The London Cycle Workshop

Well, we’re not sure how it happened but we find ourselves in November all of a sudden. And as usual we have been a bit slow to update the website so there is plenty to tell…

Workshop.

After a quiet spell in August when all of our local customers vacated the area to go on holiday, the workshop is back to being steadily busy. We have been making constant improvements to the workshop including purchasing ever more tools, (a secret passion of ours is tool shopping!), and stocking ever more parts. This run up to the winter is a ideal time to get your trusty commuter serviced ready for the season that is the hardest on the bicycle

Not having a booking system is working out well, with most repair jobs completed the same day depending on parts. And the courtesy bikes are getting more and more use, (we better get them ready for Winter too…). For those of you that don’t know, the courtesy bikes are free of charge for our service customers. The idea is that you can drop your bike in for a service, (open from 7am), borrow a bike and collect yours at the end of the day, (open until 7pm).

Tyres.

We stock an ever growing selection of tyres for all usages. Whether you are looking for lightweight sports tyres or puncture resistant commuting tyres we will have a few different options for you to consider. Sticking to the two biggest manufacturers in the industry, Schwalbe and Continental, we have an indepth product knowledge and are more than happy to advise you of the best choice for your needs. Please ask for help in store, (sizing alone can be a minefield!).

We are very happy to report that we now have a local company recycling our used tyres. As a business operating in what is considered to be a green industry, we take the disposal and recycling of our rubbish seriously. Tyres are taken to a yard in Garratt lane, (by bike), shredded and mixed with asphalt to produce a durable material to lay on motorways.  Although we are very keen on recycling as much of our rubbish as possible, there is a price to pay of £1 per tyre. Therefore, all of the prices you see on the tyres in the shop include a contribution to this cost. If you are happy to take your old tyres home with you, (although you will have to recycle them yourself as tyres cannot go into landfill under a EU directive…), we will offer you a small discount to subtract this surcharge. We hope you as customers can see the fairness of this decision and support our efforts to recycle wherever possible?

Prices.

In anticipation of the vat rise in January, some of our suppliers have recently put their prices up more by more that they usually do this time of year. To remain competitive and fair, we have frozen the prices of everything we have bought at the cheaper prices, so no across the board price rises in our shop! Some things will go up in the new year but we are committed to stay as competitive as possible.

Stock.

As many of you may have noticed each week we have more and more stock in the shop. This really is in reaction to the feedback we get from you, so please, keep it coming. We are limited by the wall space we have and so the products we have in stock are just a fraction of what is available to us. If you are looking for anything in particular please ask.

We are also seasonally affected so have stocked up on lights, mudguards, reflectives, gloves and jackets to name but a few. Please ask for advise as to what would best suite your bike / need as there are so many options to choose from, from rechargeable lights to clip on mudguards, from overshoes to reflective tabards we have almost everything you will need to keep cycling safely throughout the winter.

We have some new locks from Kriptonite, pumps from Topeak, lights from Blackburn and Fibreflare, pannier bags from Agu and saddles from Brooks, (one of our favorites!). There is new stock from our clothing company Endura arriving every week along with new helmets from MET and a range of rucksack covers from Hump.

Any Other Business…

We hope you all enjoyed the St. John’s Hill street festival back in September. Overall it was a huge success, especially as we had a sunny day! A good time was had by all, we certainly had fun here in no part because we were given the responsibility of inflating balloons with helium! He he he. On a more serious note the event raised over £1800 for the St. John’s Hill Community fund, a fund to improve the area for residents and traders alike. So well done everyone for taking part.

A big thank you as always to all of our customers for your support and feedback. We couldn’t have done it without you. Our aim from the start was to open a professional workshop offering top quality repairs and servicing. The parts and accessories have been bought as we have grown while listening to what our local and regular customers would like to see in the shop. We continue to strive to be the best local shop we can be and are grateful for all of the support we have received from the local community.

And as a thank you we will he throwing a first birthday party in January, watch this space for further details…

And remember that we are open from 7am to 7pm Monday to Friday, 10am to 6pm on Saturday, and 10am to 4pm on Sunday.

Greetings from The London Cycle Workshop team. It’s been a while since the last update so there’s plenty to tell…

(ALSO TAKE A LOOK AT THE UPDATED GALLERY PAGE)!!!

Firstly we would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all of you taking part in a Summer sportive, Triathlon, long distance ride whether they be in Britain or further afield. We have met so many people taking part in cycling events this year it is quite remarkable! We read back in the winter that this was the year of cycling events and boy o boy do those words ring true. What a great year for the bicycle!!!

