Cycle shop marks 25 years in business

The retailer, located on Tadcaster’s High Street, was born in 1991 when owner David Stainthorpe, who always aspired to own his own bike shop, started repairing bikes in his garage and trading on Dewsbury Market with just £600 worth of stock.

“Selling bikes is in my blood, I guess,” says David. “As a child I would take bikes apart, smarten them up and sell them to friends.”

Cyclesense moved to a small shop in Tadcaster in 1995 but soon outgrew it as word got round of their friendly and knowledgeable little shop, and moved to its current location in 2001.

Since then, Cyclesense has evolved into a ‘destination retailer’, attracting customers from across the north of England due to the quality of service and wide range of bike brands it sells for all cycling disciplines, including road, mountain and especially touring and expedition.

“It only seems like yesterday that we opened our doors, but all these years later we are still here in Tadcaster and going from strength to strength,” added David.

“We’ve had tough times along the way, more recently caused by the floods and closure of the bridge, but Tadcaster is our home, customers visit Tadcaster because of us, and we want to carry on bringing business to the area for another 25 years and beyond.”

In addition to its high street store, which is managed by David’s eldest son, Paul, Cyclesense also runs a second showroom in the centre of the town, devoted solely to children’s cycling, managed by David’s younger son, John.

Together with Paul and John working full time in the business, David’s wife, Sue, and John’s wife, Tasha, are also involved too.

The next generation is already on board in the shape of Sebastian, (David’s three-year-old grandson) who is an expert at demonstrating LIKEaBIKEs and scooters.

The kids store, located just around the corner on Westgate, is one of the UK’s only lightweight kids’ bike dedicated stores, and stocks a wide range of bikes of all sizes for children including brands such as Frog, Dawes and Micro Scooters.