Things your local bike shop wishes you knew: a thread

1) we are insanely busy right now. Everyone wants a bike or their old bike fixed for lockdown use.

2) if what you want is a new bike under £800, you're out of luck or in for a long wait unless you're a midget or a giant - everything in small, medium or large is sold out at all the suppliers

3) we're drowning in repair work and this means prioritising - if you're an NHS or food shop worker you're at the front of the queue. If you're not, you're going to have to wait a while.

4) on a related note, now is not the time to bring us 3 sets of cross wheels for new tub gluing, or for a nice long chat about gear inches.

5) this is the biggie - if no-one answers the phone within 5 or 6 rings, no-one is going to. If you leave it ringing off the hook the ten-deep queue of customers at the door isn't going to miraculously disappear so we can answer it. You're just stressing everyone out.

6) social distancing makes everything take longer. In normal times we'd have 4 or 5 mechanics working on bikes. The layout of the shop makes it dangerous to have more than 2 or 3 together and only 1 person can serve customers at a time.

7) we're sorry about that, but not so sorry we're going to risk killing each other for your convenience.

8) we're all delighted by the huge surge in interest in cycling and hope you all stick with us while we try to keep you all moving!