I'm off to Wheelcraft. What are big Al's favourite biscuits?

I don’t want to go empty handed.

Digestives….

I don’t know Big AL, so I have no idea, but IMO, you can never go wrong with Jaffa Cakes.

Make sure you make the coffee / tea’s as well. 🙂
Oh and have you set aside the WHOLE morning for this? I’ve lost HOURS in there doing, well, I don’t know.

Pete, I’m happy to build them for free – no biscuits required!

You are going to struggle, Under one of the desks doubles as a tuck shop with tons of different sweets and biscuits!

Hope to head up at the weekend for some odd jobs, will clear my diary for the day

I miss Big Al. Having moved from Glasgow to Manchester 4 years ago I haven’t found anywhere down here that even comes close.

Good chat, endless tea/coffee and an all round lovely genuine guy.

I still get my wheels from him whenever I can though

I remember the first time I met Al. “Come in, come in, young man – have a spring onion”…

🙂

Big Al’s big for a reason- he doesn’t need any more biscuits 😉

*Runs and ducks for cover*

Chocolate Hobnobs, you can’t go wrong.

I bet Big Al simply loves them.

17 years in the foundry!!

I arrived there just after noon, and I got back home at about 9 o’clock. We had the bike shop equivalent of a pub lock in for two hours after the shop closed.

Big Al is a legend. Anyone with an ounce of cycling soul needs to pay a pilgrimage to Wheelcraft. I love these old school bike shops, they are few and far between. The only others remotely like it are or were Claymore Cycles ( The Captain’s) down in Edinburgh’s Newhaven and the Great Plains Bicycle Shop (read shed) in Newton, Kansas.

We yapped about bike touring, he rode the original ”76 Bikecentennial TransAm ride, the back roads of Scotland, vegetarianism and the merits or otherwise of Droit de suite and should wheel builders be afforded the same remuneration per mile.

Top bloke, top shop, his homemade fruit cake was much better than my poor shop bought biscuit offering.

I went initially to get some spokes, but he gave me a masterclass in lacing and wheel building. An inspirational way to spend a dark January afternoon.

First time I met Big Al he gave me about £300 worth of parts and asked me to drop them off at the Milngavie shop on my way home. Those of you old enough to remember the Milngavie shop will realise A) Just how long ago that was &
B ) What the value those parts would be today.
Just for a laugh when he built my new wheels last year I asked him to lace them with black spokes. He was not amused. Apparently black spokes are the devil.

Top tips then mc, what do we need to know?

Top tips then mc, what do we need to know?

Have lunch before you go. 😉

I seem to recall being asked to do errands between the two shops, as I lived near Milngavie.
Forgotten about that.
Happy days. 🙂

Yip, dropped stuff of at the Milngavie shop too.

Alisdair always tells my daughter to help herself to a chocolate bar when we are in.

And hopefully this summer i will be saying ” why yes, i can afford those Chris King Hubs”, having as usual been on the receiving end of his witty comments.

Always amazed at the stock he has and the way he will say ” a left hand outer bearing race for a 1986 Campag Tipo rear hub…….it’s in that drawer there”. And it is.

Legend !

I always pity his accountant, though – once I stopped off to persuade him to take some money for some rims, he finally agreed so I passed him a £50 – he passed back a carrier bag full of assorted notes and said “help yourself to change”. Now he’s got a card machine, but he ges me to type all the stuff in myself.

Have to add my couple of stories – Wheelcraft is absolutely one of the best shops in the world, and having been out of Scotland (and even the UK) for well over a decade now, I still totally miss Big Al.

Story 1: I needed a new set of wheels, asked his advice on hubs. He said “XT and XTR are basically the same quality, but XTR is for posers.” I’m a bit ashamed to say I went for the XTR

Story 2: Had him build me a 26″ wheel with a flip-flop hub (this was years before the current fixie craze, for a city commuter bike for me). He built it, but told me I was an idiot for wanting that wheel, and that I would probably kill myself riding it.

I remember wanting hope quick releases that would match my hubs rather than shimano ones he recommended…i go back in a couple of years later (to get some shimano quick releases!) and before i say a word he was asking me if that was me in for the shimano quick releases 😳

Always amazed at the stock he has and the way he will say ” a left hand outer bearing race for a 1986 Campag Tipo rear hub…….it’s in that drawer there”. And it is.

I was there for a stocktake. He had the drawers from that big dresser outside, with a bunch of kids counting all the nuts, bolts and bearings on several bed sheets. Once they’d finished, they gathered the corners and poured them all back into the drawers 🙂

Big Al has even featured in Oor Wullie.
Whttps://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/C5v75KUkazI1CJBgd_qhZQtwM-qER_agwKaEBDPlKiI?feat=directlink.
He also appeared in Cycling Plus’s list of top ten coffee shops.
Drawers labeled ‘cheap roadie crap’, ‘expensive roadie crap’. Love it.

Oops double post

It’s worth a visit to see his Phil Wood spoke cutter and thread rolling machine.

The Chewin’ the Fat boys need to get over there too – Just for the Banter.

Everything in its place:

copyright Ben Jones Mountain Bike Adventures

My garage looks quite similar to that. Except there’s not room to sit down.

The attic is even more fun 🙂

Brilliant.

I think my shed must be a love child of Wheelcraft 😀

I think he’s tidied it since I was last there.

I think he’s tidied it since I was last there.

No, everything was as neatly filed yesterday.

*sighs*

Been in several times ,you need to make sure youve got nothing planned for the rest of the day.. likes to chat, and on many a subject.. nothings too much bother for him, top bloke.. 😀

Big Al is a legend lol first time i met him i didnt get out the shop for hours. Sent me up the stairs to pick my own rims and then slagged me rotten for wanting black spokes. Will never get my wheels built anywhere else though.

Jaffa cakes are a good suggestion but i imagine Al being a chocolate hobnob man myself