My Wife and I were in Bristol yesterday. Coming back on the bus I noticed an advert on the back of another bus for bicycle servicing at Kwikfit. I had no idea that they did this, perhaps they're trying to go down the Halfords route.
I wonder whether this is something that's come out of the Covid bicycling boom and if it'll be viable for them now said boom has evaporated.
Details here - Bike & Electric Bike Repair & Servicing | Kwik Fit (kwik-fit.com)
They seem to be working in conjunction with a company called Fettle, who I've never heard of, and they don't seem to have anything like national coverage (just London & Bristol at present it seems).
😬
We've noticed that your cassette is slightly dirty sir, would you like us to replace it and the rest of the drivetrain at the same time?
I wouldn’t expect to ever see my bike again if left in our local kwikfit, and even based on car experience it’s a no for me. <br /><br />
I’ve used fettle, they are full of top mechanics and my bike came back tip top with new bearings, everything bled and superb gear adjustment, it was mega precise. And so it should be, they charge premium prices. But, they failed to spot a - admittedly hard to spot - worn through brake outer, which I had to change myself hence undid all that adjust and I got no recompense.
Edit, found the invoice. £350 including a Scott bearing/suspension kit which was about £100, ceramic German BB and headset bearings everything adjusted, bled, It isn’t bad if you can get your bike there and don’t/can’t do the spannering, just drop it off and wait for it to return revitalised and shiny.
Yeah, no thanks.
I'd barely trust them to do what they actually specialise in, let alone touch my bike
They're trying to get ahead of the curve for low emission zone areas, so London, Bristol, etc. That's a big chunk of the population already, and it's only going to get a larger in the the next few years.
It makes sense when more people switch to e-bikes for commuting, to be able to take it to a familiar name; it's not what most of us would do, but we're not the demographic.
It's a partnership with Fettle - it's not actually Kwikfit doing the work.
To be fair to my local KF, cheapest by £100 for 4 Cross climate tyres on car. Car was taken at scheduled time and no issues.
Bike servicing mibbe no
I hadn't spotted the link to low emission zones, that makes a lot of sense and could be quite lucrative for them.
Can’t be worse than my local Halfords. The ‘mechanic’ I spoke to yesterday couldn’t be arsed to raise himself from the slouch position he had assumed as he told me he couldn’t* help. There was nobody else in the shop, so I’d clearly disturbed his busy schedule of doing f all.
I got what I needed at the B&Q next door.
I suspect it was ‘wouldn’t’
What they're really aiming at is the e-cargo bike market (and as mentioned above tied into low emission zones where more and more people are switching to e-cargo bikes).
Germany's national car breakdown service (German version of the AA) now does call-outs to bikes - can see that happening over here eventually. Thing with a cargo bike is it's big and bulky and specialist, really not the sort of thing where it's easy to fix a puncture at the side of the road, especially if the thing is fully loaded.
There's a potentially lucrative market in that lot to the first people to get in there. No business wants to be off the road; you'd get a breakdown service for your car or van, why not for your bike?!
And the people switching to e-cargo bikes for shopping trips and the school run are not "cyclists" in the sense that people on here are - willing to bet most don't even have a clue how many gears the bike has, never mind how to fix anything that goes wrong. Like a car breakdown policy, it's peace of mind. How else are you going to get your broken e-cargo bike off the road and safely home?
I was pounced on (OK politely offered a banana and a flyer) by their promo people when waiting at the traffic lights on the way to work the other day. Which I thought was quite a novel way of advertising.
Germany’s national car breakdown service (German version of the AA) now does call-outs to bikes
Our previous sustainability officer had identified people’s worries about breakdowns/punctures as being a barrier to commuting by bike rather than car, and she’d started exploring with transport as to whether we could offer some sort of recovery service before she moved on. It’s definitely a bit of a gap in the market though as with all things, it’d depend on cost.
I could’ve done with it when the Hybrid of Doom chucked its rear mech through the back wheel two miles from work…
It doesn't look like it's an AA style callout service though, just on site service centres (with optional collection service). I have seen some mobile/call out bike mechanics services somewhere though.
We’ve noticed that your cassette is slightly dirty sir, would you like us to replace it and the rest of the drivetrain at the same time?
This^^^ cables and tyres.
I predict there will be a lot of people buying new rotors that aren't needed as well. It's a favourite in the vehicle servicing world!
It’s a partnership with Fettle – it’s not actually Kwikfit doing the work
Fettle might be a good company but I can't see whatever values and practices they have today surviving against those of Kwik Fit. Might be ok now, but give it a couple of years and whatever the name on the bike counter, you will definitely be getting shafted taking your bike to Kwik Fit.
Noticed the Bristol one for the first time last week - must have opened recently as I go regularly go past the site and had never noticed it before. Ironic that's it's about 50 metres from the old Fred Baker cycles shop which closed a few years ago. It will be interesting to see whether it generates the level of trade to make it financially sustainable, or will it be more profitable to return the space to another bay for tyres, exhausts etc.
Kwik fit once tried to persuade to replace pads and discs on all four corners. All four sets were only a few months old and confirmed at MOT the next week as barely worn. Neither my car (nor bike) is going near those thieving bastards.
Fettle has a good rep, it appears. Did they get bought out by Kwikfit or choose to shackle themselves to the brand?
My LBS is so busy with servicing work they've had to put a closed sign on the door and have pretty much stopped selling bikes and parts. There's a 1-man bike servicing company in the next village too that's booked up 6 weeks in advance too. And this is in a suburban village, not a ULEZ.
I don't think the bike industry is doing as badly as the big trade magazines are telling us. New sales might have nosedived but the grassroots seems to be stronger than ever which means longer term they'll stil sell more bikes.
Go there with a bike with brand new tyres on and they'll try to flog you new tyres.
Probably say it needs a new exhaust even 😄
Never going near kwikfit again after terrible experiences, car or bike. Though bike I do almost all DIY (though wheel building is last on my list to master).
To TINAS - it might be a consequnce of more ebikes being sold for commuting, and these bikes being large, complicated and expensive , that servicing will be where growth is, and that people will expect to be using these bikes for a while, without replacing them every couple of years. Which seems a healthy concept to me , and moving away from cycling being a bit 'happy shopping'.
It will be up to particular shops to prove they're better than KwikFit
Will people still maintain there own bikes - of course- but a lot don't/won't and fixing a singlespeed hardtail is one thing, fixing a bif e-bike and keeping the warranty intact a whole different thing
My LBS is so busy with servicing work they’ve had to put a closed sign on the door and have pretty much stopped selling bikes and parts
Mine has decided to stop selling bikes (though I assume if you ordered one in, he'd still get it) and concentrate on servicing and upgrades - not sure if this is because the workshop is rammed, or whether it's because he can reduce his floorspace and so rent.
I'm sure there was a thread on Kwik-Fit when it was first announced and the general consensus was that it was largely aimed at corporate e-cargo bike fleets rather than anything else?
bicycle servicing at Kwikfit.
Not ever. Even over my cold dead corpse.