Wednesday 17 December 2014

Electric bike donation

Things really are really quieting down as both Christmas and the weather are preventing all but the most dedicated cyclist taking to the road.  Having said that we still have a steady stream of work coming into our workshop and as always we have plenty of bikes to work on which will just go out for sale on the shop floor.  On Saturday we did sell a Ladies Traditional Tiger loop frame bike and another was shipped out to a customer who lives only a few miles from Tiger factory in Scotland!  To keep up with this demand we had another five Town & Country bikes delivered yesterday so if you are interested in one for Christmas we have another four in stock!


On a brighter note the market stall is going well.  Kacey & Tim have worked out a rota so the stall is open Monday to Saturday.  As well as selling tickets for our Christmas raffle the publicity the stall is giving us is immeasurable. Lots of people have stopped to say hello, to find out more about the work of the charity, and also to offer us bikes they no longer need.  One great donation is a fully working electric bike which was destined for the scrap man but is now undergoing a full service in our workshop before it goes on sale.



Tuesday 9 December 2014

Christmas Market Stall

It’s been extremely busy over the last few days with plenty of  work coming into the workshop.  At the moment we have a couple of vintage bikes awaiting tyres which are still out of stock with our supplier.  Luckily the owners are in no rush to get them back because if we purchase them else where they will be at least double the price we normally pay, the cost of which we of course we will have to pass on to the customer.

Yesterday also saw us open our new pop-up stall in Stafford Market.  It’s something we’ve been talking about doing for sometime but with Christmas just around the corner we thought we would test the water especially as the market is open everyday until Christmas .  Although Monday is not a normal market day so footfall was low we did get a good reaction, sold some raffle tickets – we are raffling off a new bike for Christmas (only £1 per ticket) and had a number of requests for collections of donations.


If you are in town pop in and say hello and of course buy a raffle ticket!!


Tuesday 2 December 2014

Restorations Under Way

Last week we ordered some parts for two special bikes we own – the Freddie Grub tandem and the bakers delivery bike.  This morning they all arrived.


The replacement spokes for the tandem came in from Pinkerton’s Cycle Restorers while the new rod brake kit for the delivery bike came from the Vintage Cycle Centre.  At the moment they are sitting on the bench in the workshop as Tim our mechanic is struggling with a customers bike that been ridden hard in bad weather.  He is muttering as everything he takes apart is full of wet mud or sand so he’s having to clean all the bearings etc and repack them with new grease.  It looks as if this job could go on most of the day then hopefully he can get onto the job jobs of rebuilding our two bikes with the new parts!




Unfortunately after replacing the broken spoke in the tandem's rear wheel Tim took it for a test ride across the car-park.  After just a couple of yards he applied power, bent the rear derailleur into the wheel and broke another spoke!  Luckily we'd taken the opportunity to order four replacement spokes so he is now busily rebuilding the wheel for a second time, having already replaced the bent derailleur and hanger.