Glass & Steele Motor Cycles Ltd

Glass and Steele Motor Cycles in Alloa has been around for decades. I only moved to Alloa around 5 years ago but knew of it before that.

A friend of my Dad's had a mate that worked there repairing old Jame's motorcycles in the 50's.

These days they dont repair motor bikes but actually sell pedal cycles, so the name may be a bit misleading.

THE SHOP
This cycle shop is a little out of date these days and perhaps suffers a little because it is situated off the beaten track in Alloa.

The shop itself is clean and well presented and when you walk by its pretty clear from the bikes in the window that its a cycle shop. Its a pretty small shop but has a goo little viewing area for the bikes. They also have the usual regulatory desk area with some racks behind displaying the spare parts they have to offer.

WHAT DO THEY SELL
The shop sells a wide variety of mainly mountain bikes which I would say are mainly geared for the kids. There are a few on offer for adults but not a huge range. I think if you went in there to look for a good little bike for your kid you wouldn't come out disappointed, they always seem to have some funky machines that would be sure to meet the approval of most kids these days.

If your an adult after a general mountain bike for a bit of fun then you should go and have a look. If on the other hand you want something a little bit more expensive or lighter weight then I would probably avoid the shop. They are geared up to cover bikes for the popular and not for anything specialised.

Other than the bikes they also do a wide range of spares for a wide range of bikes and sizes along with locks, saddles and tyres. Again as with the bikes they cover the basics here and sell parts for general bikes rather than the more modern mountain bikes you see down in your local Halfords. Saying that though if your after some bits for the gears of a 10 year old bike or your Dad's old folding bike then I would think you would easily get it hear and for a fairly cheap price.

REPAIR AND SERVICE
The shop also offers a repair service. I personally hate to wait for things. I had one occasion to go in and ask for some assistance. I wanted to change the pedals on my mountain bike but couldn't as they appeared to be screwed in to tight to the cranks. So I popped in and asked if they could loosen them so allow me to change them myself. Well to my surprise I was told it couldn't be done for a week as they were very busy. This surprised me as it was a 30 second job for the guy that was actually sitting down behind the counter reading a paper. A trip to my local Halfords to ask the same question was a success though. Anyways, I know from other people that they provide a good repair service for most bikes and there wouldn't be a problem unless you were a little impatient like me.

OTHER STUFF
Well the last thing I will say for the shop is that about 6 months ago I noticed it was up for sale. Having always loved bikes and wanting a shop of my own I looked in to it. Its up for a small £20,000. The only problem I can see is the turnover is not to good., probably due to the type of stock that they sell. If you had a little financial backing and could beef up the stock and start a website you may be on a winner here.