Is this the UK's poshest bike shop?

[mustang1]

Do their bikes comes with a year's worth of free road-side assistance and recovery? Maybe it only covers the street they are based on so let's hope it's not one of those Asutralian streets that go on for a thousand miles.

Edit: I just had a look a their website. It's actually pretty alright ya know. They use the word Portfolio instead of Products which shows they didnt hire someone who came out of a naff MBA school. yeah I'm up for it. I'll have a Look frame please. I wonder if Hambini will go in there with me.

 

[Moon bunny]

Some great bike brands plus they have been going for quite some years so there is clearly a market.

I do however have a particular hatred for anyone who used the work ‘curated’ unless they work in a museum.

It just reeks of self importance and is basically a load of old wnk.

As an assistant curator, I would give that likes until my touchscreen wore through, it it were possible.

 

[Sterlo]

We stayed in Ambleside a couple of weeks ago, to be honest I wanted to go in but I had seen their online shop and was a bit scared to go in, especially as I was only window shopping, I went in another one around the corner instead.

 

[gavroche]

It is the same as expensive cars. There are plenty of people buying Rolls Royces, Bentleys, Ferraris etc.... Those with money coming out of their pockets don't think twice about spending thousands on their "toys", whether it is cars, motorbikes or road bikes. It's all to do with their image and snobbery but it provides a living for the retailers of such items.

 

[BigMeatball]

I've lived in the lake district for a short while. A lot of people in the area work for Sellafield the big nuclear plant, which pays big bucks.

Big salaries combined with a relatively low cost of life in all those wee towns, means there's quite some disposable income in the area. From the few months I've spent there, most of this disposable income is wasted on booze and smokes, but I guess there's still quite a few locals who have more healthy habits and can afford expensive bikes

 

[Teamfixed]

What's wrong with you lot?
Nobody has mentioned "boutique" yet!

 

[Domus]

Popped in the other day for a mooch and a coffee. They were both very busy with bike sales, apologised for making me wait. Very high end stuff. I left without a coffee but that was my choice. Very smart premises in an expensive location.

 

[gavroche]

I happened upon the website of Push Cartel which led me to wonder if there are any posher - or more expensive - bike shops.

Based in Ambleside in the Lake District, they describe themselves as bicycle ateliers.

Atelier, google informs me, is an artists' studio, so this mob clearly consider themselves to be artists rather than bike retailers and repairers.



https://www.pushcartel.co.uk/

Googlle isn't always 100% accurate as Atelier actually means a workshop whether as an artist studio or in a factory.

 

[avecReynolds531]

Googlle isn't always 100% accurate as Atelier actually means a workshop whether as an artist studio or in a factory.

+ 1
As Gavroche said, & with many French words that have been transplanted into English, Atelier doesn't have to have an implied high end/ art connotation. I know of a piano repair shop as an atelier.

A derailleur in French is a derailleur in English - though, I'm hearing a lot of 'mech' now in place.

Peloton, bidon and velo are widely used too...maybe there's the historical aspect of bike racing that's being acknowledged, though it's been said that French is no longer the language of the pro peloton (English).

 

[straas]

Disappointed to see so much inverse snobbery to be honest - I thought this was a fairly inclusive forum.

There's a place for all types of bike shops, and people ride for a lot of different reasons - why shouldn't a high end element be included in this?

You can buy jeans from tesco for £10, or spend infinitely more on designer. They essentially do the same job, but that's not really the point is it?

 

[bladesman73]

Lolz. Just seen their website. Tell you what, whilst I understand there is a market for this type of thing it makes me sad that something as egalitarian as cycling is being gentrified to the level that class divisions are created. 7k for a set of wheels? 65 quid for some lube? Those Tacx bottles they are selling at a tenner each are the same ones Mantel sell at less than half the price. Disgusting, and I have a job that would allow me to pay for much of what they sell, however I have more sense to do so.
Is creating economic class divisions on everything just a UK habit?

 

[vickster]

Is creating economic class divisions on everything just a UK habit?

No. There are economic divisions within the population in every country in the world, and in many (Including developed and developing) these are far more extreme than the UK

 

[gavroche]

+ 1
As Gavroche said, & with many French words that have been transplanted into English, Atelier doesn't have to have an implied high end/ art connotation. I know of a piano repair shop as an atelier.

A derailleur in French is a derailleur in English - though, I'm hearing a lot of 'mech' now in place.

Peloton, bidon and velo are widely used too...maybe there's the historical aspect of bike racing that's being acknowledged, though it's been said that French is no longer the language of the pro peloton (English).

and don't forget lanterne rouge , directeur sportif ( DS) domestique , etape . French terms are still widely used in cycling even if English has taken over in the peloton and in every day world wide. The French language is now inondated with english words when I listen to french people speaking, it really annoys me.

 

[Domus]

To some paying £7,000 for a bike is obscene but it‘s all relative. To a vast number of people on the planet owning two pairs of shoes is unthinkable. There will be always people with more disposable income and more with nothing at all.

 

[DRM]

My best bike was this. Sold from a very scruffy workshop, where there was basically a jig for frame building and lots of boxes of tubes, dirty floor etc.

I recall an article in Cyclist magazine about an Italian frame builder who did just that, it was based in what I would call a proper old engineering works, with stocks of tubing, various items of tooling, welding, brazing pipe bending machines etc, you told them which type of frame you wanted, they put you on a jig, took measurements and took details of what you wanted the bike to do, discussed what would work and what wouldn't, what colour paint, what finishing kit, you then cleared off and eagerly anticipated the call to say it's ready, they then got you set up and took you out on a loop in the hills and countryside near the workshop to ensure it was spot on before you took it home, now that is what I call a craftsman built bike, no pretentious twaddle just 1st class service from start to finish.