We are all about people..
Our passions are bikes, riding bikes, great coffee, great food and the stunning Yorkshire Dales but above all it's our people!
Our great staff team, colleagues friends we are like a family. We work together, laugh together and often ride together. Some of our team have been here since the day we opened back in December 2009. You'll meet some of them while you're here.. Clare, Martha, Jan, Olivia, Claire, Jarvis, Georgia, Penny, Ian, Ben, Janice, Yvette.
Our great suppliers we've built relationships over the years that we love to chat with, laugh with, talk product and haggle prices. People like Rad Adam of Orange Bikes, 'Rock'n'Roll Colin of Garners Fruit & Veg, Cheesy Clare of The Cheese Stall, the 'Hammonds Crew' our butchers of Bainbridge, Roy the egg of the Wensleydale Egg Company, JMP Steve with daily news updates, we really could go on....
Our customers and friends, you ladies and gents boys and girls are what make us tick! You make us smile, laugh, question ourselves, question 'is this right', inspire us to do our best, get it right and do it better.
Our greatest asset is our people...
What was before Dales Bike Centre?
Prior to opening Dales Bike Centre Stuart and Brenda ran a mountain biking business from their home nearby - Dales Mountain Biking. Starting out in 1996 with just 10 second hand bikes and a lot of enthusiasm!
Brenda is the Cafe & Cakery fairy as well as the business number cruncher. Bren is by far the busiest person here... Baking cakes, sorting cakes, researching cakes, ordering ingredients for cakes along with everything else for day to day running of a busy cafe. As if that isn't enough she fits in number crunching for the accounts and anything else to help smooth running of the bike centre. She was born in Swaledale, moved away for further education at 16years old, teaching Outdoor Education was her vocation culminating in a Masters Degree in Education Management and being Head of an Outdoor Education Centre. Lured back to Swaledale by the love of a man and his bikes, Bren is also a Cycle England qualified Mountain Bike Leader so knows a thing or two about bikes too.
Stu is a biking nut! (apparently an 'old skool' nutcase!) Usually found in and around the bike shop, behind a computer screen, riding bikes or just doing whatever needs doing next. Stu is also a retained fire fighter for North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue so apologies if all of a sudden he drops everything and is off in a bit of a hurry. A Cytech qualified bike technician with 20 years of experience, Cycle England Advanced Mountain Bike Leader, first aid qualified and in his previous life a mechanical maintenance engineer, YHA assistant, builders labourer and tractor driver. All these skills come in to good use almost every day whilst ''living the dream";-)
We are really proud of the team we have working with us here, we all live nearby and dare we say but everyone is 'local'. Being part of the community, adding to the community and the local economy was always one of our aims. Clare and Katy have worked with us since the day we opened. Ian and Yvette have been part of the team here for over 6 years and Jan a relative new comer has been with us for 4 years. Young Sam and Clare's daughter Paige started with us working weekends and school holidays, picking up some good life skills when it comes to working as part of a team and dealing with the great British public. We're really proud of the team we have here they'll all do their utmost to make your visit at really pleasant one.
We really hope you enjoy your Dales Bike Centre experience whatever you're up to, and please do say Hi.
Eat - Sleep - Ride - Repeat