It's official! We have a Blog!
- 18 Oct, 2018
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With the season coming to an end, we are thrilled to see that the weather is still warm, in October?! but who's complaining ;) Half term is just around the corner which hails our final push of the year, however we do try to stay open all year round. So, since this is our first blog, what's new this year? Well E-Bikes are our big change, we bought in four Dawes step through hybrid bikes, as well as a smaller folding E-bike! Being skeptical at first, they have proven to be more and more popular everyday, electric bikes are certainly leading the way in the future of cycling, plus they are so much fun! Our summer season was extremely busy and we have entered into our end of season bike sale to make way for our new models, which is equally exciting in itself!
Being new to Cornwall myself, working so closely to the Camel Trail has taught me so much about the heritage in the surrounding areas, the trails themselves are beautiful and I have already used them to walk or ride home. We recently added a new video to our site made by our family friend Ashley Morgan at AVM Video and Photography, which shows the estuary towards Padstow by drone! (Check them out on Youtube). We get a lot of customers from all over the world and recently had a lovely couple from Boston, they told us they travel everywhere but have never seen countryside like Cornwall, truly unique, which makes us feel even more lucky to be here. Wadebridge (where we are based), is filled with local businesses and is truly a quaint town to visit.
Well, I will end this post by saying thankyou for reading our first of many ramblings! Theres so much to say, but lets not cover it all in one go :)
Teresa
We do hope yo see you this summer, please book a minimum of a week in advance, we had to turn away so many customers last year.
Ok so it has been alittle while since there has been a post… but I had actually blogged since then and for some reason it never uploaded :( I was silly and didn’t write it all down first. I have learnt from my mistake and have written this down separately too hehe
We are pretty much officially back in season! Wooooo! The days have gotten longer and busier. We have a lot of new bikes added to the fleet, we have Konas back!! they are absolutely stunning and go nicely with the Lyras and Cape Wraths. We are also getting into the part of the year where you must book in advance to guarantee bikes, soon it will be atleast 2 days in advance!
The Royal Cornwall Show is on its last today too, it was crazy getting into work, its only a 10 minute drive and it takes over an hour, lucky we left suuuuper early and opened up on time, but if you are reading this today, make sure you schedule extra time for your travelling. Im not sure if anyone reads these blogs to be fair, its just me rambling away haha, but if you do, please give us a follow on our twitter page as we are a little lonely there :-P https://twitter.com/CamelTrailBikes
Moving on to the actual shop itself, we have almost built all the new bikes, almost! maybe 7 to go which isnt a lot at all. Building bikes with cold hands is not fun though, when they are finished however, it is so satisfying! We did have a question recently asking why we go through so many bikes.... well.... wear and tear! Hire bikes are used and adjusted so many times, different shaped and sized people, different riding styles. A single bike durng the season may go out upto 3 times a day for almost continuous use! So you will find that they get worn a lot faster, we do keep our bikes for upto 3 seasons and then they are sold and new ones come in, it keeps our stock fresh :) With personal bikes, you may have it for years, this simple isnt the case for hire bikes. Despite being kept uptodate on their servicing, it is much more efficient to keep the stock fresh.
Thats all for now, do keep visiting the ebay page for new stock, as the season starts to come in, we will have a lot more on there!
Thats everything for now :) see you soon!
Terri
So ive been continuing with eBay, stuck on the phone with eBay for hours on end... fun. But the stock is evermore increasing on there! havent had first sale yet but i have my fingers crossed for a turnaround soon. We have also started to take bookings for half term, can you believe how quickly that has come around?? One moment Cornwall is quiet and quaint... the next it's bustling as the holidaymakers work their way down the country, the atmosphere changes and its like the whole of Cornwall becomes a resort, it's a great time of the year meeting people from all walks of life. I always like to have a good chat with our customers as we are setting them up, exchanging stories and of course talking about the weather in true British style.
The social side of the business is a little quiet at the moment but that is sure to change quickly, the on season isnt far away at all!
Well my day is coming to an end here, so ill say goodbye until next time!
On a bike note, we have gotten in so much new stock now, both Dawes and Claud Butler, a new bike is so lush. I cannot wait to see the new Kona's soon aswell! I have had the luxury of being able to build some of the new ones which has been SO much fun. We have also made some other changes... We have eBay!! www.ebay.co.uk/usr/bikesmartcornwall We have some accesories and even some new bikes on there :)
Well, I definitely wont leave it so long for another blog post, Christmas got in the way :-P
See you soon!
It is almost December and all the Christmas lights have officially gone up around the towns, my favourite time of the year! The festivals and food markets around Christmas are amazing, you find little treasures that dont appear at any other time of the year, Yorkshire Pudding wraps?! That's just for starters! We will be heading to the Plymouth Christmas Market this time, and not forgetting the StarBucks Eggnog Latte!
Onto Bike Smart news! We are literally just about to put up our Christmas stock posts, so dont forget to check our social channels to see what is available, we have NEW and used bikes for sale, along with various helmets and accessories. The new bikes like amazing! We also have some brand new folding electric bikes for sale as well as mountain bikes, go check it out!
I have also added a small personal touch to the gallery with images kindly gifted from members of the public, awwwwww. There are more changes to come including our shop items and Christmas bikes so definitely watch this space!
Christmas is next month?! Seriously?! 2019 is just around the corner, Halloween over, Bonfire night over…. Christmas and New years to go! My favourite time of the year :) Not everyone’s cuppa tea but I am a Christmas FANATIC, it’s taking all of my willpower not to put the decorations up now, though I do know a few people that have already. Cornwall is great for Christmas market’s so if you are visiting be sure to check these out!
We are currently going through a small revamp, I’m attempting to install a weather widget onto the website so you can keep uptodate with our wonderful climate lol. Also a messenger chat so you can directly contact us! We are hoping this will be possible pretty soon, so bare with us.
Oh! Lastly, if you check out our Facebook page, I have recently asked members of the public to post their photos of the Camel Trail and surrounding area’s that they have taken, the responses so far have been lovely! It is so refreshing to see other peoples experiences of the trails aside from our own. Some of these will hopefully make their way to our gallery so if you don’t have Facebook, then head over to our gallery page soon and check them out!
Terri
Half Term is coming to a close and its certainly been a busy week! We get a lot of people asking us when we close for the winter…. well…. we don’t! We try to stay open all year round (disregarding horrific weather days) but a cold snap isnt going to stop us. Winter is our mechanics time to service all the bikes, over 200 of them! We spend the winter preparing for the next season which seems to come around pretty quickly.
The weather seems to be changing quite rapidly now, we had hail all day day yesterday and today is definitely freezing but I am happy to see it hasn’t stopped people wanting to cycle! We also have managed to sell off so many of our X-trail bikes to make way for new ones, still a lot left though so if you are reading this and are in need of a new bike then be sure to call us.
Well my fingers are well and truly frozen so I’m going to sign off, remember to start wearing your thermals!
Terri
