WARNING! Choose your bike carefully.

In common with most independent cycle shops, we spend a lot of time ensuring that the bikes we sell are in both a legal and a thoroughly roadworthy condition when they leave the shop, and that they are set up properly to do the job they were built for. Furthermore we are happy to make any adjustments necessary to new bikes we sell as components bed in. We also do our best to ensure that the bike you buy will fit properly, and is the right bike for your style of riding.

We are very much aware of the low quality bikes sold by non specialist outlets - such as food supermarkets, toy shops, discount shops, chain stores, mail order catalogues, even direct from some bike factories, & now, increasingly, over the Internet. Usually, these bikes come in a box, leaving the final assembly to you. This can lead to further problems, for in the unfortunate case of an accident resulting from the use of the bike, the onus rests with the final assembler and not the supplier. We have an acronym in the cycle trade that describes these bikes - BSO, for Bicycle Shaped Object. They are also known as junk.

Should you be unfortunate enough to buy or be given one of these BSO's we would be prepared to set it up properly for you, but only as part of a complete roadworthiness check to the same standard as given to our own bikes. The minimum charge for this will be £30 plus any materials needed. Even then it must be understood that we can only do our best with the quality of the components that have been fitted. In many cases the bikes we are asked to look at are of such a poor standard that they are potentially dangerous, and in fact will never work properly, as the components are inferior "Chinese copies" of the real thing.

Although we will try & help you with one of these BSO's, please understand that we must give priority service to customers who have bought their bikes here. After all, if you choose not to buy your bike from your local dedicated bike shop (which you have a perfect right to do), then you should not be surprised if we are less than sympathetic when you have to bring it in for repair (which we have a perfect right to be).

So beware of buying that cheap bike - it may end up costing you more than buying a proper bike here, and you'll still have a pile of unrideable junk rusting in the shed.