A Little Bit About Us

With our new Cycle Hub in Sheffield City Centre due to open next month we thought we would just remind everyone about what we do.

Since opening in 2012 we have worked hard with lots of other organisations to increase cycling in the city, there isn't one thing you can do to magically make that happen and we know that so we have tried hard to offer many different aspects of the cycling ecosystem to enable more people to pick up a bike and cycle whether that is to help improve your health, help with the cost of living or just because it is more fun we have been here to help

Our City Centre Cycle Hub will join our Meadowhall Cycle Hub as part of a single payment network: One Membership, One Charge, Many Hubs. We hope it will be joined with other hubs around the city too soon. Buts that not the only thing we do.

We've always helped keep peoples bikes maintained, it's where we started and we've made it easier by offering customers Russell's Bicycle Club to spread the cost of maintenance.

Our bike hire service has been around since 2014 and still going strong with comfortable city bikes to hire and even folding bikes to take on the train.

We are growing a wider business customer base for cargo bike deliveries, door to door guarenteed and all without the congestion, noise and pollution from bigger vehicles. It's cost effective for businesses too.

In addition to our Cycle Hubs we've always offered bike racks for organisations to use for events, for cafes to put outside and for private hire.

We're not just an app, you never need to book a space, a repair or your ride you can just turn up. Cycling should be convenient, easy and cost efficient and that's what we want to do to help Sheffield get cycling.

We can't do it without your support and custom, by shopping with us, using our services or just sharing our blog and social media posts you are helping us to support cycling to a much wider community that isn't connected into the usual cycling social media networks.

Thanks Russell

Little And Often

Bicycle maintenance is best done little and often. You may have bought a bike and started using it to save money, this doesn't mean it won’t cost you anything to run, it’s just a lot cheaper than a car or bus.

We’ve always espoused the principle of doing little and often to keep your bicycle in good working order, it's a way to manage the overall costs of running a bike and it will generally mean that as parts wear out they can be replaced without them breaking and potentially putting your bicycle out of action for a period or even worse; causing more damage.

When you bring your bike to our shop whether it be for a simple brake pad replacement or a full service, we carry out a quick visual inspection of the bike along with a few simple checks just to make sure the bike is safe and in reasonable working order. These checks mean we can advise you if we spot anything that may be starting to wear out, or is not working properly.

Bringing your bike in to us more frequently than once a year means we can catch things and identify problems sooner. It will also save you time in the long run and keep your bicycle running smoothly. With your brakes and gears adjusted and tuned, chain cleaned and oiled and tyres inflated to the correct pressures our Tune-Up Service is something you should consider having done regularly, it can be done quickly and if you ride your bike daily will ensure it’s safe and easy to ride.

You don’t have to wait for the ‘Dr Bike’ session to happen we are here in our workshop ready to help and we want to keep you riding so, at only £20, our Tune-Up Service is excellent value for money.

If you are using your bicycle more often and have discovered the joy of riding a bicycle for transport then you may wish to consider signing up to Russell's Bicycle Club, at only £12 per month it’s great value for making sure your bicycle is always running efficiently.

Are we a nation obsessed with Speed!

Many years ago while I was showing my 8 year old nephew my bicycle collection, of which I own N+1, the first question he asked was “which one is fastest”. Clearly he didn’t understand that it wasn’t the bike that was fastest but the person pedalling.

We are a nation obsessed with the speed of a vehicle but we don’t seem to be obsessed with how quick a journey can be. Take our railways for example, many years ago as a child riding British Rail a journey to London would take about 3 hours on an intercity 125. Nowadays that journey time is just over 2 hours on a similar if not the same rolling stock as 30 years ago. Why has this change occurred if the speed of the train is the same, we’ll track improvements have happened and timetables have been altered to allow routes to be more express and to allow trains to go further quicker.

This isn't about speed this is about the journey.

We regularly get asked about ebikes and how fast they go, but just like a normal non electric bike they can only legally go as fast as you can pedal and the motor is there to make cycling the bike easier not faster.

My cycle journey to work over 3 miles takes about 15 mins on the bicycle, with a physical top speed of about 25mph going down Burngreave Road between the traffic lights. How fast can my car do the journey? Well when you take into account that i’d have to find a parking space and walk from there toy work it could take me a whole lot longer. But my car is faster?

I’ve had surreal conversations while stationary at traffic light with drivers who have overtaken me dangerously on roads who complain that I was going too slow, do you see the irony?

Speed is not about the vehicle you are driving/riding it’s about the journey and making it as simple and easy as possible for all road users. Creating more safe space for people to cycle shorter distances means people who have to drive or those that take public transport aren’t slowed down by all those cyclists driving their cars around the city. It can be a concept that many people find difficult to reconcile but it is true and the less we talk about how fast the vehicle can go and more about the speed of the journey the better it will be for all of us.

