Rutland Cycling opened its first branch on Spring Bank Holiday 1981 in the Whitwell car park at Rutland Water. The Whitwell shop doubled in size in 1986 to cope with the ever increasing demand for cycle hire and sales.The shop stayed this way for over ten years until a new building, 3 times the size of the old one, was opened in April 1997. This is the building which is photographed above and has allowed us to carry a much greater range of stock. The shop has since been extended several times until it has reached the current size of over 11,000 sq ft!!
Whitwell is Rutland Cycling's biggest shop. This is the shop to go to if you want the largest choice of cycles and accessories. The shop has two floors with the cycle hire, clothing, accessories and workshop on the ground floor and bike sales on the first floor. The shop is staffed by dedicated cycle enthusiasts who will give you all the advice you need from buying a pump to a cycle. The shop is open seven days a week so come along and have a look at our massive range of cycles and cycling products.
The Whitwell Centre is based in the right hand side of the Whitwell Car Park next to the climbing wall. Whitwell is on the North Shore of Rutland Water. The entrance to this Car Park is sign posted from the A606 and is between Oakham and Stamford. The A1 is approximately 7 miles away and Rutland Water is sign posted from the A1.The Parts & Accessories department started as an offshoot of the initial hire business, which simply meant selling bottles, cages, tubes, clip-on mudguards and cheap pumps. As visitor numbers rose and bikes began to be sold the demand for a wider variety of Parts & Accessories also grew and soon we were selling exciting new products like Cycle Helmets, lights and computers.
Along with new sales the workshop department also developed with an increasing number of services and repairs that required replacement and alternative parts.As the complexity of the sport developed so too did the demands for optional extras and better quality “upgrades”, each season would bring its new innovations which would have to be stocked, and stocked with alternatives to offer multiple choices to our customers.
So now we find ourselves not only selling bottles cages and tubes, but also the latest Global Positioning System so you know where on the mountain you are, a front light that is brighter than a car headlight (and which will set you back £895) and a Full face downhill racing helmet made of carbon fibre.Our maxim now is to stock the widest range of Parts & Accessories and to offer customers a selection of options to suit their level and budget, along with providing the best customer service with sound practical advice and product knowledge.