On the floor
Nine machines we are prepared to argue for
We buy a handful of each and we ride them. Everything here can be serviced with ordinary tools, takes a mudguard and a rack, and uses parts we can get within three days. That rules out most of the market, which is the point.
Included
What happens between the box and the door
None of this is an extra and none of it is a package with a name.
01
Built here, not unfolded
Out of the box, apart, greased and rebuilt. Factory bolts are checked to torque, wheels come off the truing stand true, and the hub bearings are opened on every bicycle we sell.
02
Fitted to you, in the shop
Half an hour with Dilan: saddle height and setback, bar height, brake lever reach and angle. You ride it up the lane and we change it again. Nobody leaves on a bicycle they have only sat on.
03
Pedals, bell, bottle cage
Fitted before you pay, because a bicycle without pedals is not a bicycle. Tell us flat or clipless and we will fit what you actually want rather than what came in the carton.
04
Six-week service, at no charge
Cables and spokes bed in and everything goes slightly out. Bring it back between four and eight weeks and we put it right. This is not a voucher and there is nothing to keep hold of.
Not stocked
What we will not sell you, and why
We are asked for all four of these most weeks. The answer has not changed.
01
Cheap suspension
A fork under a certain price is a spring in a tube that will be seized within two winters and cannot be serviced for less than a new fork. On a town bicycle it adds weight, steals your effort and fixes a problem a wider tyre at lower pressure fixes better.
02
Sealed electric systems
Motors and batteries we cannot open, diagnose or get a cell pack for. A bicycle that becomes scrap when one component fails is not a bicycle, and we will not be the shop that sold it to you.
03
Proprietary everything
Integrated bars, hidden headset bearings, one-make seatposts and press-fit bottom brackets. Every one of them turns a twenty-minute job into a two-hour job and the extra hour appears on your bill, not the manufacturer's.
04
Children's bicycles that weigh more than the child can lift
Most of what is sold for eight-year-olds has steel wheels, a suspension fork and a price kept down by both. We stock three light ones in three sizes and nothing else, and we take them back in part-exchange when the child grows.
Before you buy
The questions asked across the counter
How do I know what size I am?
You come in and we measure you, which takes ten minutes and costs nothing. Frame sizes are not comparable between makes and the chart on a website is a guess made by somebody who has not seen you.
Can I ride one properly first?
Yes. An afternoon, on the road you actually ride, with your own pedals fitted. We hold a deposit and take a photograph of an identity document, and the deposit comes off the price if you buy it.
Will you take my old bicycle?
If it is worth putting back on the floor, yes, against a new one. If it is not, we will tell you what it is actually worth as parts, which is usually less than you hope and more than nothing.
Can you order something you do not stock?
We can, and we often will, but we will not pretend to know it. If we have not ridden it you get our order price and no opinion, and the six-week service still applies.
Do you price match?
No. The difference between us and a box on a pallet is the building, the fitting and the fact that the person who put it together is standing in front of you. We would rather show you a cheaper bicycle than sell the same one for less than it costs us to do properly.
What about locks and lights?
We sell two locks and two sets of lights, both chosen the same way as the bicycles. Ask what we lock our own with; it is the same one.
Come and be measured before you decide anything
Ten minutes, no appointment, no obligation, and it makes the rest of the decision much smaller.