The Bicycle Repair Man shop, 111 Newington Road, is set to shut for good at 5.30pm on Saturday 8th February. I, for one, will miss having a bike repair shop on the south side of Edinburgh, and wish John and Chris all the best for their futures.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Resources
Bike Shop Closure
(36 posts)-
Posted 10 years ago #
-
indeed. they saved our day a few times.
(also now means that 2/3 shops that gave UoE staff discounts have closed :(
Posted 10 years ago # -
Although I never used it, it's a shame.
I'm assuming it's another reason other than hard times? As there seems to be a lot of bike repair shops opening at the mo!
Posted 10 years ago # -
Looks like avalanche records also going as to let sign up. Any word on velo ecosse.
Times are tough
Posted 10 years ago # -
Someone 'in the trade' implied to me that velo ecosse closing was just a tax dodge and that it was likely to re-open under a different name.
Posted 10 years ago # -
@Coxy, I believe that the Bicycle Repair Man is closing due to not making enough money and not having enough custom to sustain the business. Do a lot of people really bother about having their bikes repaired much, disposable society and all that? Competition is fierce for new bikes with Evans having opened, bike shops have tea rooms or other retail bits not necessarily related to cycling attached, and for apparel shops like the BRM cannot really compete with the likes of the online bike wear and clothing shops. Damned shame as they have been there for 14 years.
Velo Ecosse was always too cluttered and difficult to navigate, also it now has two very large retailers on the doorstep, Evans and EBC, and funnily enough though both are very expensive and overpriced, people equate that with quality, which is actually not always the case!
Posted 10 years ago # -
'Evans and EBC... Expensive and overpriced"
Tend to think it depends what you get, I've got some well-priced items I've worn a lot from EBC and very happy so far with a couple of christmas things from Evans. But then I don't go to EBC out with the sale, unless I need something quite specific and urgently.
Posted 10 years ago # -
EBC will price match so technically they are not over priced if you find the item elsewhere cheaper and tell them?
Posted 10 years ago # -
Sad to hear this. Have taken my bikes to John and Chris for years. Fast, efficient and friendly service. Best wishes to both whatever their future plans.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Last time I tried to buy something in EBC, I did a little test and ordered the item (replacement pedals, as the bearings in mime were seizing up) online, while standing in the shop in less time than it took to find a member a stuff to get it out the locked cabinet for me.
But I tend to use Pedals for repairs, and will drop into shops every now and them for browsing or emergency purchases.
Even with the closures recently, it seems to be that more shops are opening up than closing at the moment?
Posted 10 years ago # -
That's bad news - they have helped me out in the past.
I had thought that Velo Ecosse had reopened - I went there in Jan. Has it closed again?
Posted 10 years ago # -
That's the sole Dawes touring specialist in Edinburgh gone I do believe. Galaxy owners, or prospective Galaxy owners, take note.
Posted 10 years ago # -
That's terrible news. I always took my bikes to them for maintenance. I'll miss them. Don't know where to go now. The last time I tried the Bicycle Works they said I'd have to leave my bike with them for a week, but the Bicycle Repair Man always got the work done the day I needed it.
Posted 10 years ago # -
@cc guy at pedals recently assured me he could handle hub gears
but its worth trying the bikeworks if its not a busy time of year. i've never had to leave my bike overnight.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Never been there but a shame to see it go all the same.
Velo Ecosse seemed to look open last I drifted by (which was a few weeks ago), nothing out of the ordinary on their site/facebook etc.
Posted 10 years ago # -
@chrisfl
I am not a fan of the Internet as I have to visit tHe Dell sorting office to pick the items up S they do not get delivered to my house. Prefer shop or Internet and then I pick up at shop? So to me your experiment is felacious in tht it lacks veracity for me. Ordering off Internet quick. Getting it in shop quicker if you want to have it that day?
Posted 10 years ago # -
A real shame as they were convenient for my work and always got repairs done the same day, whether true-ing a wheel or replacing a chainset I could drop it off in the morning and pick up when I left work. Always helpful and although their stock wasn't extensive it was always my first stop if I was looking for parts quickly.
I popped in to say bye today and my best wishes to them in future endeavours.
