NW&NW Area Bike Shops From BITD

Buy a bike has some lovely kit in there and the staff are helpful too, I used to go in there years ago and now ive started working in chorley i can often be found drooling over some shiny bikes which is quite sad for a 40yr old

Also ive just recently found out Merlin cycles is in the new units behind where i work

A couple of shops I used to remember regularly going in in Chester -

Davies Bros (where I bought my first 'proper' bike) and Claude Crimes (used to drool over the Dyna-Tech's in there!)

Carefree days, eh...

WD Pro":14epf0gu said:

mrkawasaki":14epf0gu said:

Harry Halls in the Corn Exchange, Manchester

Now a shadow of its former self, they were evicted after the IRA bomb, but used to have a plethora of high end stuff for Saturday dreamers like myself. One day I will acquire a Harry Hall frame....

Mr K

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I must be a bit older than you I remember when they were on the cobbled back street around the corner before the undergound place at the corn exchange

Also the old Mike Cooksons in the town center (bought my Marin from there, not sure if it was classed as Bury or Whitefield ?) before they moved to the new / purpose built / more modern place in Whitefield thats still going

WD

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Yep, remember it well, Harry Halls used to be on the back street facing the back of the cathedral. We used to cycle down there at the weekend just to gawp in the window and take in the atmosphere, as we didn't have any money. It was scarey to go in, like a cross between a gym and an engineering works, but we knew our place, which was outside. Only time I made it in to buy something, or ask about something, one of the men sat at the counter asked me about one of my stickers which featured a famous Italian racing cyclist, but I didn't know anything about him! This would have been about 1971, and I didn't dare go back for twenty years when they'd moved to the other side of the triangle, but it was still intimidating, elitist, and expensive. Bought some stuff that time though.

Just to add a few more...

Deeside cycles in Coppull, Chorley. Was a small shop that I used to trek over to and buy road bits from in the late 80's, and early 90's.

Ribble cycles, Preston. Great shop and it did sell both MTB and road bikes for a while. It has moved 2 years ago, and the old shop has been buried behind hoarding and road works since.

Mike Dixon Imports, Ormskirk. Great deals on Italian road exotica, especially Bianchi and Campagnolo. Fantastic range of clothing at very cheap prices. It moved across town in the 90's sometime.

Shallcross cycles in Hillside, Southport was a Raleigh specialist. I recall it went mid 90's. I bought my Raleigh Dyna Tech Cronos Titanium road frame from him.

Formby cycles, Formby (old shop, not the big corporate monster it is now). Often overlooked, as all the kids bikes were in the window, but it was always a treat. SRP bolts were a big thing, Amp Research frames, Marins, and even Precision Billet stuff in a display case. I think the only remains of the old shop taken to then new is a Hope Ti Glide 5 bolt disc hub, which still sits in their new counter.

bought a new khs montana comp from cobra cycles in preston early 90s.
and also had a 753 road frame built to order later.
paul the guy who owned it builds for hetchins these days apparently.

. . . and a few more.

When I lived up in Sale, the bike shops that I visited were:

Johnny Berry's - sadly, Johnny died relatively young; his frames were as good as anything that I've seen.

Doug Hartley's in Altrincham was a popular shop

the one that I visited most, was Pemberton's, which was in Timperley - a few hundred yards down from a large pub called The Pelican. I remember getting stuck in the revolving doors of The Pelican, when I'd had one or two, too many.

Mr Pemberton was a real gentleman - I remember that he was always smartly dressed and had time for the young oiks (such as myself ) that went into his shop. The 'chippy' at the other end of the row, was also popular; we'd buy our chips and then look at the bikes in the window.

Nearly 40 years ago ! :shock:

BHD Cycles, Ashton Road Oldham.. derek who owned it seemed to be able to fix anything... Late 90's I rode Bmx and I kept breaking chains, he fitted some massive thing that, iirc came of a washing machine.

TPS Cycles on penny meadow, Ashton. Spent many an hour in there chatting when I was at college, rebuilt my kona after coming off it with loads of bits from there.

Now all there seems to be is surosa, born out of a bike shop I cant remember the name of on lees road It was an old guy and the shop was his name iirc, who seemed to just do road bikes and was late catching onto mountain bikes.

Remember NWMTB when it was called Discount Cycles

Harry Halls pre IRA was a great shop, now I wouldn't darken their doorstep. Their staff make Evans' staff look like polite efficient customer service representatives. Beggar all stock, staff who look down their nose at you for disturbing their private chat about last night.

Remember Bike Shed in the middle of Manchester - friendly, pleasant shop. Bought my first SPDs (DX flavoured) the week they came out in the UK. had a nice green Bike Shed sweatshirt for many years.

Their was a short lived shop in Hazel Grove, next door to Cook's fishing tackle shop - sold proper Kleins upstairs, never looked at the downstairs stuff.

Their was also another shortlived shop in Great Moor - think it is a balloon shop now. Sold Konas and GTs.

Formby Cycles was ace, I'm still friends with Col who worked there, I always thought Phil was a bit of a dick. They had 3 Shops one in Crosby/Waterloo and one in Hillside Southport. Phil used to build my wheels badly......

I remember snapping my Acera X crank jumping over my mates bag which contained his brand new minidisc player on the front of the church road shop. My pet name there was Klutz, which change to kerrang after a while

Dave the owner set up again at the old redgate motor factors site by Chapman and Mawdsley.

Another friend Lee bought their old merc 308d Van and wrote it off.

Anyway its proper spiritual home was on Harrington Road, I bought my Scott Tahoe their back in about '93. My Kili is from their new shop.

I am getting all misty eyed

Bike shop...

Bike Doctor (No, not the Manchester outfit) in Newton -le- Willows is a great little independent shop and the crew in there can fix just about anything! There's another good one in Ashton -in- Makerfield about four miles from Bike Doctor and both, thank the Gods, appear to be doing okay in these tough economic climes.
Joe Poncho.