Biggest Evans in London

grahamcp

Hi,
Just a quickie, I'm heading down to London today (mainly visiting Tate Modern) and may have time to look round some bike shops.... just wondering which is the best Evans shop to head to?
Cheers!
Graham.

ba68

Spitalfields market is possibly one of the bigger ones, there are a couple of cycle surgery s in the area too, check they are open at the weekend though.

northpole

Or you could divert to a half decent bike shop - if you're in London well worth popping into Condor Cycles between King's Cross and Holborn tube stations.

Peter

Monty Dog

It doesn't matter how big the floor area is if it's populated by a bunch of minimum wage half-wits. The thing that gets me with Evans is some of the bull$hit responses I get to requests I make when popping in there - particularly the 'road specialist' shop at Waterloo - I end up walking out thinking why did I just waste 10 minutes of my time in this place?

SoSimple

Monty Dog wrote:

It doesn't matter how big the floor area is if it's populated by a bunch of minimum wage half-wits. The thing that gets me with Evans is some of the bull$hit responses I get to requests I make when popping in there - particularly the 'road specialist' shop at Waterloo - I end up walking out thinking why did I just waste 10 minutes of my time in this place?

Minimum wage half-wits is probably a bit sweeping and derogatory but I get the point that some of these chains are missing a massive opportunity to cash in on a growth area by not being in tune with what could be their key customer base- the regular cyclist rather than the one off purchaser where it will no doubt sit in the garage or end up on ebay after '50 dry miles'.

Within a 10 minute walk of Holborn tube you are fairly spoilt for choice with Condor as already stated, plus Cycle Surgery (High Holborn), Evans (200m up the road from Holborn tube) and then the Specialized Concept store in Covent Garden.

Whether they are any good will have to be your opinion but as a choice for browsing bikes for an hour or two, its not a bad option!

Sir Velo

I wouldn't spend my spare time in London wandering around an Evans store.

Evans on line if you want to waste some time (ok occasionally have offers on inner tubes or something like that where you can't really go wrong).

By all means go to some of the better bike shops and talk with the guys that really know their cycling or do some 'cultural' activity while you are here. Be it art, museums, local ale, etc.

But Evans?

SV

charlie_potatoes

I have had nothing but good service from my local Evans.
I have always found them knowledgeable and helpful.
I think one of the lads has just reached his elite road category.
Not sure how much they earn but none of them are halfwits.
Maybe my local store is a one off?


They also usually have enough on display to warrant a quick browse whilst I am in there too.

Gunnsie

From Tate Modern you could walk to the St Paul's Evans by Fleet Street/Ludgate Hill crossroads...... Or you could walk to the Cycle Surgery at the end of Southwark Bridge...... There is also a brand new Giant Cycles Shop by the Museum of London near St Paul's Cathedral

neeb

On a recent trip to London I was a tad disappointed with the bike shops - with cycling having become so popular I was expecting to find some really big places in central London with vast ranges of high-end stuff display, but there aren't any really. Even Condor seems quite small and with a fairly restricted range. Seems like you have to go a bit out of town to find the best places - I eventually made it to Sigma Sport in Kingston on the way to the airport, and they do have a good range of stuff (I was after clothing, not something you want to buy over the net without trying on first).

clickrumble

Far from impressed with Evans. Went in the one in Reading a couple of years back with money burning a hole in my wallet wanting to buy a new road bike. Couldn't find anyone who wanted to talk to me about a bike so walked out after about 20mins, big lost opportunity for them. Recently the darling Mrs CR told me she wanted to buy me a new long sleeved jersey for the winter. Went into the Evans in Camden with her as she said she needed me to choose the right one. Found one that fitted, she then stood in the queue then for 30 mins waiting to get served, despite me telling her to just photograph the label so we could order off the internet at home, hopeless.

grahamcp

Thanks everyone for replying! As it turned out we spent longer than expected going round the Paul Klee exhibition at the Tate so there was no time for bike shops! I will be back in London again next week though, so will take up some of the suggestions then. I didn't know about the Specialized store so that does look interesting. I've been wanting a winter bike with discs, good clearance and full mudguard-ability so don't know if they show the likes of their tri cross/secteur models there... anyway I'll prob start another thread about those this week.
Thanks again :-)