For that personal face to face service, this Best Bike Shop category is for the UK shop you visit and hand over cash to a person across a till. Which shop offers the whole package from smiles and expertise to the best deals, prices or extras? Who goes that extra mile for your custom? It’s not just about price, it’s about the whole experience – here are your three finalists.
18 Bikes, Hope
Last year’s winner of this category, 18 Bikes has been a finalist many times, and with good reason. They fix bikes, they sell bikes, they even build bikes. With their shop in the heart of the Peak District, they’re perfectly placed to serve the many riders that head there to the trails each week. That’s also put them in an advocacy position, trying to help keep the local area welcoming to visiting mountain bikers. In May, they even closed to try and help discourage riders from visiting the area, as concerns were raised about safety with huge numbers of visitors descending on small Peak District villages.
Being socially conscious doesn’t stop them turning out the bling however, and the regular dream build bikes they share on social media show off their high end bespoke builds of mainstream frames as well as their own range of steel hardtails, built in Sheffield.
Whether you’re a regular, looking for that dream build, or just dropping in for some emergency brake pads, you’re sure to be given a warm welcome.
Look Mum No Hands, London
What’s a London based bike shop doing in a mountain bike awards? And wait, they don’t even sell bikes! Well, if cycling is about the community rather than the gear, Look Mum No Hands has got it dialled. They’re a repair workshop with an events space and cafe that hosts everything from bike maintenance courses to film nights to events to encourage new people into the sport. With a range of clothing and accessories, they’re almost as much a club and fashion house as they are a bike shop. But at the heart of their diverse community is a shared love of bikes of all shapes and sizes.
Cycling might be increasingly popular in London, but to pull off maintaining a retail space in the costly environs of its property market without appealing solely to investment bankers and oligarchs is quite a feat. There might not be many knobbly tyres in sight, but their all people on all bikes is good attitude puts them in our list of finalists.
Riders Cycle Centre, Skipton
Riders Cycle Centre has been up for this award in years gone by. Stu Rider, the owner and do-er of everything you see, could be said to specialise in repairs and bespoke builds, but really his specialty is spreading a passion for bikes. His social media posts share knowledge, tech tips and fun, while his events have shared previously out of bounds corners of the Yorkshire Dales with riders keen to push themselves on the ride but have fun at the end of the day.
As a one man band, Stu works hard to keep the wheels of this diverse business turning, and has gathered quite the fanbase. What will he be up to each day? Building a bike, building lego, or taking to the lathe to make something that works just that bit better?
If you’ve ever thought you might like to turn your hand to being a mechanic, keep an eye on Stu and ask yourself if you have the energy and skills to match him – if not, perhaps you’d best just let him do that brake bleed for you.
How to vote & enter our Muc Off prize draw
Once you have considered the finalists just click the circle next to your preferred winner below and then hit the submit button. Once your vote has been counted you will be redirected to our 2020 Awards page with the other categories so you can vote again in another category.
You can only vote once in each category and once your vote is submitted you cannot change your mind.
Each successful vote will earn you one ticket in our Muc-Off prize draw. Vote in each of the twelve categories and you will maximise your chances of winning. The winners will be chosen at random from the pool of voters on the 30th November 2020 and all winners will be contacted directly via their registered accounts shortly after that date.
Although the draw is open to anyone with a registered account, unfortunately we cannot deliver prizes to addresses outside of the United Kingdom. Overseas winners will need to specify a UK delivery address for any prizes if they win.
[stw_votes id=”13″ redirect_to=”/tag/STRAW2020/” opens=”27/10/20″ closes=”25/11/20″]
Comments (2)
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No idea as I’ve not been in any of them
Which is why we wrote all those words about them to help you make a choice.