The Bike Chain (Edinburgh)

Is this another independent bike shop finished?
Looks like its been taken over by the Edinburgh Bike Coop.
Great bunch of staff, friendly & helpful. Brad was the man with the spanners.
Hope you guys set up somewhere else, unless it was a nightmare, then good luck with whatever you do.

What are you baseing this on ?

Here

Sad day

Oh no, I hope not, I’ve got nothing but good things to say about Mark and Brad.

looks like great service, good products night rides etc etc, great guys, and everything else they put in to it dosent add up to shit in the bike world when all the modern cyclist wants is the best price over the internet. but at least we have another edinburgh bike co-op to look forward to.

another edinburgh bike co-op to look forward to

Real shame, only been up in this part of the world for a short amount of time but they’d been really helpful with my mojo build, Brad gave some great little tips. Mark had said he was moving on but I was hoping it was going to keep going.

My mate Leo had a rough time working for them, but they were great to me when I was looking at Fattys. Shame to see it go.

On facebook just now for your info:

The Bike Chain is now The Bike Co-op

We at Edinburgh Bicycle Co-op are proud to be taking over the reins at The Bike Chain. From today, we will be running it as our second shop in the city, and we promise to honour all commitments made by TBC. For instance, if you’ve booked your bike in for a repair, just bring it along as before to the same address, 30 Rodney Street.

Similarly, if you enjoy a bit of friendly bike chat (look out for the Friday question) or want to keep up with the latest trends, events and offers, then pop on over to our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/EdinburghBicycle. We look forward to seeing you.

For more information about us, please visit http://www.edinburghbicycle.com or email enquiries@edinburghbicycle.com or phone 0131 331 5010.

Shame to see TBC good, was a good wee shop with top chaps.

Not been in TBC for a while, as I no longer work or socialise in the area, however its areal shame to hear that a great shop like this has been taken over by one of the bigger names. The service I have recived from TBC, especially Mark has always been top notch. From loaning me a set of lights after mine failed 2 days before puffer, to the open and honest advice you got from Brad when your bike was goosed and could be fixed on the cheap. Unfortunatley this is not the experience I have of the Edinburgh Bike(un)CoOp. Wish Mark and Co all the best for teh future. You guys will be missed, as will my STW discount 🙁

Best wishes indeed to Mark & Co – always had top notch service from them and viewed them as an ‘LBS’ even though I live 200+ miles away.

Bought 2 bikes from them in the past couple of years, pretty much on the strength of their customer service, so will be sad to see an independant shop go … 😥

Good luck to the guys,used them before and they were great…

That’s a pity. My Orange 5 and the Mojo that replaced it both came from there. The service I’ve had from The Bike Chain has been pretty good, the service I’ve had from the Co-Op has been variable. Also it means there’ll be a few fewer brands for sale in Edinburgh shops once they’ve moved their stock over.

The only constant in life is change, whether a good thing or a bad thing… 🙄

Will there be a sale of all the cool TBC stuff to make way for the coop’s commuter lights and Specialized stuff? 😈 😛

Damn. What a pity. Great shop and excellent staff.

It’s a sad day. The Co-Op was good about twenty years ago. But now, not so much. Shows how hard it is now to make a bike shop work. Mark and the guys couldn’t have been more helpful and always got good feedback on here but presumably that wasn’t enough. Wish them all the best for the future.

No offence but the bike co-op is just a gestating Evans cycles. Some good staff but a **** scarily dull business. Actually prefer to walk into Evans. Its just generic dull stuff stocked.

edinburgh bike co-op simply survives by manipulating the bike to work scheme.
by giving credits back to organisations at year end they are operating illegally, as any discount should be included in the purchase price and not a year end deal for the organisation to pocket.

And that works how?
Somehow I don’t expect so!

its exactly how Leeds city council operates as I know the purchasing officer that negotiated the deal in response to their suggestion.

you pick a bike for £1k
leeds council buys it claims back vat rents it to you then year end they get a nice cheque for spending so much with the co-op.

that rebate what you will should be included in the individual purchase price.