Posted 10 years ago # -
On the subject of Velo Ecosse, looks like a new name;
"C & G Cycles". Google suggests there's a shop in Motherwell with that name. Perhaps "our man in Ayrshire" knows more?Posted 10 years ago # -
From the Edinburgh Gazette:
"Petitions to Wind Up (Companies)
VELO ECOSSE LIMITED
On 24 October 2013, a petition was presented to Dunfermline Sheriff Court by the Advocate General for Scotland for and on behalf of the Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs craving the Court inter alia to order that Velo Ecosse Limited, 25-27 Bruntsfield Place, Edinburgh EH10 4HJ (registered office) be wound up by the Court and to appoint a liquidator. All parties claiming an interest must lodge Answers with Dunfermline Sheriff Court, 1/6 Carnegie Drive, Dunfermline within 8 days of intimation, service and advertisement.R M Lees, Officer of Revenue & Customs
HM Revenue & Customs, Debt Management & Banking, Enforcement & Insolvency, 20 Haymarket Yards, Edinburgh
for Petitioner"From a company check web site:
"VELO ECOSSE LIMITED
Company Number: SC197078
Status: Liquidation
Incorporation Date: 10 June 1999 (almost 15 years ago)
Company Type: Private Limited Company"Oh well. Another one bites the dust. Tax/VAT problems, I presume.
The Evans effect, the gift that keeps on giving.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Not the High Fidelity effect? (Defined as "setting your shop up to put people off coming in" or "looking down your nose at people who ride the wrong kind of bike and aren't your mates")
Posted 10 years ago # -
Could it be trading under a new name?
Motherwell is not far from Ayrshire at all but would involve leaving north Lanarkshire and missing out either renfrewshires (why the county of my birth already small with Robert Semple in fifteenth century and Peter Weir since then as notable - needed to split into two tiny counties/ local authorities is a mystery that only Toyah could solve). Then of course you would have your Hobson's choice of the three Ayrshires, east, north and South.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Newspapers at the time suggested that the split was done to give the Tories a more or less guaranteed area of political influence (East Renfrewshire).
Personally I'd have thought it could do with being split into more like twenty councils. They'd actually get some local government then rather than remote government
Posted 10 years ago # -
Lanarkshire / Ayrshire. It's all Greek to me.
No, I did mean Lanarkshire. It's just something else came out of my fingertips.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Meh, west of the bypass is all Glasgow anyway...
Posted 10 years ago # -
Just a wee geeky aside on that point about the size of our local authorities - Scotland has the largets bottom-tier of local government in Europe. The average Scottish local authority covers over 150,000 thousand. Outside of the UK, no-one else has an average over 50,000 and around 20,000 is much more typical.
And on size - the average council in the EU27 is 50 km2, while Scotland's average is nearly 2,500 km2. We have a whole lot of nothing in this country so it skews things, but so too do Finland and their average is only a little over 1,000 km2.
In size of councils the UK is very strange in comparison with the rest of Europe, and Scotland is the strangest of all.
Posted 10 years ago # -
"Outside of the UK, no-one else has an average over 50,000 and around 20,000 is much more typical."
That seems impractically small for a city.
I suppose it depends what powers/responsibilities the bottom tier has.
There are Community Councils, but they have no decision making powers and very little cash to spend.
Posted 10 years ago # -
"Outside of the UK, no-one else has an average over 50,000 and around 20,000 is much more typical."
In France, they have a bottom tier of "Commune" which (in my experience) is run from the local village and is also incredibly clique / crony ridden. Its the kind of 'democracy' where if your face doesnt fit you cant build a shed but the head honchos brother gets carte blanche to build a hotel.
Not saying it doesnt have its good points, but there are issues.
Posted 10 years ago # -
@Nelly, whereas in North Lanarkshire... ;-)
Of course there are problems. But I'd take those problems over the ones we have - we have local government that isn't local and doesn't govern.
Posted 10 years ago # -
The whole unitary authority structure we have now was a Thatcherite exercise in prising (mostly Labour at the time) power away from the old regional authorities; centralising power at national level; gerrymandering; and "efficiency savings", ie, cuts.
Most countries have a layered structure:
- local (equivalent of our community councils but with budgets and real powers.
- regional/city (like the old Lothian region or a city/metropolitan authority eg. CEC)
- national (eg. Scottish government/Westminster)Some countries have federal structures where regions have substantial tax, borrowing powers and large budgets separate from the national government.
All or some of these could be possible in an independent Scotland, to create better accountability, and check the imbalances of power resting mainly with central government.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Anyway, I hope the new bike shop owner does well. ;-)
Posted 10 years ago #
Reply »
You must log in to post.
posts
