Mountain Bike Shops
Wildside, Tunbridge Wells
77- 83 Camden Road Tunbridge Wells, TN1 2QL Tel: 01892 527 069
Items purchased:
- Full suss Specialized XC Bike
- Rock Shox Revalation Air Forks
- Rock Shox Monarch Rear Shock
- Numerous spares
- Giro XC helmet
- Shimano winter spd shoes
- Numerous spares for bike
- Camelback 1.5L hydration pack
Wildside in Camden Road, Tunbridge Wells is an independently run sales and repair shop.
You can expect to find a cross section of complete road and Mountain bikes on the ground floor with clothing and equipment upstairs.
I've had a full range of 'customer experience' here from highly satisfied to beside myself with frustration. Understanding that they're a small business that needs to make sales helps to some extent.
If it's a busy Saturday and the staff are busy selling mid range Specialized bikes to people that work in the city who fancy a pedal around Bewl water, they're not going to be in a hurry to tell you if they've got a Avid brake rotor in stock and will often ignore you. If you can catch them on a weekday you can get friendly and knowledgeable service the way you might expect at any time.
The service depart has some technically competent and experienced staff and is the kind of place to take your bike when something serious has happened to it. It is possible some times to have same or next day repairs done if the parts are available but don't bank on it as there can often be a queue of about 5 working days. In the past the younger members of the repairs team have been surly and unhelpful to the point where they might as well be telling you to fu*k off somewhere else but recently seem to have had a change of attitude and been a bit more how you'd want.
If you need expert advice and repairs or a wide range of clothing to try on then it's the place to go.
Cycles UK, Tunbridge Wells
Cotswold Outdoor, 95-97 Mount Pleasant Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN1 1QG Tel: 01892 528971
Items purchased:
- Bell Bellistic Helmet
- Wheel repair
- Clear glasses
- Numerous spares
Cycles UK has Branches in both Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells
The Tunbridge Wells branch doesn't hold a lot of stock and seems to be geared mainly towards 'family cycling'. They have a repairs department where they offer strip down and rebuild services's and seem to be able to manage same day repairs if the work is straight forward and any parts needed are there.
If you take a more complicated job to them such as replacing a oddly sized rear shock, they'll put a fair bit of effort in phoning around and trying to find out what needs to be done but not quite get there in the end. On that particular occasion I left the question with them and never heard anything about it again, but having no confidence didn't pursue the matter as I'd already taken the job elsewhere. If you want them to true a wheel or sell you some gloves, they'll deal with it quickly and cheerfully.
Quench Cycles Bedgebury, Kent
Bedgebury Road, Goudhurst, Kent, TN17 2SL Tel: 01580 879694
Items purchased:
- Citrus degreaser
- Mini Pump
Helpful with technical questions with a small range clothing bikes and accessories.
Wiggle.co.uk
Online only
Items purchased:
- Track pump
- Pedals
- Seatpost
- Muc-Off
- Chain Lube
Wiggle are pretty reliable for most common MTB stuff such as parts and accessories. In my quest for rear shocks I found they didn't stock many at all. Their ecommerce system works well for general purchasing and discounts
I had a problem with them last year when my order hadn't turned up I was informed that Citilink Couriers tried to deliver twice but found the delivery address to be closed. Citilink said they had left calling cards on both occasions but there was no sign either. The delivery address I'd given was my work address which is open and full of people in all weekday working hours, receiving other courier deliveries on a daily basis..
I emailed Wiggle to ask where my stuff was. They told me to contact Citilink. I tried twice to phone Citilink and was put on hold for 45mins then half and hour. I complained to Wiggle who informed me to take the matter up with Citilink
I felt annoyed that I'd paid for next day delivery and hadn't got it through no fault of mine and Wiggle were basically telling me it wasn't their problem. My options with Citilink were to pay for another delivery or pick it up from Maidstone (an hour away). Additionally, I couldn't get through to Citilink and I knew that as I wasn't directly Citilinks customer it would be a big struggle to get my stuff by the time I needed it without paying extra.
I emailed Wiggle and informed them that if they didn't sort it out I'd post the details of my customer experience everywhere I could on the internet. The delivery arrived the next day.
Since then I've made one other order which was fine and arrived when it was supposed to as has a colleague in the same building.
