CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 15years old!
Well done to ALL posters
It soon became useful and entertaining. There are regular posters, people who add useful info occasionally and plenty more who drop by to watch. That's fine. If you want to add news/comments it's easy to register and become a member.
RULES No personal insults. No swearing.
Is there anything specifically wrong with alpine bikes that it doesn't get much of a look in on here?
Or is it just that it's a chain store and there aren't many Stockbridgers on the forum.
Popped head in after grabbing a coffee at Ronde and it seemed okay as far as these things go.
I got my mtb on the BTW scheme from there although mainly because they were the only ones with stock of the bike i wanted.
I think its just they don't add any thing, they stock the same bikes as tbc and biketrax and the bulk of the accessories they sell are bontranger which are also covered by biketrax.
Plus they're at the bottom of a ruddy great hill...
That ruddy great hill is an integral part of my commute now... thankfully I've got ballast in the childseat (my bag, not the coxwean) to keep my back wheel from bouncing too much off the cobbles with I'm climbing the col du dean park.
Doing wonders for my legs though. :)
My nearest bike shop is in Newtongrange (http://www.lothianbikeshed.co.uk/). I actually haven't been there since it moved from Dalkeith (where they gave me some free cable ends) but may try it out for repairs. I did used to go the Freewheelin in Bonnyrigg for repairs before it closed down.
Alpine Bikes is too far in general, though it is nice to visit Stockbridge on occasion and Ronde is very special.
I've no problem with Alpine, bought a couple of things off them - but only because they happened to be the cheapest place to buy a specific item I was after.
The shop always seems to be almost deserted when I'm in, and I amn't crazy for the range of clothing they stock. They are owned by Tiso, but I don't get the "this is Mecca" feeling in alpine that I do in Tiso.
I do Glouscester Street cobbles (though for a while I have been using the water of leith to get home avoiding traffic) - Alpine is where I got my bike to work bike mainly as they were the only ones who would take the Halfords vouchers my work spewed out at me... Got to test ride it first
I dunno, I just don't really like it. I don't have problems as such, I think it is just the surfeit of slouchy 19 year old staff with OMG a WOMAN expressions on their faces. And the fact that TBC is infinitely better. It can come in useful if I desperately want something on a Sunday though
they stock the same bikes as tbc
they don't.
We would like to do Trek but alas that won't happen.
Cubes are better than Treks though, eh? ;)
Possibly a little more of an inexperienced opinion, but I live above them, so they were the natural choice for my first commuting bike for years (three months ago).
It has been in several times for minor adjustments and I have been nothing but delighted with the service - including when I had a pretty bad fall and managed to break the <bit that attaches gears to frame>, the broken components were replaced and the whole assembly readjusted for no charge.
Perhaps when I become more experienced, and can fill in that part name above, then it may be time to move to another shop. But for a noob, they were friendly and helpful, and most importantly made it easy for me to get back into cycling.
"But for a noob, they were friendly and helpful, and most importantly made it easy for me to get back into cycling."
Sounds a pretty good recommendation - and reason for sticking with them.
But for a noob, they were friendly and helpful,
always the mark of a good bike shop.
Hmm. Never liked the Stockbridge branch since the time I was after a couple of 9-speed Powerlinks and the chap behind the counter (almost) refused to sell me them because I had a Shimano chain - him telling me it would never work and me telling him I was already using one!
@tbc my mistake I thought there was more overlap.
They must be doing something right if they remain there. If people are happy with it then that is the main thing.
CCE on Edinburgh Bike Shops
I think it's just the monumental effort that it takes me to ride home from Stockbridge that means I tend not to be down that way very often buying bicycle parts. And if I were, there's a place a wee bit along the road that has much nicer décor.
When I commuted Balerno to Leith I used them frequently and shop was good. One mechanic, who was there a while but moved on knew his stuff - tbc then opened nearer my work and I switched to them. When I was keen on websites I used to check theirs out, along with ebc, tbc, wiggle etc.
majority (?) on this forum are southsiders? But tbc bargains have lured some down that way
For me it's one of those undefinable things with Alpine. I've bene in a few times, and every time just left thinking, 'nah'. Can't put my finger on it.
My brother used to work for the one in Aberdeen, and it was strange, got exactly the same feeling in there.
I don't think I've been in there since I needed a spoke on the way home (it's on one of the more direct non-shortest routes) last December but I've never been offended or put off by them.
They had a sale offer on my bike that I couldn't refuse, and they were perfectly accomodating to the scheduling problems that I have from working two jobs. Thumbs up from me.
I still haven't had that angelic choir moment from walking into a bike shop, but I don't much like cyclist clothing/bags and have a weakness for vintage racers/tourers, omafeits and beaters so unless they weld Eastsike, Soul and Bike Station together, I'm probably going to need a pilgrimage to Holland...
By nearly all accounts it seems to suffer the curse of 'meh'.
"I still haven't had that angelic choir moment from walking into a bike shop"
Yep, there are bike shops I really really like. but none that do that. And then in Copenhagen I walked into Sogreni. I wanted to spend the rest of the weekend break just in there.
I bought one of the bells. Totally form over function. Couldn't even get a bracket to fit my bars, and once bodged on it dinged on any rough surface constantly, then the dinger fell off.
So pretty though, and sounded superb.
I suspected as much with the mudguards, chainguard and rack, although the pedals and bells looked functional - disappointing to hear that at least one didn't actually work...
Similarly their lights look objects of fetish rather than function!
They do make the observation that some of their bikes are bought for hanging on walls rather than riding...
Robert
By nearly all accounts it seems to suffer the curse of 'meh'.
Or maybe we suffer the choice of being spoiled rotten for choice here? I've not really been in any bike shops outside of Edinburgh, so to some extent I hope not
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