Well, there we go. All change. Its interesting how a shop becomes people who then become characters who end up as friends…

Mark and Brad are still around being Mark and Brad, but the connection to the shop and its customers has moved on.

Knowing them both and how hard they worked to build that business, I predict its not the last we will hear of them even though they have gone their separate ways…

All the best guys and thanks for all the good times and banter.. oh and the bike stuff too.

Chapeau…

Gonna add to Ricks post.
I had a great team over my spell there. You all know who you are. All of you. I learned a lot.

Most of all thanks to our customers for making my decision to leave the hardest ever. But, my wife is hotter than you all together and I kinda like hanging with her more than you guys. 😉

Genuinely though, I met some amazing people in that shop and everyday was a laugh.

I’ll defend the new guys too, I met them at handover. We decided to sell the shop, there is no hostile takeover conspiracy or big guy eating the small guy. I am sure James will see you right.

And Rick- thank you. You know what you did.

my wife is hotter than you all together…

But there is no way she can be as cute as jimmy, surely..?

Woah. You leave jimmy out of this.

Is this the same Brad your hailing who has publicly on facebook more than once dissed building Surly Long Haul Truckers as quote; building another piece of S*** today 🙄 Can`t believe a shop owner would let his staff talk like that online to be honest about customers bikes…

It was someone i sent their way, and i can`t imagine his feelings to read that online to be honest about a bike he saved hard and long for and had big plans for…

So good luck to Mark who is a top bloke and i have enjoyed a trail ride with 🙂 and his future who i hope it all works out for…

To slag off the Bike Co?, well it depends on the individual staff at the end of the day, had no probs with dealing with them, if not happy in a shop then just ask to speak to someone else…simples 😉

Slag off?

Bruce- I was an owner.
It was dealt with accordingly at the time.

It seems like the people who really count are doing it for the right reasons- shame that it’ll impact such a great shop but fair play to all concerned, hope it works well for y’all.

And you never know, it might mark the start of a return to EBC form of old.

In the meantime- anyone fancy a Not The Bike Chain night ride once the snow melts?

And the bog dries out a bit.

All over it. It was ice tastic this morning along the lymphoy road section and the sun was out making it all nice.

Looking fwd to having the time to ride again.

Here’s to riding bikes, eating pizza with chilli jam and all washed down with Reindeer Wee.

*emits urine*
Can we listen to Neil at the same time?

I’ll defend the new guys too, I met them at handover. We decided to sell the shop, there is no hostile takeover conspiracy or big guy eating the small guy. I am sure James will see you right.

I know, I’m just being a dick really and wish them all the best, any bike shop is better than no bike shop. For me TBC was the mountain biker’s mountain bike shop though – the Coop barely stocks anything I want or need, despite it’s huge size. Perhaps calling it the cyclist’s cycle shop would cover a wider range of it’s clientele. Coop seems to be 90% aimed at the commuter, which I guess is where the money is.

btw Brad and Mark, the fish that used to live in TBC, are happily swimming away together here still, don’t know if it’s Brad or Mark with the one eye always swimming round in circles, and between them they eat way more food than the 10 other fish in the tank put together 😉

All the best in your new venture Mark & Brad. My wife & I will both miss TBC. It was the one bike shop in Edinburgh that I liked the bikes that were in stock & enjoyed spending my dosh.

All the very best, D.

Gutted TBC’ closed, now other folks are gonna find out how clueless I am when it comes to fixing bikes! All the best Mark an thanks for everything.

We’ll get some more rides in. How’s that shock working out?

The shocks great (thanks again), not been out much but went round GT black in the snow today and the bike felt great (although the legs didn’t). Definitely up for more rides so keep in touch.

Very sad that TBC is no more. Best bike shop in the city by far. That said, give EBC a chance. Yes, they are a big (in the corporate scheme of things still tiny though) bike shop, but they are still a cooperative and still put a lot back into local cycling. And remember, they may be doing well these days, but they also had the guts to put their money into cycling before it became all trendy.

Best of luck to Mark and Brad though.

Gutted to hear of TBC closing, only bought one thing from them but the frame is lovely. Best of luck in your new adventures Mark.