Turning a craigslist find into a thriving business: How this operator grew with FareHarbor

"It's just central to how we operate. And so as we've grown through all these different little layers and steps and added people and added bikes and added management, FareHarbor has been right there and always had the tools that we've needed to expand and take."

Torin Kexel
Owner

The business:

The Flying Bike is an electric bike tour company based in the gorgeous Blue Ridge Mountains of Asheville, North Carolina. Customers have the option to explore downtown Asheville, uncover the top eateries in the area, see the sights of the River Arts District, and more — all while riding on a highly-rated Pedego electric bike. 

They also offer electric and regular bike rentals for customers or purchase a bike through the company. 

We had a chat with Torin Kexel about how he and his wife, Alice Kexel, started The Flying Bike and how they were able to ride to success with the help of FareHarbor — the booking solutions they chose from the very beginning. Learn more about their story below. 

A bit of backstory:

Over the last six seasons, Torin and Alice Kexel have expanded The Flying Bike tour from a single bike and one guide (himself) to a thriving Asheville experience with over 20 guides and 50+ electric bikes available. With no previous travel industry experience,Torin reveals how he built a flourishing tour business, as well as the three key strategies responsible for the company’s rapid growth.

Torin Kexel grinned to himself when he stumbled upon a bike tour business for sale on his local Craigslist.  At the time, he and his wife Alice were simply looking to replace his dying electric commuter bike. They decided to take a free tour from the selling owner and it was love at first bike. They decided to purchase the Asheville, North Carolina, bike tour company to operate as a family business. 

Torin’s 3 key growth strategies

An entrepreneurial mindset and a love for adventure was the driving factor of the Kexels’ decision to purchase the bike company. With minimal experience, they took the off season to rebrand the business and prepare to build a company for themselves — and the people of the Ashville community (and travelers of course!). 

1. Increase availability

In the early days, Torin was limited by his personal capacity to lead tours. He wanted to accommodate more customers but could only guide one tour at a time. 

Torin took these two steps to increase availability:

• Hire more guides: Torin first trained friends to lead tours, then focused on recruiting a more diverse team. For instance, he often attends black business events to find talented black guides outside his own social circles.
• Add more bikes: With a larger guide team, Torin then needed more bikes. He doubled his fleet to 50+ electric bikes, becoming an authorized dealer to get priority access.

The Flying Bike could now handle multiple tours and rentals simultaneously with more guides and bikes available per time slot. FareHarbor’s calendar tools helped to both manage and optimize the new capacity while easily preventing double bookings.

2. Offer walk-up rentals

Initially, The Flying Bike only offered scheduled, guided bike tours. Torin realized they were turning away potential customers who wanted to explore by themselves. 

Adding bike rentals allowed them to generate more revenue with minimal added staff. Tourists could book rentals spontaneously by simply scanning a QR code on-site.

FareHarbor enabled Torin to integrate the new rental product alongside existing tours seamlessly. FareHarbor’s centralized calendar and inventory management allowed them to maximize their use of inventory, and in turn, their revenue. . 

3. Diversify offerings

Beyond more tours and rentals, Torin expanded into bike sales and service. He also collaborated with local hiking and food tour companies to create package offerings.

Diversification helps capture more revenue from existing customers — visitors who enjoy the bike tour are likely candidates to book other experiences in Asheville. 

As Torin adds new products and partnerships, FareHarbor’s integrated platform (and team!) is ready to seamlessly  handle and build any operational complexity.

Improving marketing with FareHarbor insights

While The Flying Bike has had major success initiating the strategies above — FareHarbor has been ready to fill in any gaps.

We pride ourselves on being more than a booking platform and recently, Torin enjoyed a Business Review session with his FareHarbor Account Manager, Amanda England. This included insights and data to optimize their marketing strategy. The as well as a complete SEO and Backlink audit, GA4 support, and activating online rebooking for their customers.

Here’s the key marketing insights uncovered:

• Age demographics: Contrary to assumptions, data showed that most online bookings came from younger travelers under 35 — making that a key target audience.
• Social media: Despite their young audience, social media drove very few ticket sales.

In response, Torin is now prioritizing staff time to ramp up social media outreach, particularly on youth-oriented platforms like TikTok. The data from FareHarbor helped him double down on highly effective marketing channels.

Getting Started with FareHarbor

From the outset, The Flying Bike chose FareHarbor to manage his new tour company’s bookings and operations.

In their first year, Torin was overwhelmed as the sole tour guide. He struggled to handle reservations pouring in when he needed to lead tours and desperately needed help scaling the business.

For Torin, the customer service from the FareHarbor team has been invaluable and has been a major part of the longevity of our partnership:

“The customer service that I get from FareHarbor is the best. If I had a magic wand and could make all customer service calls be like the ones I get when I call FareHarbor, I would wave it all day long.”

Whenever they need to implement a new feature or solve an issue, the FareHarbor staff helps fix it then sends documentation and follow-ups that provide insight on how to do it themselves in the future. This thoughtful approach keeps Torin’s small team lean while constantly improving their skills

FareHarbor has provided the core tools to help Torin grow The Flying Bike year after year. As his tour operation has gotten more complex, he notes that FareHarbor has expanded right alongside him.

Looking Ahead with FareHarbor

Entering his seventh season, Torin aims to push The Flying Bike to the next level. He plans to pursue multi-day tours across the U.S. and overseas, leaning on FareHarbor to handle the operational complexity.

“It’s just been so consistent for me. I consistently rebuff the requests for meetings from other Reztechs…There really isn’t a good reason for me to change from FareHarbor.”

For a tour operator like Torin Kexel, FareHarbor has been the perfect partner for finding his way to success in tourism. With our support, he’s been able to turn a tour business he bought on Craigslist into a thriving experience business.

You can listen to our full interview with Torin on our brand new podcast, Growth: Powered by FareHarbor.  But, we recommend following out show to never miss another episode?  You can find us by searching ‘FareHarbor’ in all major podcast apps — such as Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Interested in learning how FareHarbor can grow and power your activity business? Contact us here.