Are traditional Local bike shops dead ?

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Is the good old skool local bike shop dead?
There used to be a good few here in Waltham Forest in London - almost all gone except Heals Cycles in chingford and Station Cycles next to wood st station Walthamstow which is mess.
All the other Indy ones - Bellchambers, Ditchfields etc gone.

I've noticed the choices these days are either Halfords and Evans or other boutique upperty shops usually in trendy parts such as Islington and Hackney or Shorditch or Bethnal Green - some dedicated to these new fangled Chinese made multicolour fixie junk

How's it like elsewhere ?
 
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In bristol we have jakes bikes, the bike workshop and the bristol bike project. Those mainly deal with repairs or 2nd hand though, If you wanted to buy a new bike you'd be fairly stuck if you didnt want to go to halfords or evans

Edit: we also have mud dock!!
 
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I'm lucky to have The Cycle Centre in Penzance on my doorstep.

The only place I have had my wheels built for the last 20 years! Here's to Ian 'Bunny' Warren for all the time and effort... also jm who frequents this very forum for all his work over the years, and knowing that my old tat means much more to me than the sum of it's parts, he now works as wrench at Clive Mitchell's Truro, thanks.

There are a number of quality bike shops alive and kicking in Cornwall.


al.
 
Ah I guess London seems to be different.
Then again London has turned into a City State with everything different to the rest of the country - and London is generally Shit unless you're a yuppie or Liberal Elite type
 
There's at least 4 other independent bike shops in Waltham Forest other than Heals and Station cycles.
 
606":3hrokvyl said:
There's at least 4 other independent bike shops in Waltham Forest other than Heals and Station cycles.
Click to expand...

Enlighten me

THere's what used to be called Robins Bikes down Forest Rd. Not sure if it's still there
 
Over on the t'other side of London state there is Neils Wheels in Kingston, Phil and the guys in the Kingston shop know their retro stuff and just love bikes. but the point from the OP is well made, they are rarer, not dead but rarer.
 
ti_pin_man":2famgv4k said:
Over on the t'other side of London state there is Neils Wheels in Kingston, Phil and the guys in the Kingston shop know their retro stuff and just love bikes. but the point from the OP is well made, they are rarer, not dead but rarer.
Click to expand...

Thanks man that's what I really meant rather than 'dead'.
Rarer Locally and ones round here aren't great.
And to buy the only real options are Evans Halfrauds you have to go inner London for boutique shops which tend to have the Chinese made junk mentioned earlier, or shops like Isambards, Condor or BLB which are closer to the City and west End.

for wheel building here the options are limited to some of the above mentioned - Evans and Halfords don't build wheels on all their stores and charge a fortune
 
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i think there's few more opening up round here, not more than years ago, but still a bounce off of the recent rebirth of Brit cycling
 
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