Multi-Modal?

Just like a Swiss army knife has many tools to allow you to take off into the wilderness and survive, we have numerous tools at our disposal to travel using various forms of transport.

The future of modern transport has to be multi-modal. What does that mean? It’s a silly piece of travel planner lingo meaning more than one form of transport. We do it all the time. If you’ve travelled by train, or flown anywhere or caught a ferry, you’ve done multi-modal, and for long distances we see the advantages, but for shorter distances we seem to be blinkered into believing that car is usually best. Well, let’s help dispel that thought process.

Believe it or not, on many occasions within a city like Sheffield multi-modal travel can be the quickest and cheapest way to get places, but it just takes a little thought and understanding from the traveller, along with a genuine active travel principle applied by the transportation authority and companies to provide the facility.

Take a journey from Ecclesfield to the city centre as an example. For most this would be done by getting into the car on the drive, spending at least 21 mins travelling into the town centre, then another five minutes driving aimlessly around to find a car parking space, and then another couple of minutes paying the time limited parking charge, only to find that you’ve spent at least 30 minutes travelling.

Alternatively you could do it multi-modal, and be quick, efficient, have fun, get healthy and enjoy the journey without stress.

Pick up that bike you bought in the pandemic and cycle along the flat, traffic free and picturesque Blackburn Valley Trail to Meadowhall railway station. This will take about 14 minutes at a gentle pace (Google Maps help with this) along the off road Blackburn Valley Trail. Then park your bike in the high security Russell’s Bicycle Shed cycle hub, which will take you two minutes or less. (And it’s only £5 per month, so a lot cheaper than two hours car parking in town). Then if you time it right, it’ll be only a couple of minutes before a train to Sheffield arrives at the platform next to the cycle parking hub, and with ticket prices starting at £1.90 for the 8 minute journey into town it’s a steal, check out National Rail to find out more. So all in that has taken less time than driving and cost a lot less than using and parking the car.

If you feel like a more scenic route why not try the Supertram which takes a little longer at 19 minutes but gives much more choice in where to disembark, from Commercial Street and Ponds Forge or the Cathederal and Fargate.

If we want to be serious about reducing congestion, making the environment more pleasant for future generations and destressing our travel options, we must all start to think multi-modal.

Let's Talk Bicycle Security

Wherever you park your bicycle, you want to know that it’ll be there when you get back. Bike thefts are on the up locally and nationally, partly caused by the increase in sales and reduction in supply during the pandemic. Bikes of all types are being stolen, to sell on or to break up for parts.

It’s an unfortunate fact of owning a bike that one day it might get stolen, and based on the statistics, it might seem hard to know what you can actually do about it. But there are ways you can make your bike less attractive to a thief when you leave it parked.

First, think about the type of lock you use. There are so many locks on the market and getting one that is appropriate can feel like wading through treacle, so here are a few tips on what to look for:

• Sold Secure logo - independent testing allows you to compare different locks.

• Cable locks should only ever be used as secondary locks, as they are so easy to cut.

• Chain locks can be good for odd shaped bikes, and allow locking to wide objects, but Sold Secure-rated chain locks tend to be very heavy due to the size of the links.

• D-Locks are by far the best solution as a primary lock, and the smaller the better to prevent access for car jacks and crowbars, which are regularly used to lever them off.

• Protect your wheels with locking skewers, just remember to have a skewer key with you if you get a puncture.

Next, consider where you park your bike. Don’t hide it away, thieves love dark corners where pedestrians fear to tread, so they can quietly work on your lock for hours if necessary. Make your bike visible, and lock it to an immovable object, a Sheffield Stand is best, but never lock to a bollard. If you are near to one of our high security cycle hubs, use that but remember to lock your bike up in there too.

Other things to consider are using removable pedals, which are easy to take off and replace, pop them in your bag when you leave your bike: if it can’t be ridden away it’s unlikely to be taken.

Make sure you have photos of your bike and note down any frame numbers. Using Bike Register can also help with recovery if the worst happens, and will also make the bike less saleable on the secondhand market.

If you use your bicycle regularly you’ll understand how important it is, and regardless of how much your bike cost you, its value to you will far outweigh the price of replacing it.

Oxford Shackle 14 Pro 260

£47.00

Sold Secure Diamond Rated D Lock, the best there is. 

Take security of your bike seriously with this diamond rated lock by Oxford. Key operated lock with 3 keys and a key replacement service. This is our best lock available. 

Stop worrying about the security of your bike and enjoy the ride.

Quantity:

Add To Cart

How We Can Help You With Bicycle Parking

It’s always the same, there is never enough cycle parking but always enough car parking. If just one car parking space was given over to cycle parking, even using traditional Sheffield Stands there would be enough parking for at least eight bicycles.

