Stu Tyrrell
Honestly… I’m not a bike man… well I wasn’t originally. I started off in retail as any normal 16 year old, doing anything for a bit of cash and ended up in a clothes shop.
Selling suits and shoes to old men really didn’t float my boat and so I quickly moved on to a well established national bike/automotive chain. I worked my way through various posts until I was offered a full time position in the bike department. I instantly took this as an insult, having no interest in bikes and (to be honest) not having the greatest working relationship with the staff on that department already.
However I needed a full time job and it happened to be working with two wheels instead of four. This totally changed my outlook on bikes, I got bitten… bad.
Bike oil started running through my veins from then on and I loved working on bikes. Unfortunately I wasn’t in a position to be able to work on high end machines, but tinkering with bikes, learning how they worked and being able to share that knowledge with people was fantastic. My first “proper” bike that I purchased was on the cycle to work scheme and it was a carbon Merida race bike, I thought it was the bee’s knees.
Not being able to ride more than 10 miles without feeling dead though was proving a problem, but I persisted doing more and more miles and going out for longer and longer.
July 2009 I did a sponsored cycle ride with four friends around Austria, Italy and Switzerland, 1000k in 14 days, it was quite something and was definitely where my passion for road bikes developed.
End of 2009 I wanted to develop my skills and specialise with road bikes more and it was when I cycled past a little shop in Bildeston, in the middle of nowhere that my chain snapped and I was given a glimpse of my future. Rob and Mat were more than kind and helpful and even fixed my bike for free as I had no money and as they say the rest is history. I started working at the shop 1st December 2009 and haven’t looked back since. I’m now fully Cytech qualified to level 2 and have a DT Swiss wheel building certificate to go along side it.
I work in the shop to share my passion with like minded people. Whether you’re just starting out or seasoned roadie, we are approachable cyclists so don’t be afraid to have a chat. I feel that I’m one of the most privileged people in the bike industry; to work with the people, in the shop and with the kit that I do.
