London bike shops closing

Action Bikes chain went into liquidation in April

That would explain it. There is now almost nowhere a kid could go pick up a bike in shop anywhere in west London.
Thanks Amazon and supermarkets selling throw away bikes in boxes.

It’s not just in London atm, just finishing my holiday in San Francisco. Mash doesn’t seem to be doing that well with business and is only opening up two days a week with only one person working their the whole time. A few high end bike shops seems to doing well for now but a lot smaller bike shop seem to struggling atm.

Really? I would have thought they'd done really well out of the cooperation with Cinelli, their stuff is all the rage with a lot of people still and to be honest, a lot of it does look pretty... I think 'rad' is what some people call it these days.

That’s what I thought too, they have some amazing stuff but apparently the Crit/fixie scene isn’t as booming as yester years and people are more into cross/gravel/roadies around these neck of the woods.

Huh, interesting. I mean I'd still like some Cinelli Mash Bullhorns, I think they could have sold more of their coop stuff tbh...

2008 called, it wants it's 'rad' back.

The markets now appears to moving to servicing higher spec bikes... cheap bikes and parts have all moved online largely.

Hey don't @ me, look around on this forum, there's people actually using that word... :P

I'm trying to get some good quality (like islabikes but from Austria and in store not online only) into my shop but it's very hard at the minute trying to get kids bikes in, some don't have enough to actually sell to dealers others aren't willing to send their product to UK with the turmoil going on at the minute.
Lower end of the market (£200 and below kids bikes can go to online only, they're mostly quite bad.

Interesting, why won't they send them to the UK? Worries about agreeing a fixed price contract and then seeing exporting prices skyrocket cause of Brexit?

I ended up buying a balance bike from decathlon..
I would liked a convertible one with removable pedals/drivetrain/stabilizers.
But couldn't find any at a decent price.

Not london per se but always riding ceasing doing online retail

Ah that sucks, they were great for finding a variety of cycle friendly normal clothes.

Mash have gone from a long time colab with Cinelli, selling there stuff through places like Wiggle. There model has changed significantly, there frames / parts are now imported via BLB (I believe ?) I bet they haven't sold anymore than a hand full of there new frames in the UK since this change.

Would it be fair to say that the fixed gear thing has just about found its nature level, its not in decline from its peak anymore but equally its not recruiting new riders in any great numbers too and how many of those riders are going to spend £900 on a steel frame made in taiwan, that's nearly custom frame money.

That being said, I own a V1 works and an SSCX and love them both, but I'm unlikely to buy another anytime soon.

Yeah those are good points - I'm not down to spend that on a frame myself, I really don't think their frames are that superior to other stuff. But it's stuff like their bullhorn handlebars that look really cool that I think they probably could still be selling more of.

Black mountain in Wales is the only good one

Mash doesn’t seem to be doing that well with business and is only opening up two days a week with only one person working their the whole time.

Was looking at our distributor to look at the price of the MASH frameset.

They're no longer being stocked, hopefully temporary.

Yeah, when I talking to the Mike working at the shop, he said they’ll be limiting their production of frameset onwards. So this might be a reason for the stock issue atm.

Plus £900 for a frame set too, way more than a Cinelli Tutto.

Just discovered this thread!
For what it's worth, I've been keeping a list of bike shops closing near us at Flag Bikes in Battersea since we opened in 2014. It's not a pretty sight:

• Everyone Bikes - just last month :-(
  
• Evans Cucles Wandsworth
  
• Putney Cycles (2 shops)
  
• Zeevon Cycles
  
• Luciano Cycles
  
• Cycle PS - Battersea
  
• Cycle PS - Camberwell
  
• Southbank Cycles - They had been open since the 1920s :-(
  
  

Now it looks like at least half of Evans Cycles branches will close following last week's news that Sports Direct is buying the failing company from the administrators. This might actually be good for independent bike shops as it means they will be able to hire some talented mechanics - who are always in high demand - but it doesn't help the rest of their staff or the high street in general.

Evans had been in business since 1921 .. . :-(

Shit, when did Southbank Cycles close? They were there for years, a proper old-school shop and then a guy bought them in the late 80’s or early 90’s, and turned them around into a much more modern place. Can’t tecall his name but he was a great guy, with his sidekick Ross. I worked in Vauxhall at the time and used them a lot. That’s a real shame to hear :(

A long time ago, I think. I looked for them a while back and they weren't there any more. I can't remember when, though.

This might actually be good for independent bike shops as it means they will be able to hire some talented mechanics - who are always in high demand.

Bad timing as we're approaching the winter months and there's less demand until spring.

Evans Cucles Wandsworth.

The main reason for the closure is simply that Wimbledon is too close and serve the people within the vicinity more than Wandsworth.

Is that the one on Wandsworth rd?