How can we help? Well, we have been in the cycle parking business for a decade now: at first we managed the Cycle Hub at Sheffield Station on behalf of East Midlands Trains, and since then we have tried to expand our offer. We’ve provided bicycle racks for cafes and other businesses to promote cycling to their establishments, and these can still be seen around the city at Peddler Market in Neepsend, Copper Pot Cafe on Division Street, Motore Cafe in Bingham Park and South Street Kitchen at Park Hill. We want to hear from more retailers, cafes and other businesses take us up on this offer, and see how many people we can get cycling for their daily dose. Our racks are lightweight and easy to store, and having them close to where people are seated makes their bicycles more secure.

Since then we’ve helped other businesses to include cycle parking in their offer to customers. We’re working with Northern Railways, Sheffield City Council and others to provide good quality high security provision, but we’ve not, and never will, give up on trying to get more ad hoc simple cycle parking installed across the city too. We want businesses to realise the potential of providing cycle parking by offering temporary stands, which can inform the need for provision, not just in the public realm, but in private locations too.

We want to offer businesses free use of our racks for three months over this summer to allow them to assess the need and best location for bicycle parking provision.

If you know a business that doesn’t have sufficient (or even any) cycle parking provision then get them to contact us, or if you’re from a business looking to provide cycle parking and don’t really know where to start, then please get in touch.

Contact us at neepsend@russellsbicycleshed.co.uk

Goodbye Sheffield Station... Hello City Centre

One cold wet Thursday morning in October 2012 I set up my bike stand and tool box to offer bike repairs and maintenance to the cycling commuters at Sheffield Station in the space that would become the Cycld Hub. After nearly 2 years operating every Thursday, even in temperatures of -6 degrees, and only a few weeks following the Tour De France’s first and only visit to Sheffield, Russell's Bicycle Shed opened to the public offering 5 day a week service at the Station. It’s been nearly 12 years and how the world has changed in that time. We’ve finally closed our doors at Sheffield Station due to the massive change in working patterns caused by the Pandemic and subsequent collapse of the railway network, but those 12 years of operating from the Station has meant we’ve had some amazing experiences, met some wonderful people and made new friends. But times have changed and our business needs to change with them, we’ve had an opportunity afforded to us and we are taking it up by moving our operations to the new City Centre Cycle Hub.

The City Centre Cycle Hub is located in what used to be Telephone House and is now occupied by Vita Student in Charter Square behind the vacant Debenhams building. We're not that easy to spot from the road as our shop front will be obscured by the Furnace Restaurant but we will be doing everything we can to point you in the right direction, a big sign is already on the side of the building. Our workshop will be opening soon once we have the keys and the electricity is switched on, and then we'll be opening the attached high security cycle parking that will join Meadowhall as part of our growing network of high security cycle parking. Our location is going to be in the heart of the new developments in the city and hopefully will encourage more people to ditch the car and cycle to the city.

We'll still be offering our usual workshop and retail services, providing the essentials and we'll also have bike hire available. It’s going to be great and we hope you can help us make it a success.

Our Neepsend Shop will still be open during this period offering repairs and maintenance, secondhand bike sales and bike hire so if you need assistance, are looking for a tune up or just want advice we're here to help.

Customer Support

A simple message from us after all the recent reports about the collapse of the cycling industry. Covid, Br*x*t, the rise and fall of national and local government pro cycling policies, and many other factors mean everyone in the bike industry is struggling just now. We and other local bike shops were key workers and essential services during the lockdown years, fixing bikes every day for other essential workers like doctors and nurses and cleaners and teachers. But those years have now taken their toll on all of us.

We’ve made some changes at the station shop, and we’re now open again there on Mondays and Fridays, and at Neepsend from Wednesday to Sunday. And now the weather is worsening, we’re offering a quick tune up and check service at both our service centres for £20.00.

We give your bike a full safety check, tweak the brakes and gears so they work properly, and pump up the tyres. And if there’s anything seriously wrong, we’ll tell you. Keep your eye on the Better Points App too, as there’ll be a discount for anyone collecting points for making more trips without a car - please tell any friends or colleagues who are just starting cycling, as one of the main issues we see from enthusiastic new cyclists is that their bike is not set up properly, and often not safely either.

Most of us can see that cycling is the future of modern urban travel, but issues outside our control are currently conspiring against us. Cyclists commuting to and from the station have dropped massively, while security at the station means fewer bikes are being left at the hub, while others (and their locks) are abandoned by people who no longer cycle there.

The global industry is slow and bottom-line driven, whereas we are driven very simply by a desire to get (and keep) more people from all over Sheffield cycling.

We offer you support on that aim every day of the week, but at present we need your support back. Local businesses of all kinds need regular local customers to survive and be there for the future, there’s probably just one person behind it all trying to earn a crust.

So just now, that’s what we mean by customer support. Thanks to all of you who are joining us on our mission.