Charlie The Bikemonger has just been in touch to tell us that he’s gone ‘proper high street’ and has opened a real bike shop.
Here’s his take on things:
“After five years as an online purveyor of fixed, single speed, and tweed… we have now settled into our new shop in Swanage.
Based in the heart of the Purbecks on the Dorset Coast, we are in a great location, not only within minutes of some great riding and the beach, but also only three miles from the Square & Compass (Cider Pub of The Year 2009, and that’s quite important to us).
Yeah sure, we could do a lot more business if we were based in a larger town, but down here we are in a world heritage site, where the riding and life in general is very good.
We are still dealing online at www.charliethebikemonger.com, but the high street shop means we can offer a unique selection of demo bikes.”
Not your usual bunch of boring full sussers:
Surly Big Dummy cargo bike,
Niner SIR9 rigid 29er single speed
Salsa Dos Niner 29er1x9 soft-tail
Surly Long Haul Trucker touring bike
Surly Steam Roller Fixie
This move illustrates that the cycling world is becoming larger, but also much more diverse, and that a very specialist business can survive and indeed flourish. I can sit on the shop sofa, with the shop dog, surrounded by organic tweed cycling caps, track frames, cargo bikes and bottle cages designed for hip flasks, proud that we have established an oasis of steel and tweed in a world of carbon and lycra.
All the best,
Charlie & Michelle
New Address:
137B High Street, Swanage, Dorset, BH19 2NB
Tel: 01929 475 833
Comments (47)
Leave Reply
Post Comment
c’mon own up that’s Sideways Tim on 70’s night
oooh i always needed a legit reason to use the swanage steam railway over and over again, see you anytime from may to sept!
oh and good luck!
Best wishes for the new endeavour!
Weird. I always pictured CTBM as old man living in a shed. Dunno why.
Good luck anyhoo.
Anyone selling the Surly Big Dummy is alright in my book 🙂
Good luck Charlie!
Go Charlie….
good on you getting behind the 29er’s the next big thing
good luck
Ade
Nice work Charlie! Will drop in if I’m ever down that way.
Any chance of a clunker this year?
Old man in Shed…. that’s my ambition. Hair like Prof Emmet Brown from back to the future, a still for distilling, and some welding gear…. what could go wrong? I shall call my shed “Shed Zeppelin”
Clunker: yeah, same time, same place etc… Email if you need details, trying to keep it off radar and out of the papers 😉
And many thanks for the encouragement and well-wishing.
Excellent news Charlie, best of luck.
Tomorrow the world!
Good Skills Charles.
See you at SSUK 2010 for some disco dancing and derbying fun…
Nice one charlie! best of luck with it!
Great news Charlie. It will be lovely to wander in and drool, errffr, spend i mean…
His hair’s much longer on the telly isn’t it?
Best of luck Charlie. And thanks again for “This machine kills fascists” sticker. It gets attention!
All the best Charlie.
Yeah, the hair is doing great, but when on the telly I have had right short hair (LV= car insurance advert “man holding newspaper”), and shortish hair (BBC Countryfile nettle eating world champs), and sensible hair (South Today: Ralph’s murder) and wet hair (surfer on “Dance Energy” with Normski circa 1990)… oh hell… I’ve not been on crimewatch again have I, those photofits never get my hair right.
good luck Charlie, I’d definitely make a point of visiting the shop if in the area. Glad to hear the website will be keeping up the good work, you got me and at least one friend single speeding.
“Hair like Prof Emmet Brown from back to the future”
you’re already halfway there charlie; all you have to do is stop dyeing it now!
where the hell is Dorset anyway?
About time there was a decent bike shop in the Purbecks.
I’ll have to make the long trek down from Wareham soon.
Stoked. Charlie, you always seem to have a great stock of kit for those of us not into carbon wonderbikes and 10 speed fiddily-do-das.
Good luck Charlie
Good luck with your shop……..and your beard 😉
so, wheres the Square & Compass then?
