Top Dog of Stores in the UK

pinguS

Hi all

This might sound a bit strange, but which is or are the top places for cycling in the UK, or should I say mainly England, but for everyone else who's reading, the other countries aswell.

I know from reading online currently one of the best places in Northern Ireland is Chain Reaction Cycles, who seem to have a very large range and have hit the news of gross profit, and looking at their store (photo's only) look like they hold a vast amount in store.

Reason why I ask is that generally all LBS have good Limited selection, or although the Rep may be an excellent cycle talker and very knowledgeable, it can be a let down when you walk in and you see a few jerseys and the usual mix of cycle. I have now visited (London Area) around 7 stores, and my favourite currently is the Specialized Ruislip Concept. They have a great amount of goods, but problem, they are only Specialized.

Go into BikeRadar / Road Bike / Reviews and you get over 20/30 manufacturers, but most stores you visit are virtually Spesh or Trek or Giant. Is every other make a professionals outfit? I visited Evans in Ealing area (or near) and although good store, again limited in house, i.e. jerseys and quite a boring looking store, not to be saying anything is wrong with that. (sorry Evans)

Ok well, lets start the list, its got to be a store (online everyone is good), which stocks a very large selection of, lets say jerseys / kit or even bike manufactures / or anything even tools. I would start with:

Northern Ireland: Chain Reaction Cycles << going by the news
England (London Area): Specialized Ruislip << my favourite so bit unfair, there is also Sigma Sport Kingston, but again mainly Specialized.

Can others add the rest, i'm only interested in London area, but for anyone else reading, might be worth the read.

Sorry for long post and rubbish title. Also, if this has already been covered, then please post a link.

cheer

CakeyPirate

Epic Cycles

Bought my Look from there this summer, stonkingly fantastic shop, great fitting service, didn't feel under pressure to decide / make a purchase and given the shop location plenty of awesome local roads to 'try before you buy' on.

Cant say enough good things about it tbh, they even talked me out of buying a couple of the more expensive options for my bike build.

2Phat4Rapha

pinguS wrote:

... there is also Sigma Sport Kingston, but again mainly Specialized..

You missed out: Cervelo, Argon, Blue, Colnago, Felt, Focus, Pinarello, Seven, Trek, Wilier. Large selection of all of 'em backed up with a huge local warehouse.

Plus, customer bike racks with locks, showers, water, coffee, TV and free wifi. BG bike fitting, in-store workshop and cycle holiday company. They even have their own pro road team.

Hampton Wick station about 30 mins from Waterloo.

ps. They also have a dedicated Specialized Concept Store nearby.

Monty Dog

My preference is independents and not 'branded' or chain-stores & In no particular order:

Geoffrey Butler in Croydon

Cycles Dauphin at Box Hill, Surrey

Condor Cycles in London

Paul Hewitt Cycles in Leyland

Racescene in Barnsley

WisePranker

2Phat4Rapha wrote:

pinguS wrote:

... there is also Sigma Sport Kingston, but again mainly Specialized..

You missed out: Cervelo, Argon, Blue, Colnago, Felt, Focus, Pinarello, Seven, Trek, Wilier. Large selection of all of 'em backed up with a huge local warehouse.

Plus, customer bike racks with locks, showers, water, coffee, TV and free wifi. BG bike fitting, in-store workshop and cycle holiday company. They even have their own pro road team.

Hampton Wick station about 30 mins from Waterloo.

ps. They also have a dedicated Specialized Concept Store nearby.

I'm going with this.

Sigma is a fantastic shop, knocks spots off pretty much any other bike shop I've been into.
It's just a shame that I can't afford most of the kit in there!

Rouge Penguin

Youre in Windsor right? Cyclelifes not bad. There's that new bikeporn shop on Peascod street that might be able to get stuff.

Otherwise, i know what you mean. I guess a combination of space, cash availabilty and local footfall trends dictate what they hold.

It annoyed the hell out of me that no where local had medium range road shoes in stock, so i was honest and sized up in store and ordered on line.

racingcondor

Condor, Sigma and Cycles Dauphin are the best places I've been.

Now I just need the 6 figure salary to go with my taste in bike shops...

pinguS

Actually I was being vague, Sigma is an excellent store and brillaint service. If it was the local to Windsor I would probably use them only. I have ordered online from them, and they're good at that too.

So sorry if anyone thought I didn't mention all the goods they do, actually come to think of it, Spesh in Ruislip is local, hence why I like them, just a bit more local than Sigma.

Right thats it, I'm going Sigma Sport tomorrow!!

kev77

My LBS is pretty well stocked up here in Warrington

Giant, Pinarello, Spesh, Bianchi, Orbea some lush lush kit in there

maveco

Condor Cycles is the best cycle shop in London. Have been to Evans, Cycle Surgery et al, nothing comes close to the experience of getting fitted up and speccing out your bike, with people who are proper cyclists, giving you the right advice. Is like getting a suit made, a little more money but worth every penny

This is of course, my humble opinion

thegreatdivide

You can keep your Southern namby pamby bike shops

Edinburgh has Ronde

http://rondebike.com/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ronde-Bic ... ?sk=photos

meanredspider

thegreatdivide wrote:

You can keep your Southern namby pamby bike shops

Edinburgh has Ronde

http://rondebike.com/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ronde-Bic ... ?sk=photos

You can keep your Southern namby pamby bike shops

Inverness has - err - Halfords :roll: whose manager is clearly going for "Customer Service Manager of the Year" award judging by his call to me yesterday apologising (I think) for the litiny of cock-ups his store have made....

