The Cycle Division talks on swell in workshop only traders

Friday, 22 July 2022 Mark Sutton

The Cycle Division has always been well placed to service the workshop trade and so the pandemic’s fuel on the bike repair fire has been kind to the business. Here Martin Ingham gives us an update…

Few distributors will have been so in demand over the past 18 months as The Cycle Division. Already a trade favourite for its renowned customer service, a cocktail of Government issued Bike Repair Vouchers and general high demand for cycling goods had Martin Ingham’s phones ringing off the hook. Last time we spoke to the director he was all hands to the pump, in the warehouse packing boxes. Catching him as May’s spring sunshine is delivering on long warm days, we hear that the addition of three warehouse staff has taken up the slack while demand remains high and that Martin’s been able to refocus his efforts in making sure there exists product to pack.

“Over these last 18 months everyone has had trouble getting hold of stock, but then it’s flipped and suddenly you’ve too much. It seems as though suddenly there has been a big catch up where everything came at once that we believed to be due over 12 months. So, we’re back-to-back to high stock levels,” he says.

Gaps remain, of course. Few distributors are lucky enough to have an ample supply of workshop staples like ten and eleven speed cassettes and paired to that many chains remain a way off. Something interesting has happened, says Martin, who as one of Sturmey Archer’s best customers, has found a chain reaction demand on his stocks of aftermarket hubs.

“The Sturmey brand was certainly a beneficiary of the ‘bike boom’ and so we have seen all available stock going to OE manufacturers looking to complete their bikes, which is eating up some of the aftermarket stock. It’s probably the same dilemma OEM brands have with cassettes, but I think with Sturmey the trend toward greater sales of utility bikes has driven demand. Certainly, I can see many electric bikes in the market now speccing the products.”

That industry shift towards A to B cyclists rather than just marketing to the performance crowd has likewise helped Ingham’s trade. Investment in cycling infrastructure is slow progress, but with a £200 million pot revealed in May now being distributed nationwide, there’s hope momentum can build. In Huddersfield where The Cycle Division is based, Martin says it’s all token paint on the road with cars parked in cycle lanes, but if there’s one thing that does keep his warehouse staff busy its sunny weather, he says.

“All things considered, our trade has been enough that we have added two mezzanine levels in the warehouse, which has upped our capacity nicely and helped us make sure key things are in stock. Of course, when the pandemic landed it prompted a lot of people to go out on their own and start, or build upon workshop businesses. We know from our close relationship with The Bike Inn that mechanics were getting skilled up at quite a rate. We hope to partner with them soon to further encourage this trend as the trade needs more quality mechanics in shops and not just in shops,” he says.

At this point conversation turns to just who should qualify for a trade account, an often contentious point on trade forums and a subject on which Martin freely admits to taking an open-minded stance to supplying new entrants that can demonstrate skill.

“We have a few locally that have converted spaces at home to service the local area and they are superb. There seems to be an attitude about supporting them, like we shouldn’t be, but we can’t understand why. Customers want convenience nowadays and many wish to not have to go into town centre. It’s true to say that we have had a swell in workshop accounts and that makes perfect sense. Anyone coming in to trade nowadays would rightly think ‘why stock on accessories that may not sell when I can concentrate on repairs, where money is often greater and there will always be trained skills required’. It makes total sense that an upstart may choose these paths”.

As a result of a trend toward workshop trading, Dutch specialist Elvedes has been a leading brand for The Cycle Division. Able to produce on a low lead time everything from professional workshop cable reels to packaged aftermarket units and even the tools with which to do the job, the brand has been going “gangbusters”, says Ingham.

“People have quickly found they can trust the goods when they tried it during pandemic and it’s grown organically from there. Many tried just one or two things and moved on from there. With well known pressures on Shimano’s supply of some lines, our customers found that Elvedes could turn things around very quickly and keep their workshops going.”

For those that have not seen the Elvedes offering in the flesh, The Cycle Division’s offering to the trade can get a workshop operational and efficient quickly. Many point of sales and organisational units come free when filled with products, for example a seven box buy in of cable achieves a free PoS that feeds the mechanic efficiently. For rim brake pads its three boxes for a free display.

“There is a full workshop unit, called the transit system that holds everything – it’s on wheels so it can be moved around workshop, which could be very useful for those who are mobile or share tools” adds Martin.

Also key to keeping customers rolling (literally) is The Cycle Divisions’ capability to produce wheels at a Barton on Humber facility. Three staff work full time on this welcomed addition to the distributor’s capabilities and an investment in a hub filing machine that automates dropping spokes into hubs means the volume rolling off the assembly line is not too shabby. There exists the capability to produce both specific builds and the bread-and-butter replacements that any bike shop will sell to the ’just riding along’ customer whose wheel resembles a pringle. All of the popular sizes roll off the assembly upwards of 16-inches in size and of course should your customer seek a Sturmey Archer gearhub ready built to a wheel The Cycle Division’s team are experts.

With all of this product has come the need to add two mezzanine extensions, handing The Cycle Division the additional capacity to handle demand from an evolving service -led marketplace.

Martin concludes with relief in his voice “We have recruited some extra staff in the warehouse now it’s a bit larger. I’m no longer all hands on deck packing boxes as I was in 2020.”

Book a visit: The Cycle Division’s sales agents
Phone: 01484 665 055