Firstly a special congratulations to Felicity for completing the John O’ Groats to Land’s End ride without a single puncture! Well done, what an achievement Felicity! And thanks for the postcard!

A special congratulations has to also be extended to Charlie Starmer-Smith and team for their valiant completion of one of the most challenging cycle rides open to the public. L’Etape du Tour, the Pyrenean stage of this year’s Tour de France.

Charlie and friends rode the grueling 181 kikometres to raise money for Lymphoma Fund, a cause sadly close to Charlie’s heart. Months of fitness training was undertaken to prepare for the ride, more of which you can read about by following this link to Charlie’s blog on the Daily Telegraph website, ‘The Lycra Files’. To read about and support the fundraising please visit the Just Giving page.

Charlie and the boys

As Charlie’s local bike shop we here at The London Cycle Workshop were able to provide advice and bike servicing to the team helping to gear the boys up for the ride. It was a great pleasure to work with them and to see their progression through training leading up to the event. We were it has to be said, very proud to hear of their accomplishments, (via postcard and slightly intoxicated celebration phone call), and wish them all the best for future cycling jollies!!! And thanks for the postcard, as promised!

In a related bit of news it was a great great honor to be recently featured in The Saturday Telegraph’s cycling centre page story in the Travel section. The article is a recount of the L’Etape ride. In a related article, ‘Long-Distance cycling: recommended equipment’, The London Cycle Workshop gets a mention by name as a recommended repair shop for which we are very grateful. Having been open such a short period of time it is a testament to our customer service and high standards of repair work that we have had such positive feedback. We strive to offer the most professional, friendly and helpful service and welcome all feedback from our customers. Yet again we would like to thank all of our customers for their support of the shop. We couldn’t have done it without you. Thank You.

Shop news. Well where to start?

The workshop has been keeping us as busy as ever. As we enter what many say can be the quietest month locally with many people holidaying in August. We have noticed a slight drop in servicing work so it is worth mentioning our policy on storage. Pre-agreed storage longer term is not a problem and attracts no extra charges. So you can drop your bike off for a service before you go on holiday and collect it when you return. As we have mentioned before we are pretty flexible here, as long as we know what’s going on.

Having recently expanded the workshop area to accommodate an extra workstand we have being buying more and more specialist tools. These are expensive so it is a slow process but we are getting more and more equipped all the time. The next big job will be laying the new workshop floor, we are just waiting for a rainy day or two!

The other update to mention is our ever expanding number of supplier accounts. We can now get our hands on a bewildering number of parts and accessories, including frames, and so every week there are more and more new products in the shop. Check back in to see what is new, and please let us know what you would like to find. If you are after something in particular have a chat to Nick or I and we will try to source it for you.

St John’s Hill Festival – 12th September 2010.

It is now only a month to go until the second annual St. John’s Hill Festival! To find out more click here.

Almost all of the traders on the Hill will be putting on some kind of event or entertainment and we here at The London Cycle Workshop will certainly be involved.

Firstly we will have repair stands outside the shop staffed by qualified mechanics offering free labour on bike tune up’s, (no servicing it takes too long, parts not included). So feel free to turn up with your bike and we will be happy to iron out any niggling little problems!

Secondly we will have enlisted the team at Brockice to supply ice cream from the New Forest from traditional ice cream bikes. If all goes to plan one will be outside the shop and another will be touring the street so stop them and buy one!!!

And thirdly there will be a display from Luv Handles the Bike Boutique of traditional Dutch style bikes and accessories manned by our friend Mercedes. Visit her website for more info.

Right… That’s it for now. Please get in touch for more information about The London Cycle Workshop.

Well it’s been a busy few weeks as Spring has come upon us and the weather is warming. This is, traditionally, the busiest time of year for the bicycle workshops as more and more people take to their bikes. We here at The London Cycle Workshop have certainly been busy servicing and repairing bikes. As some of you may have noticed our small shop has been rammed full of bikes for servicing and collection!

It has been a few weeks since we have had a chance to update the website so it is long overdue with plenty of news to tell. As usual though we would like to start by thanking all of our customers for their support in these first few months of The London Cycle Workshop. Starting a new business is no easy feat and it would have been almost impossible if it wasn’t for the support we have received from the local community and cyclists in general. Thank You. You have all helped make this possible.

Stock on the shelves.

