Rutland Cycling - past, present and future
Rutland Cycling began life in 1981 as a simple cycle hire cabin on the shores of newly-created Rutland Water. Founded by lifelong cycling enthusiasts Dave and Ann Archer, who built the original cabin themselves (while living with their young family in a caravan next to the building under construction!), the doors opened on a wet Easter Monday in 1981 and just three people hired bikes. But word quickly spread and by 1990, the Sunday Express had voted Rutland Cycling a "top 10 family day out."
Our first store at Whitwell, Rutland Water was soon followed by a second store on the south shore at Normanton (now Giant Store Rutland). In 1991 we branched out further, opening a third shop at Grafham Water, near Huntingdon. Subsequently, we have further added to our family with the opening of our new Peterborough store (2015), the addition of five stores in Cambridge, including Giant Store Cambridge (2016), and stores at Pitsford Water in Northamptonshire (2017), and Nottingham, which incorporates the Specialized Concept Store (2017). In 2019 we opened a new purpose-built store at Everards Meadows, opposite Fosse Park Shopping Centre in Leicester, and the UK's biggest bike shop in Milton Keynes.
In addition to our stores, we continue to build our online presence through our industry-leading website, rutlandcycling.com, where you can browse and purchase our full product range for free home delivery, or click & collect nationwide.
For us, it's about more than 'just' retail: what makes our business stand out is that powerful combination of product, location and service. Nowhere else in the UK can you see, touch and test ride such a wide range of bikes on our beautiful, peaceful, traffic-free trails, while receiving friendly, expert advice from our team, booking in for a state-of-the-art, HD motion capture Retul bike fit, joining one of our regular free rides or seminars, or taking advantage of our unique courtesy bike scheme when you bring your bike in for a repair.
Our community work
We love cycling! And right from the start, we have sought to share our passion for two-wheeled travel with our local communities. In the '80s, you'd have found us out and about teaching Cycling Proficiency in local schools; today, in addition to our work with schools, we also deliver community maintenance classes and 'Bike Doctor' events, beginners' road rides, Breeze women's rides, MTB night rides and regular seminars.
And we enjoy offering proactive support to our local charity partners - this year, we are supporting MIND local offices across our store network, with fundraising, event support and awareness.
Working for Rutland Cycling
Rutland Cycling is one of the UK's leading independent cycle retailers. We're much more than your average bike shop, and our people play a key role in making our company stand out from the crowd. We are incredibly proud of our team, who deliver excellent service to our customers every day of the week.
Our aim is to attract likeminded people who have a similar passion for cycling and can contribute to improving the company's performance. That being said, we are also keen to encourage individuality by providing scope for you to demonstrate your unique skills, experiences and background. We will do this by facilitating rewarding careers and a supportive working environment where you will be encouraged to fulfil your full potential.
In recognising that to take up a position with us you could well be having to relocate from some distance away, we are able to provide both financial and practical assistance to smooth the way for you, making the transition as stress free as possible.
Our stores
Across our store network which currently extends across the Midlands from Nottingham to Cambridge to Milton Keynes, we aim to offer the very best place to answer all of your cycling needs - whether that be the latest bikes from the biggest brands, expert advice from our in-store teams, or a cutting-edge bike fit.