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Home Contact Us Feedback Pricing The System Free Servicing FAQ Collection Map Articles/Advice The Care Kit Jobs Warranty Links Specialbike	1st November 2010 20% off parts & labour for all existing customers during November. Now in it's 3rd year, we're again running our November discount offer. 20% off parts and labour for all existing customers. There are no catches, all you have to do to get your discount is: Have used us before. Mention the offer when booking Have your bike put through the System during November 2010 And that's it. We'll automatically apply your discount and you'll get the same great levels of service we provide all year round. So if your bike needs a service or maybe you've been thinking about getting your gears, brakes or something else upgraded - there couldn't be a better time. 30th October 2010 Well it's been such a busy time here in the workshop (excuses, excuses..), that I've only just done the draw for the 5 great prizes from last months open day. Thanks to everyone who came down to see us. The winners (and their fabulous prizes) are: Won by duncanjsinclair – A full service the SCB way. Collection, delivery, a full luxury trip through the system. All labour and up to £100 in parts. Oh yes. Won by james_king – A brand new Specialbike (as built on the day). Possibly even a world record winning bike. Won by niall.ohea – Two new tyres. Come down to the workshop, choose two new tyres from our extensive range and we'll fit them while you wait. Won by debs.wright – A 'get out of jail free' emergency puncture repair card. If you get stuck somewhere with a puncture call us, we'll come straight out and fit you a new tube then and there. NB you must be within our collection area. Valid from 8.30am to 5.30pm, Monday to Saturday, for 1 year. Won by rocketsigns – £50 worth of parts and accessories. These can either be fitted to your bike while we have it going through the system or you can come down, choose what you want and take it away. Please note: Only the first half of each winning email address is shown. If you are one of these lucky people you have been sent a confirmation email with full details. 14th September 2010 It's our Workshop open day this Saturday. Lots of free stuff and win a Specialbike! Just a reminder that this Saturday (from 10am to 3pm) is our workshop open day, with lots of free stuff, food and drink, prizes and much more. After a busy summer fixing bikes, we'd like to invite the good people of Brighton and Hove (and further afield) to come and visit our new workshop and meet the team. From our long-standing faithful customers (thanks to you all, you keep us going) to anyone else who's seen our flyers (and maybe one of the vans tootling around) and wondered just what is it that we do. Come down and see what actually happens behind the scenes when we take your bike away. As with our bikers breakfast last year, we again have five excellent prizes to be won on the day (full details below). No purchase is necessary, just pay us a visit on Saturday to be entered into the draw. To make it worth your while, on the day we will also be: Giving away and fitting lots more of our free bells Pumping up tyres, doing assessments and happily providing advice, thoughts or just stimulating conversation Providing free coffee, juice (and maybe even a few beers in the afternoon if the sun comes out), plus free pastries (just like last year) from the Real Patisserie (yum...) and lots of fruit And in the afternoon we might even have a BBQ (weather dependent) *Among the activities on the day:* We will be attempting to set a world record: the little known one of the most people it has taken to build a bike from scratch to fully functioning in one day. The finished Specialbike will be one of the competition prizes. Come and be part of it! Do you fancy yourself as a bit of a home mechanic? Enter our 'fastest tyre lever in the west' competition (amateurs only). How quickly can you fit a tyre and tube to a wheel and fully inflate it? The winner may even opt to have a future paid trial day (or half day) working at the workshop. Look over and try out some of our lovely Specialbikes. Try a bike with tyres that can never, ever, ever be punctured. Or just enjoy a drink, sit back and soak up some rays (weather dependent) while we pump up your tyres and fit you a shiny new bell. *The Competition prizes:* A full service the SCB way. Collection, delivery, a full luxury trip through the system. All labour and up to £100 in parts. Oh yes. A brand new Specialbike (as built on the day). Possibly even a world record winning bike. Two new tyres. Come down to the workshop, choose two new tyres from our extensive range and we'll fit them while you wait. A 'get out of jail free' emergency puncture repair card. If you get stuck somewhere with a puncture call us, we'll come straight out and fit you a new tube then and there. NB you must be within our collection area. Valid