Over the past few weeks we have been increasing our level and depth of stock available. We have increased our range of Schwalbe tyres including the superb Marathon Plus commuting tyres which are proving very popular. We have more and more good quality cycling accessories from Topeak including a nice selection of pumps and tools. Speaking of which we have a great array of bicycle tools produced by Park, (to be found everywhere in our workshop), for those of you who like to turn your hand to a bit of bike maintenance. Our choice of Met helmets has grown, we now have over 20 different models colours and styles in stock including some execellent commuting and road models.

Riken and Keul, (Klickfix) offer a fantastic selection of baskets and shopping bags which can be attached to your bike with a neat quick release bracket system.  We now have a good stock of all of their popular luggage solutions and offer a fitting service for these, and indeed all, accessories. With high levels of bike theft in the city we now offer an increasing range of Kriptonite locks, mainly D-locks. We have many different sizes in stock including the ‘New York Fahgettaboutit’, (get it? Forget About It…) which is widely regarded to be one of the strongest bike locks on the market. We also hope soon to stock Pitlock security skewers which prevent a bike thief walking off with your saddle or wheels. Click here to find out more.

On a lighter note we have taken delivery of a couple of new flavours of Mule Bars including Mango Tango and Summer Berry. Not only made with 100% natural ingredients, the company has a sound ethical policy supporting 1% for the planet. Sales from the Summer Berry bar also go towards sponsoring the Tour of Britain. And for a bit of extra comfort and performance along the way we are also taking delivery of an expanding selection of saddles from Brookes, (English handmade leather saddles) and Fi’zi:k, (lightweight performance road saddles).

Opening hours.

We are sticking to the opening hours we have with one update. Due to the local exodus over the Easter bank holiday weekend we have decided that whenever there is a bank holiday weekend we will be open the following hours:

Friday 0700 – 1900

Saturday 1000 – 1600

Sunday Closed

Monday Closed

Tuesday Midday – 1900

Then business as usual.

Some notes on the Workshop.

The workshop is why we are here. Repairing and servicing bikes is our passion here at The London Cycle Workshop. We believe in good service with free quotes and honest pricing with all work being carried out by qualified and experienced mechanics.

As we are becoming more and more established, and with the changing season, the shop and workshop is getting busier and busier. It is worth noting that although we will happily accept repair and servicing work over the weekend, Saturday and Sunday are increasingly becoming busier shop days meaning less and less workshop work can be done. For those whose bike repair or service absolutely needs to be completed before Monday morning we will honour any promises we make to get the work done.

We have also reached our storage capacity. As anyone in the bike trade will testify, bikes are an awful shape regarding storage! To stop the shop floor being completely taken over by bikes we are going to enact a maximum storage of 15 bikes. We are flexible, but until we address our storage shortfalls more permanently we think 15 bikes is a reasonable cap. We never want to be in a position where we have to turn work away because of a lack of storage space. Neither do we want to charge a storage fee to our customers as many of the other London bike shops do. We therefore make a plea to service and repair customers; after we have contacted you to let you know your bike is ready, please try to collect the bike promptly so someone else can bring their bike in for repair. Sound fair?

Other News.

We were recently paid a visit by the American Express sales team and have negotiated a deal to accept AMEX.

Just a quick note to warn you that The London Cycle Workshop will be open the following hours over the bank holiday weekend:

Friday open  0700 to 1800

Saturday open 1000 to 1600

Sunday Closed

Monday Closed

Tuesday open midday to 1900

Wednesday onwards open for business as usual.

Time for an update as to what is going on here at The London Cycle Workshop. It has been a busy start to March and as always we have lots of news to tell…

The Workshop.

The workshop has been busier and busier for servicing and repairs, especially as Spring is in the air. We at The London Cycle Workshop have been stocking up on all sorts of spares from brake pads to chainsets, from bottom brackets to spokes. There are so many spare parts for bicycles that having them all in stock in the shop is almost impossible, no matter how big a shop you have, but we are trying our best to increase our stock to ensure that repairs can be turned round in the shortest amount of time possible.

We have noticed that a certian local shop with a yellow shop front has recently lowered its general service price to £45 with big posters in the window. What a coinciedence that that happens to be our general service price! How funny it is that a small newly opened independent cycle repair shop can have such a local influence in keeping service prices at a reasonable cost! We commend their efforts!

Suppliers.