Where is Dorset? Head south and when the motorway ends, carry on, and when you have not seen a costa coffee for a hour, carry on. And when you can’t find emoyment, carry on. When you get to ferry run by bearded chaps, pay your passage, And then turn left at the castle, go past the steam train and stop when you see the sea or Enid Blyton.
Square And Compass really is the best pub in the world. It’s in Worth Matravers which is up the priests way out if Swanage (if riding offroad). Expect to find music, dogs , chickens, carving, big log fire, dinosaurs, cute barmaids and an awesome selection of ale, cider and single malts. Oh and me.
http://squareandcompasspub.co.uk/
Mr Father-in-law North raves about Worth Matravers and the Square and Compass.
Only a couple of days ago Mrs North suggested a holiday in the South West. I shall drop in… 🙂
Good luck, Charlie. It’s not an easy life to have a great pub on your doorstep.
Great news CBM is a great shop online and hopefully in the real world. I will make a point of coming in and trying to buy something I dont need!
Second the Square and Compass only found out about it last year as Rich Penny introduced it to us. Awsome ridng down there 🙂
You won’t regret opening the shop, I’m nearly six years into mine and still love it.
I haven’t been down the Purbecks for a while, must rectify that when the weather picks up.
Great work – I used to live in Langton Matravers, fantastic part of the world.
Still get back down that way once in a while, so will be sure to stop by next time.
Oooh, you’e got me all misty-eyed about the descents off Ninebarrow Down and from Swyre Head, the climb up to Grange Arch, the super-fast trails on the chalk ridge…. That was where I had my first MTB and caught ‘the bug’.
Purbeck ride needed. Must plan.
Blimey another bike shop opens in my locale. You wait for years and then 2 come along at once. Will definitely drop in as a Niner is my dream bike, and I only live in Wareham.
Just on a point of geography though, there is no such place as ‘the Purbecks’, it’s just ‘Purbeck’ or ‘the Isle of Purbeck’
Will you be doing Shop rides in the evenings or Sundays??
Spend most of the summer in Charmouth so I might pop across if you do??
Purbecks/Purbs … what’s in a name. Its the “Isle Of purbeck” but its not a real island, unless you try leaving it on a bank holiday at 5pm.
Rides… are on the list of things to organise. We are also planning a great big bike fest thing in the early summer: camping, rides and cider.
good luck charlie..a serious bit of criticim tho, i think you need a better web page/site.ok its the parts/bits on it that count but a more profesional site would pay for itself very quickly i recon.no blight on you tho bro…
Good luck, Charlie!
Best of luck Charlie, it’s good to see an ex Dorset Rough Riders man doing well!
I must SS myself over there soon.
Nice one Charlie, the missis is a dorset lass so when we’re in town we’ll be sure to pop in…
Bikefest sound great, riding and cider are 2 of my favourite things!
Good luck with the adventure.
Good luck Charles. You look like the b@stard child of Ivan Campo and Huey from Fun lovin’ criminals in that pic! ;0)
Charlie,
I’m the geezer on the Ti 456 (I know you didn’t approve of the gears but I need them!) who you introduced to a pint of Henry’s at the Square and Compasses two Septembers back. Bless you my good man, for I have drunk it ever since and it cures more problems than it ever creates.
Sincere good wishes for the success of your shop.
Bill.
All the best Charlie. A true gent.
Ah, so it is your pic on those stickers 😉 . Good luck with the new venture . . . another excuse to visit one of my favourite parts of Britain.
Good luck Charlie. Will look you up when down your way.
Hey, is that a Brittanny?
Good luck with the shop, well chuffed with your online service
Yep she is Olive the Britanny spaniel. Good singletrack hound. We sometimes go the long way to the shop, do four miles along the cliffs and some sneaky singletrack. Pretty good commute.
I detect you will do well. If you have the metal, anythings possible, to coin a phrase.