Your local bike shop is a tremendous resource, not just for new bikes and parts but for their local knowledge and ongoing support, right on your doorstep.
These days it is easy to find deals online that could save you some money on new clothes, accessories or even a new bike. However, doing so requires a tremendous leap of faith. You could be spending hundreds, if not thousands of pounds on an item that may not be all you’d hoped for. It could be the wrong size; it could be of poor quality or it could even arrive damaged or faulty.
With your local bike shop, you hand your money over when you are happy that your new bike or new clothes fit; that they’re what you were expecting and that your new bike is ready and safe to ride on the day you pick it up.
Whilst there are and probably always will be big players in the bicycle retail market, with Evans and Wiggle accounting for a large proportion of our bike-related spend, your local bike shop will always be local and will be there as long as there is enough custom to sustain it.
In Cardiff we are quite well catered for in terms of local bike shops, with many of the larger suburbs having at least one. We have recent experience of one shop in particular –the Bike Shed, but we’d love to hear of your local bike shop stories, if you have them.
Our bike shops (in no particular order)
The Bike Shed, Pontcanna
Sat at the top of Cathedral Road, the Bike Shed is a friendly place that can’t seem to do enough for you. I recently bought a new Genesis road bike from there, but I wanted to upgrade the brake callipers before picking it up. This was no problem at all for them; the price was excellent and I couldn’t be happier with the new steed.
Damian Harris Cycles, Whitchurch
Whilst we’ve not visited Damian yet, most of my bikes throughout my childhood were bought from Chris Harris. It was then a tiny shop near the old Toys R Us in the centre of Cardiff. It was packed to the brim with bikes and barely enough room to swing a torque wrench on the shop floor.
Cyclopedia, Crwys Road, Cathays
One of the few bike shops in Cardiff with its own resident dog and a wood-burning stove. Cyclopedia boasts a very transparent workshop price list, leaving you in little doubt how much you can expect to pay to get your steed back on the road.
Don Skene Cycles, Rumney
A good place to find a Giant, Specialised or Santa Cruz bike. However, Don Skene’s website is particularly novel in that it’ll let you filter on individual components –even down to the hub & bottom bracket models. Don himself has now retired, but the 62+ year old business is in the capable hands of his daughter Liane & son Jon.
Sunset Cycles, Cathays
Another bike shop in Cathays, but this time on Woodville Road. Sunset stock a range of mostly mountain bikes, but carry a few road bikes too. Truth be told, we don’t know too much about Sunset and should probably pay them a visit soon.
Bike Shop Wales, Penarth
Ok, not technically in Cardiff, but many of you seem to ride into Cardiff from Penarth, so we should include it. Bike Shop Wales specialises in the leisure market, but they are also authorised dealers for a range of electric bikes, which makes sense when you consider the altitude of its location on Glebe Street…
Over to you…
If you’ve had a good, recent experience at one of our local bike shops we’d love for you to leave a comment below. Whether you’ve just bought a bike from one of these shops or your bike has been nursed back to health by one of their mechanics, we’d like to hear about it.
Alternatively, are there any we have missed? What can you tell us about them?
We now have a dedicated page for our local bike shops, complete with contact details.
Cardiff By Bike 
Cycle training workshop also worth a mention. They sell reconditioned recycled bikes and also have a workshop doing repairs and servicing. They did a good job earlier this year on my bike at very reasonable price.
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