We here at The London Cycle Workshop now have accounts with all of the biggest suppliers of bicycle parts and accessories in the industry. Although we are a small local independent shop we can get hold of almost everything the bigger shops can, at the same price if not better! With possibly tens of thousands parts and accessories available for bicycles we are tyring our best to pick the most relevant, top quality and best value to keep in stock in the shop. With each week that passes by comes at least one or two new product lines in stock, with many more to come. It is a tricky task to pick and choose the products we stock and we appreciate any feedback or suggestions you have.

New Products In Stock.

Over the last couple of weeks we have taken delivery of many, many new products. We now have an excellent selection of Met helmets in stock including the top rated Estro, widely regarded as one of the best ventilated road helmets on the market. Our mudguard selection from SKS now has a mudguard to fit almost all manor of bicycle including the excellent Raceguard which has new toolless mounting brackets. Speaking of tools we are now selling a range of tools made by Park Tools. Park made a fantastic range of tools for cycle maintenance and are used in the workshop of many a professional bike mechanic. We use them in our workshop and are a big fan of the high quality and thought out designs.

We are sporting a growing range of Shimano spare parts for both road and mountain bikes and hope soon to add a number of Campagnolo parts too. We have stocked up on quality Sold Secure locks from both OnGuard and Kriptonite covering a range of secure D-Locks in different sizes and at different price points to cater for a wide range of security needs. With cycle theff in London one of the highest rates of any city in the world a good quality lock is a must for the London cyclist, (a sorry state of affairs really). Other new produsts include Mule Energy Bars, Apple Strudel & Pinacolada flavours, which are made of 100% natural ingredients, support 1% for the planet and are actually very tasty! We also have expanded our range of Schwalbe tyres including the Marathon Plus which is arguably one of the best on the market for the London commuter. We sell them for the recommended retail price of £29 each and offer them for £50 a pair, or £60 a pair fitted. We dare to say these are the best prices in London. Prove us wrong!

Opening Hours.

Our opening hours from Monday to Friday remain the same, 0700 to 1900, (despite a couple of slightly later starts – sorry Mr. Jenkins). The early start and late finish seem to be popular with our customers with 0700 to 0900 and from 1700 to 1900 often proving to be our busiest time of day. Sunday will also remain the same with us opening from 1000 to 1600, it is Sunday afterall! Saturday has changed though. Previously we opened 1000 to 1600 but have decided to extend the hours to 1000 to 1800. We toyed with the idea of opening at 0900 but have decided to stick to 1000 officially, although from time to time you will see us open by 0900, (it depends what Friday night has bought)!

Any Other Business…

As usual a big thank you to all of our customers for coming into the shop to say hello. We recieve many complimentary comments regarding the shop which really does mean a lot. It makes all the hard work, both shop fitting, stocking the shelves and turning round the increasing number of workshop jobs all the more worthwhile.

Please do keep checking the website for updates, the more the website is viewed the more it spurs us on to keep it up to date. Watch this space for new features and some up to date photographs of what’s going on here at The London Cycle Workshop.

A special thank you to Ben Thomson’s CycleWorx in Wandsworth for helping us here at The London Cycle Workshop when we have been caught short for random parts.  Ben is a very talented highly skilled bike mechanic, one of the very best in London and is a valuable source of advice to his many customers. Thanks Ben!

More and more people asking about cycle maintenance courses. Check the Workshop page for more info.

And finally, if you have any thoughts or comments regarding The London Cycle Workshop please feel free to comment on these posts. All you have to do is click on the title of the post, scroll to the bottom of the page and fill in the comments box . You don’t have to suscribe, become a member, include contact details, hand over credit card numbers,  fill in an on-line questionnaire, take a test, sign up for a newsletter, be bombarded with junk mail and spam, tell me your date of birth, shoe size, eye colour or favorite pudding. All you have to do is write a few words to tell us what you think. We appreciate the feedback and will publish all the comments.

Lastly a request. This website is produced using Wordpress. We here at The London Cycle Workshop are big fans of Wordpress but at the same time are new to using it. We want to add a certain something to the site but don’t know enough about Wordpress to make it happen. If anyone is a Wordpress Wizz and could help please get in touch!

The London Cycle Workshop.

We are an independent shop open for servicing and repairs. We give free quotes and offer honest pricing. The workshop is open 7 days a week. Most work can be carried out the same day depending on parts. Free courtesy bikes available for service customers. Smaller repairs can be carried out while you wait. There is no appointment system, drop in at your convenience.

