BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
New Sheffield bike shop Full Gas Bikes – part of the £50 million Fox Valley development – is to open in June.
The shop had its roots in a conversation held on the hills of Sheffield during the 2014 Grand Depart, between 17 time-national champion Tony Gibb and the head of property group Dransfield – the company behind the new Fox Valley development.
Commonwealth bronze holder Gibb is founder of Full Gas Cycling and was invited to host a Tour de France Grand Depart event organised by the Sheffield based firm.
The company’s Managing Director Mark Dransfield mentioned that he was interested in finding a bike retailer for the new Fox Valley development. Gibb told BikeBiz: “We started to say, why don’t we just do it ourselves – when we really started to look at it as a serious proposition we realised what a great opportunity this was to bring something completely new and different to the area.”
Also backed by five other investors, Full Gas Bikes will open for business on June 16th, with a VIP opening a few days before. The new shop will feature a test track, full technical centre and will cater for riders of all disciplines and abilities. Trek and its custom programme Project One will be available from the 5,500sq ft store.
“There will be space for kids to test bikes – little Johnny can smash around the track while Dad has a brew in the coffee bar,” Gibb explained.
The shop will also include a club balcony – a space reserved for clubs looking for a mid or post-ride coffee and sugar boosting brownie. The new store is just minutes from the Grand Depart route as well as Pearoyd Lane – the notorious location for the 2014 British Hill Climb National Championships.
The Fox Valley store is pitched as just the first for Full Gas Bikes, Gibb explained: “Our ten year plan is to have seven or eight stores nationwide. We’re not sure what locations yet, but we’ve places like Cardiff in mind.
“In Sheffield it is a new unit and we can do what we want with it and there are of course different challenges when you are working with an existing unit.”
The new bike retailer has its website up and running at www.fullgasbikes.co.uk