from 8.30am to 5.30pm, Monday to Saturday, for 1 year. £50 worth of parts and accessories. These can either be fitted to your bike while we have it going through the system or you can come down, choose what you want and take it away. Remember, the only way to win one of these prizes is to come down and see us on Saturday and enter into the draw. We are conveniently situated on the NC2 (National Cycle Route 2) just next to Hove Lagoon. For a bird's eye view of where we are, click here. Hope to see you on the day, 26th August 2010 Free bike servicing, same day collections and other news from the workshop. Free servicing: I'm sure that grabbed your attention! As a big thank you to all of you who recommend us, we have launched our referrals reward scheme. It's very simple. From now on, we'll give you 20% off for each new customer you recommend us to. (And discounts accumulate, so send us five new customers and you'll get a 100% discount) There's no paperwork, vouchers or forms to fill in; we've made it really easy for you to get your discount. For full details, click on the following link: http://www.southcoastbikes.co.uk/referrals.asp Same day collections: With the increased capacity available from our new workshop and second van, this spring and summer has been the first where we've really been able to match supply with demand. The average wait for a collection has been just two days and - further pushing the levels of our service - we are now offering same day collections (subject to availability). As ever, live availability information is shown prominently along the top bar on every page on our website; if it says 'today,' then you could have your bike collected and back to you before you know it. More free bells! Following on from the success of last years Free Bells and Breakfast extravaganza, this year we will be throwing open the doors of our new workshop for an open day. With lots more free bells, prizes and more, this is scheduled for Saturday 18th September. Further details to follow. Well that's about it for now. Here's hoping for a bit more summer yet... 1st April 2010 The great workshop move is complete. It's been quite an experience but our workshop move is now complete. We had been in the old one for nearly six years and had completely outgrown it. With the increased space and recent purchase of our second van, we're confident that, throughout this year's busy period, we will be able to carry on providing our high levels of service and next-day turnaround, while keeping the waiting times for collections to a minimum. The new workshop is situated by Hove Lagoon, easily accessible on the seafront (national route 2) cycle path. In keeping with our not being a shop, we are still slightly tucked away, but not too hard to find. For a bird's eye view of where we are now - click here Also, it might still feel like winter but I am assured that good cycling weather is almost upon us. We are working throughout the Easter weekend (except Sunday) so if you would like to beat the warm weather rush and book your bike in, we still have collections available on Friday, Saturday and bank holiday Monday. Click the following link to make an online booking - http://southcoastbikes.co.uk/contact.asp or call us on 01273 202124 Here's looking forward to the sun coming out... 16th February 2010 With our impending workshop move (more on that to come soon) we are looking for a new person to join our team. Could you, or someone that you know, be 'more than just a mechanic'? For full details please see our jobs page. Happy Pancake Day, spring is on its way.. 23rd December 2009 Seasons Greetings from South Coast Bikes. Here's wishing you all the very best for the festive period, followed by what I hope is an enjoyable and fruitful new year. Please click here to see our christmas card. 2009 was quite a year here in the workshop - We serviced more bikes than ever before, had a great 'free bells and breakfast' promotional weekend and I even appeared on national TV! Thank you all for your continuing custom and support - we've got big plans underway for 2010 and look forward to being of service to you wherever we can. We will be available for any bike-related needs on the 29th, 30th and 31st of December and then again from the 4th of January. Peace, grease and goodwill. Paul. 1st November 2009 20% off parts & labour for all existing customers during November. It was such a success last year that we're doing it again. 