[Closed] Another one bites the dust, Soho Bikes no need for MTB in London...

Wow, I'm amazed. I presumed it was a goldmine for all the surrey boys and city traders buying santa cruz. tough times, edit: ah yes personal reasons. A real shame, nice shop I thought

To be fair the post says it's being closed for personal reasons, so not necessarily economically unviable.

Yeah and if I was living in Surry and working in the city I'd probably not be taking my bike in and out of the city for servicing etc.

haha you don't think they use them do you? 😀

Very sad to hear - their workshop was awesome and always at capacity. So nice having someone you can trust in the city. They also arranged demo days at SE locations with Santa Cruz etc, then backing purchases with service / warranty etc - always seemed to be doing really well and I had amazing service from them - Hope the team are ok.

Yeah. Thoughts to staff. Were really great every time I went in.

Also noticed the mechanic (Jay?) who used to work in Cycle Surgery Selfridges was working in there. Nice guy.

Good luck for future.

Yeah, that sucks, Jay, Nick and Mario were proper good guys.

Use 'em or lose 'em people!

I live near Peaslake in Surrey. Some of the best riding in the country. I also work in London. Does that somehow make me less gnar or legitimate in riding bikes than some of the judgmental posters on this and many other threads? Or for that matter my riding mates who started riding together 25 years ago before cycling was the new golf because of where I live and work? I have to work in London because that’s where my job is. I choose to live in Surrey because there’s some great riding there. What’s the matter with that?

Now back on topic, I wouldn’t dream of buying or servicing a bike in the centre of London. It’s a shame but I can’t get misty eyed about a business model that doesn’t work. I do however have the utmost sympathy for any personal reasons behind the closure.

solarider - Member
I live near Peaslake in Surrey. Some of the best riding in the country. I also work in London.

No need to bother mike. It’s crap stay away and leave it to us 😉

SH is great, some really good trails, but it's not exactly the lakes!

Sad about Soho bikes, work nearby and popped in for a few things, but my bikes don't go near central London ( well my commuter does but that's a ratty thing)

Hope the staff find something else asap

solarider - Member

I live near Peaslake in Surrey. Some of the best riding in the [b]county[/b].

bastard beat me to it!! 😀

i popped into Soho Bikes a few times whenever i was in town, it was cool but i always wondered how sustainable it was having a shop that specialises in very high end full suspension bikes in central london? but im led to believe it actually did quite well...?

but if it was so successful why did they not just sell the business rather than shut the doors??

Wow, I'm amazed. I presumed it was a goldmine for all the surrey boys and city traders buying santa cruz

Only time I went in there it looked more like a commuter bike/coffee shop with hardly any MTB stuff on display.

The SH has one of the strongest scenes (2nd after Tweed Valley) and some of the best singletrack in the UK.

I do miss it, there's nothing quite like it up here.

and some of the best singletrack in the UK.

I popped in a few times and thought it was a coffee shop selling a few bikes . Downstairs had a couple of builds but nothing much in the way of components or parts for sale.

I only happened to find the store as it’s across the road from footpatrol ( sneaker store )

Maybe they should just sell the coffee and get rid of the bikes ?
It’s in a decent part of town with plenty of traffic

Only time I went in there it looked more like a commuter bike/coffee shop with hardly any MTB stuff on display.

I guess you didn't go downstairs?

Some of the best riding in the county.

This, I recently went up to visit a friend and ride the Surrey Hills from Devon and jesus christ was I let down by what was on offer, I plan to never visit it again!

Let's not derail the thread on this again..... it's different. Kind of like roast beef and yorkshires vs curry. There's no point in comparing; I happen to find that steep rocky stuff terrifies me, but I love twisty loamy pine forest singletrack. So no amount of sneering is going to convince me that the Lake District has 'better' trails than the Surrey Hills.

Sad when any LBS closes but location has to be tough; expensive and not an obvious MTB hotspot, yet as others say workshop always full?

I don't think Soho can really support high-end bike shops. Kinoko was great but couldn't pull enough people in to justify the costs. For high-end bike sales I reckon you'd be as well around Liverpool street (like Rapha in Spitalfields).

