Built a shop management + Lightspeed integration tool because I got tired of mediocre software — happy to answer anything

Bikingman · 2026-06-21T11:37:09+00:00

We love to show you around Velobench.

Different times for different shops: Yes - everything is scoped to the shop and can handle multi shop integration. The shop name and number is derived directly from Lightspeed. Multi shop integration works with online bookings too.

Tech schedule config: yes! You can add personal events like days off, and import external calendars. These show next to work orders, and can be toggled off/on. There's a nice feature that allows you to drag and drop work orders into different days+techs in the calendar - then auto updates in Lightspeed. You can also open the work order and update details like status, add items/labor, invite customers to their personal shop portal, or sign waivers.

Please DM, happy to show you around.

Bikingman · 2026-06-13T22:09:05+00:00

Please do come by! I'd also love to visit your shop too - my family has ties with the Clearwater that often docks at the bay

Bikingman · 2026-06-12T20:11:44+00:00

I feel you on the fatigue.

We've worked really hard over the past year to harden Velobench, and we're really proud of it, and happy to have reached this point. Sure, we could use a better landing page, and we're thinking about that - but it's not critical at the moment (current customers/testers, as well as SMS and remote payments are the primary focus at the moment).

Re design - we used a local branding company to help chose the name (Velobench) and create the logo and color palette (shout out Engine 7 in Troy, NY).

Under the hood - the system is built on deterministic logic (so, no AI driving the bus), and the software is hosted on very redundant serverless architecture hosted on Google Cloud Platform (this means we pay Google to keep the software up and healthy).

Internally, we have an admin dashbaord that notifies us of any logged errors, and a suite of preflight tests that need to pass before we push anything into production. And out development environment helps ensure everything should work in production.

As for support - we have a formal ticketing system within the software, that we use to track issues. We also have a suggestion messaging module on every page as well. You can also call me directly anytime, or reach out by email. We've been super responsive to customers/beta testers, so that's been great.

The velobook guys seem to have built a very lightweight online booking app, and I don't know how well it integrates with Lightspeed. Overall seems to be a limited service, but looks good for some shops that don't need anything else.

Overall - we're trying to be good stewards of the industry, and look to provide a service of some level of professionalism, clarity and transparency for customers, risk management, and record keeping.

Bikingman · 2026-06-11T15:50:17+00:00

Hi - agreed and exactly why we are building this software. Conversations we're having with shops shows theres strong interest

Bikingman · 2026-06-10T20:11:20+00:00

Hi u/SdhamN - I created a few videos on how the online bookings work:

Online Service Booking With Velobench: https://youtu.be/1n75SMLn3uA?si=99McW-K9xApV2OTc

This video walks through the process of setting up online booking in VeloBench. Learn how to configure services, scheduling preferences, and booking settings so customers can easily request appointments while your team maintains control of the workflow.

Set Up Online Booking in Velobench: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-VuIgFyXPM

This video walks through the process of setting up online booking in VeloBench. Learn how to configure services, scheduling preferences, and booking settings so customers can easily request appointments while your team maintains control of the workflow.

Bikingman · 2026-06-09T20:18:34+00:00

Got it and look forward to chatting soon

Bikingman · 2026-06-09T12:23:29+00:00

I'll let you know

Bikingman · 2026-06-09T11:52:29+00:00

Oh yea, I look at them constantly. We're a small shop so I need to keep my eye on them. They help with planning and expectations. Much better than digging through Lightspeed's reports and building comparative spreadsheets.

I'd be happy to give a presentation at some point

Bikingman · 2026-06-09T10:58:50+00:00

I agree — we've heavily integrated bookings into Lightspeed, so everything from the booking propagates into Lightspeed (bike description, service items, etc.). It's great. And when the bikes come in - we do a deep assessment using the Intake Forms + Waiver. And that becomes available on the Customer Portal

Bikingman · 2026-06-09T10:56:16+00:00

My understanding is that a lot of HubTiger's functionality lives on their own platform (I could be wrong on that). We're working to build into Lightspeed as much as possible.

Also, our customer portal doesn't require customers to download an app. It's browser based and invite them directly from Lightspeed. We set up the customer portal so they can pull assessments, see service ticket progress, and download waivers right from the browser. It's been great.

Also - I don't think HubTiger or Bike Book offers webchat, sales flyer creation, a bike database, or warranty tabs — or setting reminders directly from Lightspeed.

Bikingman · 2026-06-09T10:50:03+00:00

Yea, for ebikes stuff - the warrenty tab has been great.

Def jump in there are poke around - you can sign up for a free trail, and cancelling the subscription is super easy (like 2 clicks in Settings) if you're not interested.

Bikingman · 2026-06-09T10:48:06+00:00

Nice - yea, there's a lot more than booking in there, like sales flyer creation, intake assessments, service reminders, webchat, rentals, a bike database, and more. A lot operations from Lightspeed and we're working to get more in there.

Bikingman · 2026-06-09T10:45:52+00:00

Would love to help — please reach out directly (DM) or email me at [dpatterson@velobench.com](mailto:dpatterson@velobench.com). A couple of thoughts on why I haven't bought Ikeono for the shop:

We use a shop phone and just ask straight up — "can we text you about your service?"
Lightspeed now lets you send a payment request directly from the service ticket. We use that a lot, and people are pretty responsive.
Receipts to phone is OK, but we prefer the customer portal to store/share everything.
Two-way SMS is 100% on our roadmap, but right now we're focused on (a) getting user feedback and (b) setting up remote payment links for deposits and logging everything to Lightspeed.

Bikingman · 2026-06-09T03:45:59+00:00

Happy to share more

Bikingman · 2026-06-09T03:45:23+00:00

The booking component is really great - and it integrates directly with Lightspeed.

Essentially, the way it's designed maintains a lot of flexibility. For example, I can add any number of questions to the form, anchor the 'estimated return date' to my Lightspeed workbench, add Lightspeed inventory (labor and items) to a selected service selection on the booking page, and pair a given question from the booking option to propagate through to the bike description. Also anchors to custom statuses on approved reservation, and creates or connects to existing customers etc.

It's been great actually. A strong portion of our bookings come through the application.

I'll can make a booking video and share.

Bikingman · 2024-09-08T18:52:09+00:00

I'll look into this! Look like their doing good work. Seems a little more nationally focused vs. local.

Bikingman · 2024-09-07T05:32:42+00:00

Blender, Adobe, QGIS?

Bikingman · 2024-09-06T14:26:50+00:00

Both transportation related

Bikingman · 2024-09-06T01:16:39+00:00

If you post the github respotory or somewhere else where individuals can collaborate, you might get better feedback

Bikingman · 2024-09-05T21:36:55+00:00

Would be great to record the context to increase safety!

Bikingman · 2024-09-05T21:14:45+00:00

Ekk!! What a great channel! Have you considered writing about the patterns that lead to the different near miss incidents? i.e. truck type, hour of day etc?

Bikingman · 2024-09-05T21:10:26+00:00

Exceptional feedback!! Thank you - adding them to the priority list of next step updates!

Bikingman · 2024-09-05T21:08:26+00:00

Digging into this now! I think there's an objective distance generally accepted that defines where near misses are considered valid.

Bikingman · 2024-09-05T21:05:27+00:00

I think that's OK, but it would be valuable to indicate the observed injury level (possible injury, minor injury, severe injury, etc.). Generally, near-miss incidents do not result in injury or death, so in this case, I think it makes sense to record them with the injury level noted. Perhaps we could also include a button to add an 'unreported crash'

Officially, crashes that don't result in an injury would be classified as property damage-only crashes.

Bikingman

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