Brick Lane Bikes, shop visit

every now and then i nip up to London, not overly a fan of the place but i was tempted by curry and beers with some friends decided i'd nip up a little earlier so i could check out Brick Lane Bikes.

over the last few years they seem to have become pretty well known and even though they are doing mostly a type of bike i am not really interested in (fixies/single speed road/commuters etc) i thought they were worth the look as i had seen a picture a little while ago somewhere and it looked like some mad collectors garage!

i got in there around 4pm, the shop was really busy and within about a minute i had spotted some old school Dura Ace mechs (yep, i bought them!) then i started talking to the guys in there, i missed their names but all were helpful, i started asking about the notorious and velocity rims they do, i got a set of the velocity for my Cougar rebuild a while ago, i like the semi aero look to them and they are available in a myriad of colours, and as i have another project on the go i wanted to see the options, they showed me their storeroom and it was like seeing a rainbow in rims!

after that i started looking at the various frames they have hanging from the ceiling, there must be around a hundred frames in total, i spotted atleast 10 that would fit me and i'd want! raleigh 853 team, the white with flames one, lemond titanium, dynatech titanium, 2 f.moser frames, and countless others.

then i spotted a Bonty, don't need another project but as i had been offered a glass of red wine the wallet came out! :facepalm:

i'm glad i stopped by and i think i'll go back when i visit london as i'd imagine that as they deal with alot of second hand stuff they probably come across interesting stuff.

here's a few pics

IMG_1221 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

IMG_1220 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

orange prestige, pretty original, but with alivio, £175, not too bad a price really bearing in mind it'll have been checked over etc

IMG_1222 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

wine to loosen the wallet? oh go on then :facepalm:

IMG_1227 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

my new (to me) Bonty :facepalm: the wine obviously did it's job!

IMG_1229 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

It's a wicked place is London.
They could smell the cow shit on your shoes a mile off!

The Raleigh 853- was it a cross frame?

No the 853 was a road frame, love the paint on those aswel, the flame job looks pretty cool.

They have loads and I mean LOADS of euro frames in wild colours

Well worth a visit if you're not local but happen to be visiting London

just like to pint out, blb are well nknow for selling second hand bikes that have been sold to them by people who arent thier owners. I have no personal experience of this, but im a lurker on lfgss and there are regular appearances and problems with this store.

just sayin.

i did hear this a while ago, i'd be lying if i said it isn't a concern, buying 2nd hand is always an issue, i'm not a member on lfgss so i can't comment but i also heard the stolen parts/frame issue were more the market than the shop.

that said, how many bikes on this website have been stolen? i have a muddy fox i bought for £40 in an absolutely battered state from a (perfectly nice) guy in bristol from a gumtree advert, my guess is that it had been stolen sometime in its life, not a nice thing to admit but the way i look at it was that the bike was now gonna get sorted and taken care of. i'm not trying to justify stealing bikes or buying stolen bikes, it's wrong and out of order, but atleast it has a nicer life than left rusting in a shed occasionally used as the 'get home from the pub' bike.

also i realise i have just commented but please don't turn this into an argument about the morals of stolen bikes, start another thread if you wish to. this thread was about a shop visit and i'd prefer to keep it that way. thanks