20% off parts and labour for all existing customers during November. There are no catches, all you have to do to get your discount is: Have used us before. Mention the offer when booking Have your bike collected or drop it off during November 2009 And that's it. We'll automatically apply your discount and you'll get the same great levels of service we provide all year round. So if your bike needs a service or maybe you've been thinking about getting your gears, brakes or something else upgraded - there couldn't be a better time. 14th October 2009 Here's a picture of Steve - winner of first prize from our 'free bells and breakfast extravaganza' together with his transformed bicycle. Steve had two new wheels, a new chain and freewheel, new gear and brake cables, a new front derailleur, full mudguard set and a full service. What a transformation. He sent us the following lovely message a few days after getting his bike back. Dear all at South Coast Bikes, I was thrilled to win the great prize in your competition. The work you've done for me on my bike is fantastic, the bike rides like a dream thanks to your hard work. Thanks for your generosity, friendliness and great work! I will certainly use your services and strongly recommend you. best regards, Steve Henton 23rd September 2009 The power is back on in the workshop and we've just made the draw for our five great prizes from last weeks 'free bells and breakfast extravaganza'. Click on the image to the right to view some excellent photos from the day (thanks Neil). So without further ado the winners are: Won by steve.henton – A completely free service including collection, delivery, labour and all parts (parts up to value of £100). Won by laura – An hour of our time (at the workshop). Would you like a maintenance lesson, learn how to true a wheel, or just have us work on your bike for an hour? Won by jsimpkin – Two new tyres including fitting. Just turn up at the workshop, choose two new tyres and we'll fit them for you then and there. Won by barrywinchester – One of our best selling bike-care kits - delivered to your home, including a demonstration of how to use the items contained within. Won by sara-sx – Finally number five - The mystery prize. What can it be? Answer - A half price service and up to £50 worth of parts for free. (Only the first half of each winning email address is shown. If you are one of these lucky people you'll receive a confirmation email shortly.) For those of you who had never heard of us until we provided you with a free bell - please rest assured, we will NEVER give your email address to anyone else, neither will we bombard you with emails (last year we sent four in total) 23rd September 2009 We have no power here in the workshop today as EDF are installing a new box at the end of the road. It should be back on by the end of the day. Due to the wonders of technology the phones, emails and booking system are all in operation just routing to a different location. I'm then communicating with to the guys in the workshop via mobile. We can't take card payments or print invoices but can do pretty much everything else - though admittedly with a bit of a communication delay. Thank you to everyone whos bike we are collecting or delivering today for your patience (if you had to be patient that is, hopefully you won't even notice). It's all good practice for our disaster management plan. 21st September 2009 A big thank you to everyone who came along on Friday and Saturday to our 'free bells and breakfast extravaganza'. The sun shined down on us, it was a great success and a real pleasure to meet so many local cyclists. We gave away hundreds of our bells, litres of coffee and juice, a lot of fruit and many of the Real Pâtisseries oh so fine croissants and pastries. I do know that we said we would announce the winners of the prize draw today but this has had to be put back by a couple of days as I'm waiting for the photos... 15th September 2009 The SCB free bells, breakfast and more extravaganza…. After a busy summer keeping our local cyclists smoothly rolling, this Friday and Saturday (the 18th & 19th of September) Brighton and Hove’s favourite bicycle mechanics will be emerging from the workshop for their inaugural free bells, breakfast and more extravaganza. Armed with hundreds of our new bells to give away, we're going to get out there and amongst it in glorious Brighton & Hove. Pumping up tyres, oiling chains, providing advice, and supplying and fitting our lovely new bells just for the pleasure of it. To kick it all off we'll be hosting a "Bikers' Breakfast" from 8am-10am on Friday and 10am-Midday on Saturday. It’s taking place on Hove Lawns (directly opposite Landsdowne Place) where as well as giving away our free bells, we'll be supplying juice, coffee, croissants and more. We won't be hard to miss on the day as we'll be accompanied by our new flag (it's massive) and will be the guys in the slightly amusing t-shirts. After this our South Coast Bikes 'Free Bell Distribution Units' will be working their way around the centre of Brighton and Hove to carry out the aforementioned bike maintenance. We’ve also got five great prizes to give away A completely free service including collection, delivery, labour and all parts (parts up to value of £100). An hour of our time (at the workshop). Would you like a maintenance lesson, learn how to true a wheel, or just have us work on your bike for an hour? (Maybe you just fancy a trip to the pub) - whatever you want, it's up to you Two new tyres including fitting. Just turn up at the workshop, choose two new tyres and we'll fit them for you then and there. One of our best selling bike-care kits - delivered to your home, including a demonstration of how to use the items contained within. Finally number five - The mystery prize. What can it be? Anyone can enter into the draw for one of these great prizes. All they have to do is come down and see us at some point on Friday or Saturday. If you can’t make one of the breakfasts or find a ‘Free Bell Distribution Unit’, you can also enter the draw by coming down to the workshop (41 Brunswick Street West, Hove, BN3 1EL) at any time from 8am to 5pm on Friday or 10am to 5pm on Saturday. 