I'm getting dragged round our capital city today by the wife, anywhere I can go and have some quality retail therapy, or at least some quality drooling. Suggestions please

pulls up a chair

and the nearer to Baker St and Howarth's woodwind porn shop the better (planning a visit next week).

I can't think of much mtb type droolage, but Condor cycles is pretty nice. I like that they sell a completely different range of bikes. They sell Rapha stuff too…
Evans' and Cycle Surgery are probably the same all over the country… and you rarely get good sale stuff in-store.
There are a few alternative ones – recumbents in Lamb's Conduit street, cargo bikes in Velorution. There's the new cycle cafe on Old St – Look Mum No Hands, which will also be showing the tour, they're worth a visit…
Can't think of much close to Baker st!

(That wasn't a very helpful post at all)

I'm told (not been myself) that Mosquito Bikes in Islington is good for a drool as they sell Moots, IF and plenty of other high end stuff, just don't buy anything if you place any value on good customer service if a friends recent experiences are anything to go by!

Just lots of evans and cycle surguries. On your bike on tooley st. Not really anywhere to drool over mtb's. Wish there was.

isn't there somewhere that sells vintage italian steel (road of course) I've heard there is but can't remember what its called

It's not looking bright! I guess I may be forced into my default option – PUB!

I like Action Bikes very near to Embankment tube station, not bike porn, just a nice shop. Possibly save you from the pub LOL

shop14
brick lane bikes
tokyo fixed gear (soho)

if you are lucky you might spot a genuine shoreditch brakeless hipster in one of these establishments.

Mosquito bikes in Islington is excellent. I've never bought anything from there so I can't comment on customer service, but last time I was in it was full of Moots, IF, Ibis, Salsa etc.

Mosquito Bikes (Islington). Independent Fabrictions, Moots, Pegoretti. Small boutique shop.
Tokyo Fixed (Soho) fixie wixy woo run buy bored teenagers
Brick Lane bikes fixie wixy woo V friendly staff
and Condor I guess.

Bit late but the Rapha Cycle Club has a great exhibition of 100 years of racing bikes on with some really great retro/vintage/historic bikes.

Went into Mosquito myself yesterday for the first time & everyone was brilliant.

Well I only ventured into Cycle Surgery in Holborn, same old same old, although they did have a Whyte 19 Race in that I'm glad I had a look at. Was thinking when I have the cash I'd need a large being 6'1" but the medium is spot on!
Anyway then sat outside pub watching some interesting contraptions pedal by, not such a bad day after all.

http://foffabikes.com/ for fixie / SS stuff.

Sound people as well. The whole aim of the shop is customer service. Set up by a couple of guys fed up with the typical LBS attitude.

Reckon if you had just asked for porn shops without the bike bit in front, then central london would have thrown up a whole host of results .-). As a serious point, little mtb stuff right in the centre. Better off finding other stuff to look at.

TBH if I was on a trip to London the last thing I'd do is make a longish trip to a bike shop. Sod that.

Mosquito Bikes (Islington). Independent Fabrictions, Moots, Pegoretti. Small boutique shop

TBH if I was on a trip to London the last thing I'd do is make a longish trip to a bike shop. Sod that.

For a bike nut, a visit to Mosquito is very much like going to an art gallery… full of beautiful beautiful frames, all hideously expensive, but oh so beautiful…

It's probably why their customer service sucks, the ration of dreamers to 'proper' customers must be inordinately high!

It's probably why their customer service sucks, the ration of dreamers to 'proper' customers must be inordinately high!

I went in as a "proper" customer. I left "properly" pi55ed off, never to return.

Nice bikes to look at, mind you.

well, it's their loss if they can't spot a man of distinction and taste Captain 🙂 I go in their a fair bit (it's my LBS, literally 5 minutes away), they always treat me pretty poorly tbh… boils my piss at times it does, honestly don't know why I keep going back really!

It's probably why their customer service sucks, the ration of dreamers to 'proper' customers must be inordinately high!

If thats true it shows pathetic arrogance. Do they expect ANYONE to simply pull out their wallet and commit to a very expensive purchase?

Seems to be a few bike shops who really do believe their time is too precious to serve customers who aren't thrusting their cash at the till.

Strangely the big places tend to give you some breathing space. The smaller places treat you as though you owe them a favour.

'Support your LBS'- and when has your lbs supported you? Bought products o r services from your own business?

I was spoiled when I moved to London – my first workplace was in Waterloo so you had two Evans shops to browse round in your lunch hour, then I worked in Gray's Inn Road, where Condor's shop was. I hadn't been in a London bike shop for a years and then ventured into Cyclesurgery in Victoria, on Victoria Street(?) a couple of months back.

They had maybe half a dozen mountain bikes in the whole shop, and rack upon rack of fixie-looking things and singlespeeds in colours that would match your trainers or your lip gloss. Lifestyle accessories as opposed to bikes. When I lived in London anyone riding SS or fixed gear bikes was a courier who had cobbled it together out of an old road bike. You got the odd fashion victim commuting to work, and not a paper round either, on a BMX, but that was it.

Quite an eye opener as to how mainstream and how fashionable cycling in London has become.

Without going into details I have had a few "customer service" issues with Mosquito recently. I will never use them again. Having nice stock is no excuse for poor service, as stated above.

I was in there a while back and a woman came in with her 5 or 6 year old son. The son had a puncture and in front of all the customers in the shop, a member of staff declared that they don't deal with kids bikes and to take it elsewhere. I thought that was a pi55 poor attitude to take with potential customers.

I don't get the bike shop visit for drool type thing, I find them pretty boring places. Go to a pub instead.

Here.

Go watch the tour de france with condor's cafe

http://www.lookmumnohands.com/

http://blog.condorcycles.com/

Opened up a bar/cafe thing whilst the tour is on. Pop down there take in bikes and go to the pub. Everyone's a winner

Edit: just looked at time of post. probably a bit late now eh?