Is it just me, or is anyone else getting a whiff of astroturfing?

All the pitches round here are grass, mate. 😉

proteus – Member
Is it just me, or is anyone else getting a whiff of astroturfing?

On which side of the debate?

All the pitches round here are grass, mate

You say that until you slip on it and get a burn.

What tyres for astroturf?

On which side of the debate?
sounds like you have your suspicions too. interesting.

the only person i’m willing to rule out is me. you?

Hmmm. Interesting. If indeed it is Alpine that have won the tender, I have mixed feelings about this. The staff in St Georges Cross are great and I have been a happy customer for many years. However, I’m also very much in favour of variety when it comes to shopping and in the same way that every high street has become a clone of every other high street, I don’t want to see the same happening with the bike trade with one store becoming the Tesco of the industry. Alpine are clearly doing something right in their approach to the market but part of me doesn’t want to find the same store everywhere I go. As such, I prefer to make a concerted effort to support the independents such as Escape Route, Biketreks, Wheelcraft and Bikelove to name but a few.

To see the The Hub go will be a very sad day. It could be argued that it’s just a shop and cafe and they come and go but it irks me that after putting so much into making Glentress what it is whether though the Kids Club rides on a Saturday or the numerous events that have been organised over the years, all that has been achieved may be quickly forgotten.

Sanny

what Sanny said.

Although AFAIK the FC was obliged to put the contract out to tender…could they have made
“previous relevant experience” a material criterion?

Out of interest, for all those in this thread who have complaints about The Hub and how it is run, have you ever done anything about it other than whinge on a forum? If you feel you have suffered poor service, speak up at the time and make your point. No business wants to have unhappy customers. If you say nothing and quietly fume or just get shouty angry at the time, how do you think things will improve?

As for the everything is overpriced comments, are you being serious? When you go into the likes of Starbucks, do you then go on a forum and complain about the price of your coffee or cake? If you can afford a £3k bike but can’t stomach a couple of quid for a bacon butty, I doubt that you will be happy unless the person who makes you your food runs their business at a loss and doths the cap. 😀 Oy veh!

cynic-al – Member
what Sanny said.

Although AFAIK the FC was obliged to put the contract out to tender…could they have made
“previous relevant experience” a material criterion?

Maybe they did. Maybe that’s what swung it.

When you go into the likes of Starbucks, do you then go on a forum and complain about the price of your coffee or cake?

When I go to Starbucks, I’m not in a portacabin sitting in mud 🙄

Interesting thread.

I’ve only been to GT twice, some years ago, and my impression of the cafe and shop was that it could have been so much better. Whether that was because of constraints put on those running it (either their own or from others) I have no idea but it seemed ripe for improvement.

Those running it appear popular and apart from a few negative voices on here, have undoubtedly been an asset to the facility. Running kids clubs and other ‘events’ may well be done for purely altruistic reasons but makes good business sense as presumably both the kids their parents and other participants will eat in the cafe/buy from the shop/hire bikes. It is however, exactly the same as good bike shop owners do with weekly rides to bring in customers and keep them happy. It is simply good PR and may not have had any relevance to bidding criteria.

They have had quite a long time to get things right and should have been in a very strong position to win. To fail without getting past the second stage shows that something was severely lacking in either their relationship with the FC, the understanding of the requirements, the way that their bid was tendered, or a combination of all three. Not surprising really when you consider that they will have been up against some serious professionals who will unquestionably have put forward a tender which not only fulfilled the criteria but pressed all the right buttons within the FC.

I wish them well but am also hopeful that a better facility will come out of it.

I was sitting in the Hub Cafe about 4months ago having tea/cake and chatting with my mate about the cafe and how it’d pretty much been the same since we started going about 6years earlier. I’ve always enjoyed it, always thought the prices were comparible to cafes elsewhere in the sticks, always felt comfortable (even in soaking wet muddy clothes), and always always been greeted with a smile and a bit of banter at the desk.

As long as the food’s good, tea’s hot, you can sit smelly wet and muddy on a chair, and you’re not paying through the nose in some dobbies cafe clone then maybe a bit of a change over to the Peel building isn’t so bad is it?

It’s truly rubbish if Emma and Tracey don’t get to have some involvement in the new place; but as with most really good stuff the Hub will probably fade into legendary status and will still be talked about while you’re sitting in the Peel cafe having a Lavazza coffee and Pan Au Chocolat after having to take your spuds off.

No surprise there then if it is Alpine Bikes. Sure, the current setup is pretty tatty but as someone above said another chain store clone takes the charm away IMHO. Sure, Alpine is a reasonable bike shop, but just like it’s owner Tiso, it’s a bit middle of road, corporate, full of average (yet expensive) kit etc although that maybe appeals to the majority of punters.

I would like to say I’ve had nothing but great service in the bike shop. YMMV.

Out of interest, for all those in this thread who have complaints about The Hub and how it is run, have you ever done anything about it other than whinge on a forum?

I tried to complain when I had a gripe years ago and was totally ignored. I tried their own forum, another forum they posted on, they never replied to my emails and letter and were never available when I phoned and never called back when I left a message with someone.

I eventually received a reply via my sponsor as they contacted him to complain about me. To protect my sponsor I dropped it and have never dealt with them again and will never do so.

This has no doubt been posted/noted before, but I didn’t realise Alpine have now bought over Off Beat bikes in Fort William and the Nevis Range franchise. Clearly Glentress is a logical move for them. Where next I wonder. Despite all the shortcomings of the current setup, I think it is a shame it is going corporate/bland.

Alpine Bikes news

I always laugh when I hear the word transparency when we the public query a winning bid if it’s a fair system how come it’s always the multi’s that seem to have the winning bids ie Compass for eduction canteens,Brake Brothers to supply local Goverment canteens,Robert McAlpine or Bovis to build any major new Goverment funded buildings in my opinion once the big boys show any intrested the rest of us are cast aside.

Rumour was alpine bikes have the shop not cafe. Just what I heard yesterday. They also said cafe was going to a bike friendly very local business. If it’s true then I am happy having eaten at both piaces this weekend. Will be an improvement food wise at least.

I think Glentress has done a lot for Scottish Mountain biking- many people had their 1st experience of MTBing at GT and then went on to become regular MTBers. Without the investment and development of places like GT, would MTBing be as large as it is today? Who knows. Would places like Alpine bikes, TBC, & other East coast bike shops be so succesful without the success of GT? Again who knows.

Would MTBing be so wildly accepted in Scotland without the tourist contribution to the Peebles area? Again who knows.

Tracey and Emma put a lot of work into GT and it must be sore to lose your business. I would like to thank them for the sacrifice they made to give it a go & wish them every success for the future.