BMX bike shop????

is holding a bmx shop in your garage illegal?

If you are in the US there are zoning, business licensing and tax laws that you would be potentially be violating. If you are just working on a few friends bikes is one thing. If you are putting bikes out on your lawn with for sale signs on them you will probably have some problems. Bike wholesalers will not sell to you unless you have a resale license and a storefront business location so you will not have a wholesale source for parts.

So the bottom line is if you keep a low profile and are doing it as a fun thing you are probably not going to get into too many problems. If you start doing this seriously you can expect neighbors to complain (cars parked on the street in front of their house) and local bike shops to call the zoning people and complain. You will have someone show up at your door from the city zoning enforcement for starters.

The other potential problem is liability. Most bike shops carry a multimillion dollar liability insurance policy. These are very expensive to get and you will not be able to afford one. Without it you are flying solo. If anything bad happens you will be sued and it will be for a number with lots of zeros in it. If you think it can't happen to you because your pals would never sue you then you may be just fine with your pals. But your pals parents and surviving family members might sue you even if your pal wouldn't if he were alive. A lot of people have ready access to legal counsel these days via a multilevel company called prepaid legal. They can have almost instant access to legal services. This is a good thing for the person suing and a bad thing for the poor bike shop owner or backyard mechanic who gets sued. Also keep in mind that you can be sued by secondary parties. You work on Joe's bike. Joe gets hit by a car and is killed or paralized for life. Joe's family knows that you did nothing wrong and that Joe would never want them to sue you. Joe's family sues the driver of the car and the driver's insurance company in turn sues you. They tie you up in court for a year before you prevail. Or worse yet they prevail and take your home and garnish your wages for the next 20 years.