Bridgegate Cycles

03/04/2026

We are open this morning

30/03/2026

29/03/2026

Eddy Merckx racing bike. Are you looking for a project bike to fix up? All of these bikes are in need of some loving care, will you see one you like the look of? These bikes may have been ridden hard, and may be seized up, and have damage that prevents them being ridden straight away, but everything can be repaired if you can give it some time, passion and a few pounds. I’ve kept hold of some bikes over the years and not stripped them for any parts, wanting to keep the original parts together and in the hope of maybe restoring them sometime or finding them a better home than the scrap man. Whats this one worth?

29/03/2026

Beeston Sports Step Through bike, nice forks, dynahub, Sturmey Archer 3 speed rear hub with July 1956 date. Are you looking for a project bike to fix up? All of these Barnfind Bikes are in need of some loving care, will you see one you like the look of? These bikes may have been ridden hard, and may be seized up, and have damage that prevents them being ridden straight away, but everything can be repaired if you can give it some time, passion, mechanical sympathy and a few pounds. I’ve kept hold of some bikes over the years and not stripped them for any parts, wanting to keep the original parts together and in the hope of maybe restoring them sometime or finding them a better home than the scrap man. Whats this one worth? it needs a lot of work, but can you find another? it's built like a tank.

28/03/2026

What's the bike in the window this week? I started to give the shed a spring clean and i’ve found an old bike that takes me back to where it all began.

My Dad had bought me a new to me Raleigh Arena racing bike with 26 x 1+3/8 wheels, i must have been 7 or 8 years old, we found it advertised second hand in the Retford Times mini ad’s, and picked it up from near Geoffrey Allison’s bike shop in Worksop. It was a great bike, a bit heavy but it rolled along and helped me imagine riding in the Tour de France. I don’t have the Arena anymore it went to a new owner and the cash I got went towards a bigger racing bike for me. I took part in the Retford Help the Aged Bicycle Marathon on the Arena, that started and finished at the Rugby Club in Ordsall, three laps, of 8 mile laps around the old London Road course makes up 26 miles, I can remember getting to the front because i wanted a good start, and then getting lapped by a well drilled group from a proper cycling club. That was at the beginning of the 1980’s and then… BMX arrived, and my Racer wasn’t very good at doing jumps or stunts. I wanted a BMX. My mates were all getting one. And then my Cub Scout Pack (7th Retford) announced we could take part in a Bicycle Moto Cross Race in the woods at Whisker Hills near Babworth. I needed an off road bike. Dad came up with a solution, using somebody’s donated old bike, it was rusty, but it was free and Dad said we could make it work using some parts from my old bike. It was a Raleigh RSW (Raleigh Small Wheel) that used sixteen inch wheels with very wide two inch tyres designed to run at low pressures, the same size as the sixteen inch wheels that were on my first new bike that I got when i was five, a Raleigh Speedway that’s frame was now way too small for me. Dad and I went about making a modified bike out of the two. We removed the wheels with the heavy Dyno-Hub and the Sturmey Archer three speed gears, the mudguards and rack as well, and fitted the handlebars, padded saddle and single speed wheels from the Speedway. The RSW paintwork was all scratched and i covered it in electrical tape at first but eventually I painted it with Blue Hammerite. It got called the Kronk. On race day, I lined up on the start line with my three competitors next to me and the starting whistle blew, they were off, all three of them left me on the start line. The Kronk has a larger than your average kid’s BMX, 46 tooth front chainring, and combined with a 14 tooth rear sprocket made for a really big gear, (it's like only having fifth gear in a car, when the others only have second) so it takes a while to get up to speed, but I over took all of them and won the race, it’s the only ‘official’ race I’ve ever won and I keep telling myself there’s still time for another. Does anyone out there recognise any of the riders in the photos or remember taking part in the Cub Scout bike race in Whisker Hills or in the bicycle marathon?
I took the Kronk for a ride down memory lane the other day (actually down Strawberry Road to the Skatey), We used to spend hours here, doing jumps out of the bowl, I learnt how to do a ‘Tabletop’ at the Skatey, a jump where you lay the bike down flat in mid air, and then bring the wheels back to land straight, a Lad called Jacko taught me the technique, please get in touch if you remember?
Surprisingly after at least forty years, the Kronk still rides ok, and put a smile on my face, and reminds me not everything has to cost the earth.
I will be cleaning out the rest of the shed over the Easter Holidays and will post pictures of any interesting bikes I find in the comments below. I’ve kept hold of some bikes over the years and not stripped them for any parts, wanting to keep the original parts together and in the hope of maybe restoring them sometime or finding them a better home than the scrap yard.
Are you someone who wants a project bike to fix up?
All of these bikes are in need of some loving care, will you see your 'new' bike in the comments?
These bikes may have been ridden hard, and may be seized up, and have damage that prevents them from being ridden straight away, but everything can be repaired if you can give it some time, passion and a few pounds.
I’ve already serviced a few of the better ones and got them ready to go, and they are in the shop now, come and have a look.
Will you be Lucky and find your Easter Egg in the comments?

