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alpine bikes' glasgow trek store
as i may have mentioned elsewhere, i am in glasgow at present for the ntional road race championships which, most inconsiderately, took place on a sunday, commencing with the women's event at 9:30am. this, rather obviously perhaps, has necessitated my being in glasgow on the saturday, for the chances of a calmac ferry and citylink bus transporting me to glasgow green for such an ungodly hour of a sunday morn is well nigh impossible. thus, i have braved the streets of scotland's 'style capital' (their words, not mine) on a saturday afternoon, an experience that has me longing to return to civilisation on monday morn.
however, for reasons that having nothing at all to do with me having yet to grow up, i paid a visit to hamley's toy shop in the st enoch centre on argyle street. this is situated on the centre's first floor, reached by means of an escalator. in the process of utilising such transportational luxury, i found myself wondering why it is that none of the escalators i have used while in glasgow, adhere to the rules applying on london underground escalators. namely, keeping to the right to allow those who wish to move a little faster to ascend or descend unhindered by a series of jogging buggies.
surely a regional (national) faux pas?
however, to briefly return to hamley's toy shop, despite its rather dim lighting and old-fashioned layout, it contains such a multitude of playful variety, that individuals such as myself, there only to browse in the hope of finding an appropriate gift, may find themselves somewhat overwhelmed with choice. i cannot deny that the thoughts which imposed themselves at the point of aimless wandering were much akin to claustrophobia, and i stayed not nearly as long as i'm sure the welcoming assistants would have preferred i did.
i apologise to mr and mrs hamley, but your toy store scared me away without once catching sight of anything that might have satisfied my quest.
contrast that with the bright and airy space inhabited by alpine bikes' trek store in couper street, and one begins to wonder whether hamleys may not have missed a trick or two. sited in the upper section of tiso's outdoor experience the trek only bicycle display affords a grand view of the in-house waterfall and climbing walls offered downstairs against which the prospective customer might pit their goretex and crampons.
single marque stores are not new; apple and sony have used the medium to great success (or at least apple have), while specialized may have pre-dated trek in applying it to the cycle market. the advantages presumably outweigh any perceived disadvantages, particularly as alpine bikes also have a sizeable store on glasgow's great western road, one that offers other brands as well as treks. the principal perceived advantage must surely be staff specialisation; instead of having to be conversant in a language that covers a whole host of downtubes, they need only concern themselves with a single entity.
of course, a bike shop that stocked bicycles and nothing else whatsoever could conceivably come up short and be seen to be wanting. alpine's trek centre also stocks a comprehensive range of cycling footwear, clothing (including endura and, not unnaturally, trek) as well as a whole slew of bontrager components, tackx trainers and rollers and numerous other bits and bobs that have become compulsory fixtures on the modern velocipede. and though i recognise that we are all of singular mind herein, the range on display is not confined solely to road bikes.
though not constrained to the trek brand, the british standards association has rather made a pratt of itself by demanding that all bicycles be sold accompanied by a bell. it seems particularly incongruous to view a display of madones and domanes costing well into the thousands of pounds, augmented by a bell atop their drop handlebars. without straining my eyesight to much, i failed to note such a mandatory feature on any of those competing in today's road-race championship.
centre manager matt cutler said that they had noted a distinct swing towards bendy bars and skinny wheels over recent years, one that gained a noticeable boost after last years' tour and london olympics.
with trek still being the sole guardians of the thou shalt not purchase via mail order philosophy, the couper street premises also house the fitting emporium, stretching from the basic how high is your saddle? prior to purchase, to a couple of hours measuring every dimension of man/woman and bike for the optimum experience. interestingly, this latter opportunity applies only to those purchasing road bikes. those adhering to knobbly tyres need not apply.
though not slap bang in the centre of glasgow (tiso's is situated a few hundred metres behind glasgow's buchanan bus station), it is pretty easy to get to on foot, by bicycle and almost inevitably, by car. whether settling on a trek as your first model of bicycle, changing lanes from another brand, or looking to upgrade a trek you already own, at least as far as glasgow's central belt is concerned, there seem few reasons to look elsewhere.
despite my asking both obvious, technical and idiotic questions, matt was well-versed in the trek philosophy without ever coming across like a second-hand car salesman. it was rather plain that i was not in town as a customer (about which more later), but i surreptitiously eavesdropped on one or two other potential sales scenarios while pretending to be someone who knows what they're doing and i didn't hear anything that sounded like the hard sell.
perhaps owner bryan shedden will now be apoplectic on hearing such information, but to my mind, the softly, softly approach does them true credit. as i have yet to ride a modern-day trek, i am ill-qualified to comment on the product, but the large posters of fabian cancellara and jens voigt pay silent tribute to the efficacy of the brand.
sunday 23rd june 2013
