Post: #16

I am giving out my opinion based on where I live. It's a small town.
the downtown is only half mile square. the rest of area is boring to ride this thing. But I wouldn't mind paying $50 bucks to ride this thing in places like time square or las vegas strip. So I believe it's more about the place.

anyways, I found one website selling this thing for $40,000. are there more places offering this?
I am interested in making this thing outside U.S. I can start one there and sell it in states too.

(05-30-2013 07:01 PM)Jbk Wrote:  This.


@Sebastian - people love these things. They are just a bit of silly fun that gets you a lot of positive attention and make a normal night out a bit more special. Popular with bachelor parties, birthdays etc.

Post: #17

very interesting facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/PedalPubHate

Post: #18

That is interesting and surprisingly active. Pretty weird actually.

Location is make or break for this, definitely. It would need to be either a decent sized city or a big time college/tourist town.

Why are you more interested in outside of the US? I thought about that for a while and I think there would be a ton of extra challenges. It would have to be either a western location or a place with lots of westerners. Can't help think that in a lot of locations there are risks of public backlash, corruption and threats etc - the usual challenges of doing business as a foreigner in most places.

Parts of Spain maybe would be a decent shout. Dublin perhaps (bad weather though). London - too much traffic really.

Honestly, Chicago would be a great place for this in the summer months.

Challenges in all locations I guess. I don't think places were this is already happening should be ruled out. In fact, they could be the best bets. Monitor the existing company's availability. Consider if they seem "beatable"...

Post: #19

because of lenient alcohol laws and better drinking culture.

I think it needs to have an alcohol or it would be just a recreational vehicle.

Where I am from, you can drink anywhere in public. you can drink in the car. (only the driver needs to be sober) Serving alcohol is easy. you can just buy from the store and give it to passengers.
People spend more money on drinking.
Drinking culture is totally different. people get together and drink all the time. the company pays for the employees to drink occasionally.
You can't even imagine how much alcohol is involved in their life.

In U.S, I say normal people go out to bars maybe 1~2 a month.
they will get maybe couple drinks ($10~15). People don't throw a party unless it's a b-day or a special holiday.

there are too many liability issues and other regulations you have to follow too.

It was invented as a mobile pub so I think it has to have alcohol or you will have a lot less customers. Plus people spend money on alcohol without thinking. they just value it more if there is an alcohol (or a chick)

It costs 3x more to buy the vehicle in U.S. It looks like they will require you to have 2 million insurance. Lots of liability and you can't even sell alcohol (In some states, you can let them bring their own alcohol)
more regulation, more investment, more risk, less revenue.
I can charge about the same in my country. I really see no reason running it here.

(05-31-2013 02:24 AM)Jbk Wrote:  That is interesting and surprisingly active. Pretty weird actually.

Location is make or break for this, definitely. It would need to be either a decent sized city or a big time college/tourist town.

Why are you more interested in outside of the US? I thought about that for a while and I think there would be a ton of extra challenges. It would have to be either a western location or a place with lots of westerners. Can't help think that in a lot of locations there are risks of public backlash, corruption and threats etc - the usual challenges of doing business as a foreigner in most places.

Parts of Spain maybe would be a decent shout. Dublin perhaps (bad weather though). London - too much traffic really.

Honestly, Chicago would be a great place for this in the summer months.

Challenges in all locations I guess. I don't think places were this is already happening should be ruled out. In fact, they could be the best bets. Monitor the existing company's availability. Consider if they seem "beatable"...