Freewheel and Ron Kitching

[hookooekoo]

 

[hookooekoo]

Ron Kitching 1990, Pages 2-3, PACE

 

[pebble]

Sure I have the 1992 Freewheel catalogue somewhere...

 

[raidan73]

I forgot about Ron Kitching

 

[hookooekoo]

Sure I have the 1992 Freewheel catalogue somewhere...

I can't remember how long the Freewheel catalogue ran for. It was fairly easy to get hold of. I think WH Smith stocked it in their magazine racks. I'm sure Freewheel had a bricks and mortar shop in Brighton at one point. And I remember going to the Freewheel clearance event once or twice in London. When we got there we found that some people had camped outside to make sure they were at the front of the queue.

I forgot about Ron Kitching

Ron Kitching had the Suntour groupsets within its pages. Whereas Freewheel had the Shimano groupsets. I think Freewheel might have been a Shimano importer, but I'm not sure. Was the Madison brand owned by Freewheel? They always seemed to have a lot of Madison branded stuff.

 

[Nickinthecorner]

racks. I'm sure Freewheel had a bricks and mortar shop in Brighton at one point.

This rings true for me - memory is fuzzy but I bought my first mountain bike as a teenager from what seemed to me at the time a large showroom in Brighton, could well have been Freewheel, after probably a couple of years of saving my paper round money and browsing Freewheel catalogues picked up from a small town Sussex newsagent. This would have been late eighties and the bike was a MASSIVE Specialized Hardrock

 

[hookooekoo]

This rings true for me - memory is fuzzy but I bought my first mountain bike as a teenager from what seemed to me at the time a large showroom in Brighton, could well have been Freewheel, after probably a couple of years of saving my paper round money and browsing Freewheel catalogues picked up from a small town Sussex newsagent. This would have been late eighties and the bike was a MASSIVE Specialized Hardrock

Doing a paper round was an obvious source of income for youngsters who were into cycling. I saved most of my paper round income each week, and it paid for two bikes.

I think the biggest bike shop in Brighton was Rayment's. It's still there. There was another smaller cycle shop near the arches, but I can't remember exactly where.

I think the Freewheel shop was midway along Air Street, a little pedestrianised street near the clock tower. It's gone now, but there's now an Evans Cycles a bit further along on the same street.

 

[boy"O"boy]

I can't remember how long the Freewheel catalogue ran for. It was fairly easy to get hold of. I think WH Smith stocked it in their magazine racks. I'm sure Freewheel had a bricks and mortar shop in Brighton at one point. And I remember going to the Freewheel clearance event once or twice in London. When we got there we found that some people had camped outside to make sure they were at the front of the queue.

Remember the Freewheel sellout out day in Croydon very well. My dad drove 4 of us in the Renault Espace eagerly anticipating bargains.
My mate bought a 704XT frame that had the rear end crushed....straightened it out himself and rode it hard for several years! Most of us came away with clothing, avocet 30's and saddles.

Here's mine.... and the addresses of the stores in 1992.

Cheers.
boy"O"boy

 

[gtturbo]

I hate to think how many times I drooled over that 89 catalogue. I also remember the Pimlico store well. My brother picked up some Grafton speed controllers stupidly cheap in there. Then being a Uni student he no doubt needed money for beer so sold them to me even cheaper

 

[hookooekoo]

Remember the Freewheel sellout out day in Croydon very well. My dad drove 4 of us in the Renault Espace eagerly anticipating bargains.
My mate bought a 704XT frame that had the rear end crushed....straightened it out himself and rode it hard for several years! Most of us came away with clothing, avocet 30's and saddles.

I think the one I went to was in North London. I'm sure I remember travelling to Harrow, or somewhere around that area.