We have a few good LBS's but they are all very small without much stock.

desweller

Halfords.

sloppyschleckonds

DesWeller wrote:

Halfords.

good post

desweller

SloppySchleckonds wrote:

DesWeller wrote:

Halfords.

good post

I don't know any bike shops I'd call 'good'. I suppose if I was in the market for a boutique, hand made frame or something like that then I might have reason to look around more, but in general my experiences with my local ones have been more miss than hit, so I limit my exposure to them.

Halfords? No worse than the small independants around me IMO.

Monty Dog

When I lived in Scotland, 25-odd years ago, there were only about 4 decent bike shops in the whole of the country: Dales in Glasgow, Dooleys in Paisley, Gilchrist's in Edinburgh plus one in Dundee whose name escape me - and Billy Bisland, but let's not go there...

Sadly, Halfords was almost as good as it got for most

dartmoorscottydog

Monty - Dog wrote
When I lived in Scotland, 25-odd years ago, there were only about 4 decent bike shops in the whole of the country: Dales in Glasgow, Dooleys in Paisley, Gilchrist's in Edinburgh plus one in Dundee whose name escape me - and Billy Bisland, but let's not go there...

Dundee shop was Nicholson's - still there I think.

dartmoorscottydog

Monty - Dog wrote
When I lived in Scotland, 25-odd years ago, there were only about 4 decent bike shops in the whole of the country: Dales in Glasgow, Dooleys in Paisley, Gilchrist's in Edinburgh plus one in Dundee whose name escape me - and Billy Bisland, but let's not go there...

Dundee shop was Nicholson's - still there I think.

jonni3

+1 for Condor, superb bike shop.

They have a very nice selection of parts & apparel on display, do ready to ride bikes as well as bespoke bikes.
Their prices are pretty good & the staff are great & very helpful.

thegreatdivide

dartmoorscottydog wrote:

Monty - Dog wrote
When I lived in Scotland, 25-odd years ago, there were only about 4 decent bike shops in the whole of the country: Dales in Glasgow, Dooleys in Paisley, Gilchrist's in Edinburgh plus one in Dundee whose name escape me - and Billy Bisland, but let's not go there...

Dundee shop was Nicholson's - still there I think.

My regular throughout the 80's during the Raleigh years. Now deals in Specialized, Bianchi and Cervelo.

fish156

2Phat4Rapha wrote:

pinguS wrote:

... there is also Sigma Sport Kingston, but again mainly Specialized..

You missed out: Cervelo, Argon, Blue, Colnago, Felt, Focus, Pinarello, Seven, Trek, Wilier. Large selection of all of 'em backed up with a huge local warehouse.

Plus, customer bike racks with locks, showers, water, coffee, TV and free wifi. BG bike fitting, in-store workshop and cycle holiday company. They even have their own pro road team.

Hampton Wick station about 30 mins from Waterloo.

ps. They also have a dedicated Specialized Concept Store nearby.

I went into the new flagship Sigma Sport store last weekend to get a new pair of Assos shorts. Neither of the two salespeople on that floor had much of a clue. In the end they gave me the Assos brochure so I could work out for myself the various models of Assos shorts. Might just as well bought off the internet. Perhaps the store is too big?

mouth

Surely Evans at Gatwick is worth a punt. Biggest bike shop in Europe? Even if you just go there for sizing and order online from somewhere cheaper..

identikit

Mouth wrote:

Surely Evans at Gatwick is worth a punt. Biggest bike shop in Europe? Even if you just go there for sizing and order online from somewhere cheaper..

*disclaimer I work for Evans*

You can't hear me facepalming so hard right now. Gatwick showroom can get you anything from the warehouse. If it's in there you can have it in your hands in 5 minutes. Then you go home and buy it online and wait for it to be posted... just whip out your smartphone and we'll match the price there and then. It's changed a little recently but we'll still gladly match prices

http://www.evanscycles.com/help/price-match

Best store for me is Bespoke Cycling in Farringdon.

http://bespokecycling.com/

kev77

identikit wrote:

Mouth wrote:

Surely Evans at Gatwick is worth a punt. Biggest bike shop in Europe? Even if you just go there for sizing and order online from somewhere cheaper..

*disclaimer I work for Evans*

You can't hear me facepalming so hard right now. Gatwick showroom can get you anything from the warehouse. If it's in there you can have it in your hands in 5 minutes. Then you go home and buy it online and wait for it to be posted... just whip out your smartphone and we'll match the price there and then. It's changed a little recently but we'll still gladly match prices

http://www.evanscycles.com/help/price-match

Best store for me is Bespoke Cycling in Farringdon.

http://bespokecycling.com/

Oooops!!!!!

pinguS

Ok, lets go evans gatwick then.