Just moved to Kingston and wondered if anyone knew of some decent bike shops in the area – I know of Sigma, but they are darkside focused

Head for the Hills and Nirvana round Dorking way. Cannot think of any closer.[list=1][/list]

Cyclopedia in Surbiton tend to be ok
here
Otherwise, the usual Evans (near Sainsburys) or Moores Cycles in Teddington/Twickenham – more family/commuter focussed.
I'm told the guys in Richmond Cycles are a pretty good bunch too (just on the north side of Richmond Bridge).

Cheers,
Nick

cyclopedia, go and see matt

Beyond Mountain Bikes in Cranleigh? Its about 25 miles from Kingston. Stocks a good range of Scott, Trek and Specialized bikes and some hard to find parts. There is also a weekly night ride and monthly ND ride if you were interested.

njee used to work there but don't let that put you off 😉

http://www.beyondmountainbikes.com

Mountain Trax is not too far from Cranleigh too – good selection of bikes, and plenty of demo bikes including Santa Claus (sorry… Cruz… it that time of the year!), Turner, Cove, Cotic etc
here
Nick

Bicycle on Upper Richmond road (Richmond end)

http://www.mtbbicycle.co.uk/

Trax is as good as Reading, which is quite a way from Kingston!

Second Beyond, it's still good, even though I don't work there anymore. Although I am there between Christmas and New Year, so you may get lucky!

Might see you Nick. Need to pop in and remove that white bike from the wall before someone else does 😉 I hear you got a bargain on a Hasa?

Cycleworks leatherhead

i used to live and run a shop in kingston, sadly no longer there now. richmond cycles are a good bunch of lads, a mate (:wink:) of mine owns it now. Cyclopedia is also an excellent shop. Walton cycles in walton on thames also stocks good stuff.

Esher Freeborn. Has the added bonus of a northshore park and a brillaint mechanic. 10 minutes from Kingston.

Aye James, I thought I'd leave you the Stumpy! Did indeed get a Hasa, no idea when it'll actually turn up mind, somewhere between Hong Kong and here at the moment I think… Got some of those SID Teams off Merlin for it, gonna stick the Rovals on, should be nice and light, potential second race bike rather than just a winter bike.

That'll be pretty sweet. Chuck a NU stem and seatpost on it and it'll come up pretty light. Look forward to seeing it when it arrives and is built up. Fingers crossed for no duty 😉

Need to strip down my GT Zaskar Carbon and get some pics taken for the classifieds – this weekend if it snows.

Yes I'm not too sure about the duty and import and stuff, to be honest though, even if I get collared it's only gonna be £50, which is hardly earth-shattering!

Definitely some NU bits on there, may go skewers and bottle cage, full on advertising bike!

Which one was down by the Youngs pub in Kingston, almost on the river; they were always sound, but that might be the one that closed – it's been a while since I was Thames-side

Nig E5 – Member

Cycleworks leatherhead

Yep. Recommended. 😀

Have to agree (amazingly) about bicycle in Richmond, really friendly, knowledgeable and helpful. They dont carry much bling but can get you just about anything. Still my lbs even though I no longer live in Richmond.

yeah it was thameside next to the youngs pub, think it was called the hogshead. that was the shop that i used to run for two or three years, awesome shop that is sadly no longer there because of higher management issues. Nivana cycles of westcot were always good, got some nice high end stuff and so rides too, not the slowest but good

yeah walton cycles good times

did you go in much LoCo?

Another vote for bicycle in Richmond. They done a few builds for me now. Friendly, flexible staff.

Smurf

worked in the walton and guildford shops, also crashed your girlfriends brand new rockhopper when in kingston town centre, if that helps. Still feel guilty abut that sorry! And it's still brought up when I visit the ex uni lads up that way.

hmmm i remember something like that, seems so long ago! hwere are you and what are you doing now?

East Street Cycles in Walton is okay, but the real tip is Freeborn in Esher.

yeah my memory is a bit fuzzy of that too! in Wales, wife expecting first baby, still in cycle trade in a round about way.

what did you ride? what do ride now? i've joined the rat race as a transport consultant. what are you doing in the trade?

rode trek 8500, specialized ground control dh type thing, and trek commuter. Now sold all bikes apart from dialled prince albert with posh bits on. Had to raise money for business am planning at mo, more of this soon as a bit hush hush!

well all the best with it mate! Dialled bikes are nice man, i know the founder mike quite well, a really good guy that set the bike co. up for all the right reasons, nice to see them doing well!

As all the decent shops there mentioned.

aslo remember Kingston is in second place to Bristol regarding bike thefts..

I have had 2 road bikes and a MTB stolen when I lived there..

Thanks for all the reply's. Will pop along to a few this weekend. Nasher – thanks for the tip regarding theft. Will take some extra precautions

Buzzard – Seriously, avoid trawling around too much and just get to Freeborn. Not masses of stock but they're friendly, up for a chat and well priced.

I never got on with Richmond Cycles after trying in vain to buy some 29er tyres off them (them being a Gary Fisher 29er dealer, so one of the few people in the UK who could supposedly get hold of them at the time – none of the online people had them). "Yes, should get them for you by Tuesday, will call you back on Monday", of course never called back, and on Tuesday I give them a call, "should be there on Friday". After a few weeks of this, I realise that they basically aren't actually able to order anything and give up on them, what a waste of time. Filed them in my list of useless bike shops who are worse than using mail order, and got a tyre 2nd hand off a mate to last me until mail order places started having them. So yeah, might be worth popping in (they have some fancy stuff), but don't trust them to get anything that isn't in front of your eyes in the shop (or to be honest about whether they can actually get anything, or to chase anything up).

Joe

Also Pearson's in Sutton, but again this is more of a Roadie shop.

I do almost all my own maintenance but the only place I trust to do things right are Freeborn.

A few places have let me down in the past but that guy knows his business.

Not vast stock up there but great for mechanicals.