1st July 2009 Well I thought this might happen. Three and half months have gone by since the previous entry on this page. It's not that there hasn't been any news here at SCB, it's just that once we get into this - our busiest time of the year, updating the web site tends to take a bit of a back seat. The main news is that we've been working hard fixing bikes. Matching demand to supply in a seasonally affected, growing business such as ours is often difficult but so far during the 09 peak season (from March to September) the longest customers have had to wait for a collection has been a week and the average has been 3-5 days. (If you think this is a lot, call some bike shops and see how long their wait is.) Of course we'd like to get the wait down even further, ideally to just a day or two and to that end we will are planning to move to a bigger workshop over the winter period. We've been in our current one for just over five years and although we'll be sad to leave, we have now quite literally out grown it. In other news I'd like to (belatedly) welcome two new members to the team - Neil and Dave. Neil has extensive experience, especially in the MTB field having worked as a mechanic in a busy workshop in the Alps for the last five years (though he has now broken his arm and is so not fixing bikes at the moment). Dave has just returned from five years living and working in France and also rode across Canada in 2007 (oh I'd love to do that). Welcome to both. Well that's it for now, hopefully it wont be quite so long before I next update this page. 14th March 2009 After many hours work, the two new articles I've been writing over the winter are finished and are now up on the site. Firstly, one question we are often asked is "how best can I look after my bike?" Well, after a lot of time, thought and effort, we're proud to present the SCB guide to looking after your bike - no tools required. The article describes what we believe to be the simplest and best steps you can take that will have the maximum benefit to your riding experience, keeping your bike running as smoothly as possible between services. To complement the article, we are also pleased to announce our new all-in-one care kit containing the four items you will need, as described in the article. See the link for details of the care kit and how to obtain one. Secondly, probably the most common problem we hear of from our customers is difficulty with operating their gears. To try and assist with this I’m also pleased to present another new article – ‘Derailleur Gears: A practical guide to their use and operation’ - full of hints and tips for getting the most out of your gears. 9th March 2009 Spring is most definitely in the air and we are looking for a new member of the Team. Working at SCB involves being much more than just a bike mechanic. If you or someone that you know might be the person we're looking for then please have a look at the details on the Jobs page. 3rd February 2009 The first entry on the new, news page. Very pleased to announce that two new IT features are now fully implemented and operational. Live availability information is now on the web site (just above where you're reading these words). Plus the integration of a TXT reminder facility into the booking system. One of the things customers most often want to know, especially during the busy spring and summer months is how soon we can collect their bike. The web site now checks in real time with the workshop booking system and displays this information along the top bar. Pretty clever. Just in case you're interested - this is done using ASPTear An occasional yet ongoing problem we have experienced is customers forgetting their bookings. Busy people have a lot going on and it happens. To try and help with this, customers (where we have their mobile number) are now sent a TXT reminder with all of the booking details. Depending on the time of the booking this reminder is sent either on the day, or the day before. This is done using Kapow There's more to come. Over the past couple of months (our quiet season) we've been busy here at SCB with a number of projects. I just have to try and keep this page updated...	"Excellent service. Good value. They do what they say they're going to do." Vincent Gizzi