Kinetics – the blog…

Mid-mounted battery e-bike, originally uploaded by Ben Cooper.

With a bit of modification, the Heinzmann Lithium batteries fit very neatly into the frame of even a small MTB…

Ha, I knew the VAT rate change would cause problems

When changing the rate on Monday, somehow the system got switched to adding tax on instead of assuming it was included in the price – I’ve fixed it now, so sorry about that. It should also calculate VAT (or the lack of it) for people from outside the EU.

I’ve just realised – this week is the 10th anniversary of Kinetics

10 years ago on Monday, I opened the doors of a wee shop just around the corner from here – it was looking a bit sparse as the demo bikes were really my old hacked-about StreetMachine and a few other things, and I couldn’t afford any proper shop fittings or decoration so a few friends came over to help with the painting and building counters and benches out of scrap wood.

10 years on, and quite a bit has changed – for one thing, in that first week where I took £43, I wasn’t sure that the business would survive 6 months, let alone still be going 10 years later. Then, about a dozen Bromptons a year were being sold in Glasgow, and it took a whole year before I sold my first recumbent – back then, I survived on repairing cheap bikes and selling parts and accessories.

It’s still a lot of hard work, and in a lot of ways I still miss the security of having a proper job (though, perhaps, not in the current climate) – I left a well-paid job at IBM to do this, which at the time seemed very reckless, but I’ve never regretted it. The money isn’t as good, the stress is at least as high, and the responsibility is much greater, but instead of sitting in a suit in a big office all day, I get to play with bikes