Although we do not sell either new or second hand bikes, we do stock a wide and expanding range of parts and accessories along with cycle specific clothing for men and women. If you are looking for something in particular please ask.

As a new business we value your feedback. Thank you for your support of this shop.

Our shop front

Our shop floor

Hello there. Much has been going on over the last couple of weeks here at The London Cycle Workshop so we thought an update was well overdue.

We have been recieving more and more stock for the shop floor and now have much more in stock than we did a couple of weeks ago. New items in stock include Turbo Trainer Tyres from Tacx, lots of new Helmets from MET, a wider range of Topeak Cycling Accessories, loads of new Tyres from Schwalbe, some excellent new Clothing from Endura and lots of cool Buffs, (our personal favorite)!

Having read through the list of new stock above you may think it sounds like a similar list under the post headline ‘A Feburary update’, now below. Although the brands are the same the range of products is expanding with each of our chosen product lines. After all, a new shop has to listen to the requests of it’s new future customers and neighbours to gauge what people would like to see in their local bike shop. The workshop is much the same.

Soon, (in the next two weeks being realistic), we here at The London Cycle Workshop will be working with even more suppliers in able to offer an even wider range of cycling parts and accessories bound only by our limited size.

The website has been gently updated with a new Gallery page inserted for pictures of our customers trusty steads, e-mail if you would like your old faithful to be included. There is a new workshop price list which can be found in the Workshop page. We are also considering running a workshop maintenance class one night a week. Watch the Workshop page for updates.

The Workshop is open seven days a week with more and more spare parts now kept in stock. We try to turn round all workshop jobs the same day and can offer a Free courtesy bike for those having a service and needing a bike for the rest of the journey too and from work. We think it is a service you will find no-where else in London, (we think)! For more information on our Workshop Services click here…

We will be soon opening an online shop, (well, an online ebay shop to start with), and will have a good range of stock available for purchase on-line. Although we will only be offering a narrow selection compared to what we sell in the shop we can get our hands on all sorts of things from a wide range of manufacturers. If you are looking for something in particular then drop us an e-mail, info@TheLondonCycleWorkshop.co.uk or give us a call on 020 3441 1044.

Click Here to visit the Online Shop page!!!

Lastly we are thinking of tweaking our opening hours a bit. For the next couple of Saturdays we will be open until 1800 instead of 1600.

I can’t believe it’s Feburary already, time is flying by!

Well we here at The London Cycle Workshop have been up and running for a month now and it’s been a great start. The shop is looking better and better as time goes on with new stock arriving all the time and the list of diy shopfitting tasks is slowely getting smaller!

This week we have had new stock from Buff, Endura, Schwalbe, Topeak, MET and Cateye. Check out the New Stock page for more details. As the orders come in thick and fast the range of parts, accessories and clothing we offer in ever increasing. We are still finding our feet while deciding what to keep in stock and appreciate any feedback you may have. You can comment on this post bt clicking on the title then filling in the comment box at the bottom of the page. Alternatly you could e-mail us: Info@TheLondonCycleWorkshop.co.uk, phone us on: 020 3441 1044, or pop your head round the door!

The workshop has been fairly busy as more and more people discover us. The workshop is open seven days a week for all mannor of repairs and servicing. You can have your bike repaired while you wait, or collect it the same day. The workshop page has a link to our price list which you can use as a guide. We offer free quotes and honest prices. For an accurate quote it is best to come into the shop with your bike for a chat with one of the mechanics. They will be more than happy to talk you over the work required.

For those that rely on their bike for the daily commute and can’t be without it we have now launched a courtesy bike service. It works a bit like this…

We open at 7am Monday to Firday. You cycle past us on the way to work and need your bike servicing. You can now drop your bike in from 7am, (stop for a coffee perhaps?) and take one of our courtesy bikes, completely free of charge, to complete your cycle into work. In the evening cycle the courtesy bike back to us, we are open until at least 7pm, and you can swap back and collect your newly serviced steed. How good is that!!!?

Below are a couple of snaps of the bikes we are using. They are Trek Navigators, a sort of comfort mountain bike we will be converting into road commuting bikes with some brand new Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres, perfect for the daily commute.

Right got to go, work to be done. Just lastly I would like to thank everyone who has popped into the shop to say hello over the last four weeks. It has been a pleasure to meet members of the local community along with the many cyclists. We welcome your support and look forward to seeing you again. And as I have said before we still welcome your feedback regarding the stock of the shop so if there is anything you would like to see please let us know.