But there's a rapha cafe on brewer st.

Shame as it was a great shop, hope everyone involved is OK - "personal reasons" is always ominous in my book!

The Lake District has 'better' twisty loamy pine forest singletrack than Surrey Hills never mind the rest.

dont get me wrong, i ride out of Peaslake a lot, its great! and i fail to see how Oikeith or anyone else could be disappointed by it, unless their mates didnt show em round properly.

Lakes, Yorkshire and all the rest?

I regularly ride in the Lakes and Hebden, SH is better for woodland singletrack. I have no north vs south axe to grind - and I'd rather live up here for the riding overall.

And (like Inners) the volume of decent trails in SH has boomed in recent years.

If you've been out of the country a long time you should go and ride there, with someone who knows the good stuff.

Sorry to be on topic...

Very much sounds like personal reasons are behind the shop closing, maybe a falling out behind the scenes / withdrawal of backers / people wanting some of their investments back etc.

The big question is whether it simply isn't viable without the involvement of Rob W etc, as they would bring it major kudos and make it a place to be / spend money. Without their involvement its another bike shop... if you get my meaning, so i cant help but think Rob W has pulled out (not to vilify him, i have no idea he personal circumstances!).

Shame and all the best to them.

doubt there is even much call for high end fixies or dutchees if they even exist? there is just no point having a nice bike in London, sooner or later it WILL get stolen.

Great shop, great coffee, good brand IMO. Not sure why it is closing, they dont say, particularly. Its a tough market full stop. Looked like it worked but perhaps, outside of the time I was popping in there, it didnt get the footfall of coffee gulpers required to sustain it at a level where the owners cut a reasonable profit.

doubt there is even much call for high end fixies or dutchees if they even exist? there is just no point having a nice bike in London, sooner or later it WILL get stolen.

eh? i have loads of nice bikes (well 5) and live in London but never had one stolen in 20 years, but then i dont ever lock £2-4k bikes up in the street 🙄

though i did once see a Dean TI hardtail nicked from outside the apple store in seconds, the owner had used a £5 thin cable lock??

i lost 3 in 2 years! my brother has lost the same. My dad and his mrs had all 6 of their bikes nicked in one hit that were locked up, in a locked cage, in a locked basement garage with cctv and 24hr concierge!

so sad. I actually have a SoHo Bikes Tee on today! I noticed on their social output (which was excellent btw) that a few months back they took some unusual changes to their openings- including closing completely at weekends- which always struck me as troubling especially in retail. I couldn't work out what benefit that was to them. This can't have been an easy decision. I haven't seen Rob mention anything on social media either given that it very much was his profile that kicked it off in 2014. And only the other month, he/they heralded the return of the great 'SohoBikes TV' His name was missing from the official notice too i saw, with only Nick's on the press release.. potential falling out?

Loved the store, and although I'm not local it was always a destination when in London for me. Their media presence was great, production quality and the YouTube interviews and general brand was brilliant. Feel for the guys involved.

oikeith - Member
This, I recently went up to visit a friend and ride the Surrey Hills from Devon and jesus christ was I let down by what was on offer, I plan to never visit it again!

I hope by Devon, that doesn't include Haldon, as that definitely fits into the "what a let down" category 😛

Some of the best riding in the [s]county[/s] southern England

Emphasis on some. There are always better places, but compared to a lot down south, it's pretty good.

No, it's not the Lakes, but that's very different style of riding anyway.

What we've got is a good few hours of fun and no need to be gearing up for an epic trip just to get a good ride in 😉 . Though plenty of epic opportunity also.

Other thing is many may only see the Peaslake hub of Surrey Hills. The area and trails goes way further. Spans the North Downs from Box Hill, Greensands Ridge and right across to Hindhead. And then there's bucket loads of stuff in surrounding lands (when the MoD isn't being an arse about it).

But in perspective, UK as a whole has way more to offer, and I love the variety it all offers (if you ignore the trail centres).