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Cycle event neutral service

Hello,

I run a cycle repair business and I have been the neutral service for a few cycling events and I am looking at doing this as a service that individuals, clubs and companies can use for events all over the UK.

Whether you were running a one day local race, multiple day ride (e.g John O'Groats to Lands End) or even further afield for a tour in France etc. I could also include spare bikes and wheels and even two way radios if required.

The main point of this post is to see if people and groups would be interested in this service and if so what you would like included.

Any feedback greatly appreciated.

Daniel Docherty

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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7 comments

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2wheelcare | 9 years ago
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Thank you very much indeed for all your information and advice it is very helpful. I would be interested to talk in more detail to the respondents, can you tell me if there is a private message option on the forum so that I can contact you? If there is no option for PMs feel free to email me on mail [at] 2wheelcare.co.uk if you are happy for me to contact you.

Many thanks

Daniel Docherty

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crazy-legs | 9 years ago
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To be fair, I should have clarified that I was talking about road races - the neutral support car in those - so yes, in terms of Sportives, MTB challenge rides etc, it's a completely different call and usually a neutral service will be at a feed station or similar fixing bikes as they come through rather than leaping out of a car and doing a wheel change!

Obviously for non-comp stuff you don't need any sort of BC licence.

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Gkam84 | 9 years ago
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Never needed a BC license with anything I've done in a team car. Maybe the management had that covered.

Most BC races are covered anyway.

The money is in endurance racing, which BC has nothing to do with. Calling them the governing body of cycle sport is a bit OTT. The cover certain types of racing. They don't cover everything and many races are outside of BC regulations.

I stick with individuals, getting into group/team stuff requires alot more time spent doing things for little money in return. Where as, if you can get a solo rider doing a race. You typically only have 2/3 bikes, They will always be on one unless they are sleeping, always have another ready to go incase that one fails for any reason. The third is just a back up, incase a problem that cannot be solved (frame breakage) so if the chain goes on one bike, stick them on the spare, then fix the broken one.

You tend to find that most of the time you are lubing and cleaning, not alot of maintenance.

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Gkam84 | 9 years ago
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You want to avoid anything to do with BC. There are loads of hoops to jump through, plus you would have to be part of a team.

You don't need a BC license though

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crazy-legs replied to Gkam84 | 9 years ago
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Gkam84 wrote:

You want to avoid anything to do with BC. There are loads of hoops to jump through, plus you would have to be part of a team.

You don't need a BC license though

A guy trying to get into race support and you're telling him to avoid the governing body of cycle sport in the UK? Right OK, interesting logic... And wrong info too.

I've done neutral support at various races, everything from Regional stuff right up to Premier Calendar (now called Elite Road Series).
The driver needs to be over 25 and have a British Cycling Bronze membership. The mechanic, certainly at local level, doesn't need anything specific although if you get up to National standard events, they may start checking your Mechanic credentials or asking for a Mechanic endorsement on a race licence.
A car must have a driver and a mechanic, it can't be one person doing both jobs!

You don't have to be part of a team, you don't need a full racing licence (the membership alone is sufficient).

That doesn't sound like many hoops to me...

If you're part of a team, that's slightly different, you'll be driving their team car in a race and that means you need a racing licence with a Team Manager endorsement on it. However from the sounds of things, you're just interested in Neutral Service.

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racyrich | 9 years ago
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I'm pretty sure that to be part of a BC race convoy you'll need a suitably endorsed BC licence.

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Gkam84 | 9 years ago
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Yes they are interested. That is what I do, already got quite a number of bookings for next year, Scotland, Ireland, Italy, USA.

You need to get in touch with riders in your local area to get started, it is totally different from doing neutral service. One day races are not going to need anything really. It is the endurance side of racing I concentrate on. Mountain bike 24hr events and long distance road stuff.

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