Got a bike (or…ahem…many bikes) that spend most of the time sitting still? Make some cash by renting them out.
That’s the basic idea behind Spokeo, a peer-to-peer bike rental company founded by Seattle’s own Chris Rodde. Rodde is one of the people behind Off Camber Productions, which puts on the popular MFG Cyclocross series among other bike events. After fielding tons of questions from traveling riders who were having trouble finding the right bike for rent in Seattle, Rodde started developing the idea that would become Spokeo.
“I started Spokeo at the end of last summer as a way to help get more people on bikes,” said Rodde. “I found that there’s no peer-to-peer bike share out there,”* and so he “saw an opportunity.” And right away, customers started finding Spokeo after struggling to find the exact kind of rental bike they needed available elsewhere. “One of the first customers was coming from Texas and was looking for a triathlon bike and couldn’t find one to rent,” said Rodde.
The short version is that Spokeo is like Turo but for bikes. And if you don’t know what Turo is, it’s like Airbnb but for cars. In fact, Spokeo uses some of the same ID verification services as Turo, which should weed out many potential scammers. Renters upload photos of themselves and their ID cards to the service and cannot rent a bike until they pass verification. Renters also accept a rental agreement that they are responsible for all theft and damage, which is common for such agreements. Spokeo also offers hosts insurance for up to $5,000 to cover worst case scenario theft or bike damage that the renter fails to cover.
Hosts can list bikes and related gear such as bike bags, bikepacking gear or bike racks for cars. You can even rent a rare Seattle Bike Blog-branded Brompton (I Iisted it to test out the site for this story and decided to keep it on there). Renters make requests through the site for certain timeframes, which hosts then need to approve. Payments are processed automatically through Stripe once a rental has been completed successfully, so no money changes hands in-person. Communication between hosts and renters is also conducted through the site.
Spokeo takes 20% of the rental earnings, leaving the host with 80%. Bike shops are also welcome to list their available rental bikes on Spokeo, and they may also be able to negotiate a better rate.
(more…)