14/03/2026

Someones got a new Hair Do ! We need a name for our mannequin, please add your ideas for her name in the comment’s. Local Artist Jenna Corbett created this wig for a fancy dress party out of old inner tubes. We have always recycled as much as possible at Bridgegate Cycles and we love repurposing old parts and helping Artists or Upscalers.
Over the years we have seen many uses for what other people call rubbish, we say make it what you want, sprocket coasters, chainring clocks, bar stools, house numbers, chandeliers, coat hangers, supports for farm machinery, wind chimes, dream catchers, door handles and halloween stagecoaches, the list goes on and on.
We even helped with parts for a statue to commemorate the Tour of Britain coming to our area, if you had a new chain and cassette fitted here before 2017 there is a high probability your old parts are now in Sconce and Devon Park in Newark as part of a cycle statue designed by Sculptor Phil Neal made out of worn out chainrings and cassettes.
All of our cardboard from packaging gets reused (as packaging). If you need a bike box, we save them with the bits to stop the bike damaging itself in transit, you can pick one up from the shop for a small donation to charity. In the past, if we have too much cardboard we have taken it to Cutts Brothers Recycling in Doncaster where they pay about £150 a tonne. Our inner tubes get returned to Schwalbe in Germany to be made into new tubes, they pick them up for free but won’t take any that have had sealant in them. Unusable components that are made from metal get saved up to take to A1 metal recycling in Elkesley.
That leaves us with very little to actually call rubbish.
Have a look in the comments for Jenna’s Instagram and Phil’s website.

28/02/2026

To celebrate Bridgegate Cycles now being old enough to buy its own beer, I rewarded random customers today with some birthday cake to thank them for all their support.
Turning 18 is a significant milestone for anyone, and a time for me to reflect on almost two decades of swimming against the tide of decline of the UK high street.
I opened Bridgegate Cycles in 2008 in the same location as a bike shop I frequented as a young boy growing up in Retford, there were five cycle shops back then and L.G.Wyse on Bridgegate was the oldest one, it closed in the 1986, but had serviced the bicycles and cyclists of Retford for over 100 years. Someone who used to work at the shop told me they used to repair more than 400 bikes a week here in the 60’s, Hallcroft road would see over a hundred women cycling 4 abreast leaving work from making clothes at meritina, the ‘traffic’ at home time in town was all people on bikes, and the workers regularly needed their bikes fixed, Retford had lots of Factories back then. Legend has it, In the 1950’s the first British wearer of the Tour de France’s Yellow Jersey (Tom Simpson) used to buy new dynamo bulbs here on his way home to Harworth from his job as a draughtsman at Retford Engineering company Babcock Jenkins.
In my years at 33 Bridgegate i have met and helped lots of cyclists, some have ridden many miles, i met a Lady in her 60’s once who had ridden all the way from Germany, we fixed her luggage rack and she continued on her way to up to Glasgow to visit her family. Just last week I helped a couple who had come up on the train from London, and were riding back on a Tandem they had bought the same day in Doncaster.
A lot of the repairs we see through the workshop are bikes that are used for short journeys only, they might be owned by somebody who just uses their bike to do the shopping or ride to school or even go down the pub.
We usually have a racing bike in the window, and some people think that’s all we do, and while you can sometimes meet a Grand Tour stage winner or an Old National Champion in the shop, they will probably be stood behind someone with a wheelbarrow or pram in the queue. There’s not much i can’t fix, and i love solving the problems.
We have had the pleasure of supporting many events over the years, including the Guide Dogs Le Tour challenge, the Harworth and district Cycling Club Tuesday Time Trial, The Retford Lions Club Tour of Retford, Amstel Standing and the Scout Post, to name a few, sorry if i’ve missed mentioning you.
It's been really nice getting to know my customers over the years. They are very loyal and there are quite a few whose parents had brought them here to get their first bikes and are now bringing their children or grandchildren for new bikes or repairs.
And so we are 18 years old, and I intend to celebrate. I am planning a series of events, day’s out and rides for the months ahead, some small and rather personal and sentimental, others on a bigger scale. In all, I hope to reach a lot of people to whom we owe thanks, not only our working colleagues within the industry but also the legions of bicycle riders and believers who through the years have helped us grow.

13/02/2026

Don’t forget the special one in your life this weekend, your adventurous partner. Your bike may have been in the shed since last summer, or even worse left out in the winter elements, why not treat your bike to a spring time deep clean, a maintenance check or upgrade some components before the promised long summer days arrive, its the perfect time to ensure it is running smoothly for spring time.

16/12/2025

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