Cyclists in and around London will be able to have their bikes collected to be serviced or repaired through a new initiative from Wiggle.
The online retailer, which last month announced plans to merge with rival Chain Reaction Cycles, has launched Wiggle Bike Service & Repair inside the M25.
> Wiggle and Chain Reaction merger confirmed
Bookings can be made 24 hours a day, seven days a week, at www.wigglebikeservice.com with bikes collected from any address within the M25 and returned to that address, or another address inside that same area, within three days.
The scheme is operated in partnership with bike repair and servicing specialists havebike, whose customers include the Metropolitan Police, City of London Police and St John Ambulance, and which also has the contract with Serco to maintain the ‘Boris Bikes’ belonging to the capital’s Santander Cycles hire scheme.
Three servicing options are available – Regular (£70), Deluxe (£120) and Super Deluxe (£150), including collection and delivery but with any replacement parts needed charged on top of those prices.
A full price list is available here, and details of what is included in each of those three options are shown below.
There are also two annual bike service plans to help save costs. The Essential plan gives two regular services for £127, a saving of £13, while the Performance plan gives one Regular service and one Super Deluxe service at a cost of £180, saving £40.
“Wiggle Bike Service & Repair is an exciting new pilot for the business,” said Wiggle CEO Stefan Barden.
“We are at heart an online sports retailer; the largest pure-play in Europe. However, we constantly strive to create and develop new and innovative services for our customers to add strength and depth to our comprehensive online offering.
“Wiggle Bike Service & Repair offers our customers a fast, convenient and easy way to get their bike serviced and repaired. It is another example of our commitment to cycling and our strong connection with our customers.”
He added: “We will learn from this pilot and continue to develop our online and service offerings as a result.”
Nick Brown, havebike’s managing director, commented: “As a leading bicycle servicing company with an excellent reputation for quality, we can offer Wiggle customers’ unparalleled levels of professional service together with a personal touch, courtesy of our team of mechanics and cycle experts.
“We're very excited to work with the dynamic and fast-growing cycle brand Wiggle and are looking forward to meeting Wiggle's cycling community in the capital.”
The new initiative isn’t the online retailer’s first move into repairing and servicing bikes.
In 2014 it began trialling Wiggle Works mobile workshops on selected days of the week at four Goodmans Business Parks across the south of England.
> Wiggle offers bike repair and servicing at business parks
It also opened service and advice centres at three stores belonging Homebase with plans to open more, but last October it was forced to shut them after the DIY retailer decided to axe all non-core concessions.
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Wiggle opened a service centre in Milton Keynes last year but shut it, I assume not enough demand.
The delta between Regular and Deluxe seems off - that last set of removals and deep clean (ultrasonic bath?) I reckon would take at least as long as the Regular service.
Maybe it's only a £20 increment as a fair whack of the Regular is the collect/drop off fee.
The Super Deluxe seems good value, going all the way back down to individual bearings. Maybe they are counting on so many bikes having cartridge bearings these days that it's actually dead easy to say you've done a hub/headset/BB 'service' - it's either knackered or not.