Fred Baker Cycles

Contrary to all the high end bike shops that cater to those who want to buy flashy gadgetry bikes, Fred Baker Cycles is such a breath of relief. Relief that a normal, homely, down to earth cycle shop exists.
The staff here are always friendly and they let you wander around the shop at your own pace, and are always happy to help you out with any biking issue you’ve got and can’t get your head around! They also participate in the work cycle scheme.
This shop is deceptively big — it is very long and goes all the way back, full of bikes and their spares. A great, family run business.

Fred Baker Cycles is a fantastic little family run bike shop on Cheltenham Road. It’s a father and son operation, originally set up by the father, who now is getting a little too long in the tooth, and has handed over the reins to his son. It’s a while since I chatted to them about the legacy f the business, but I think they have been going for over thirty years… or something to that effect.
As you’d expect from a family business, the motivation to open the shop came from a passion about bikes, or perhaps more accurately, a passion for what bikes allows the rider to do.
I pay regular visits to the shop and I’m offered as much of a welcome if I’m coming in purely for advice as I am to buy something. Obviously businesses don’t stay in business if they don’t make money, but everybody at Fred Baker seems to be able to somehow balance their passion for bikes, their willingness to be of help, and making sales s that they continue to succeed commercially, whilst at the same time being incredibly helpful. They do a lot to inspire people to take up biking seriously.

I personally am not an avid cycler, its something I’ve always felt would be good to get into but somehow I just never get round to buying myself a decent bike. Because of this, I had walked past Fred Baker countless times on my way to town without ever heading in until a couple of months ago. My friends and I had decided we we’re going to do a cycle to Bath, and I had heard that this shop lets you hire out bikes so I went along.
Although it is seemingly quite a small shop, when you are inside you realize just how much stuff there really is. They had a good range of bikes on show, as well as plenty more in a catalogue that they could order in for you. I noticed that there was a massive amount of professional cycle related things, and I admit I was slightly out of my depth, but it definitely seems like a great shop if you are into this kind of thing — most of the stuff I had never heard of before!
The staff here were lovely and really helpful, and even though I know little about bikes I definitely rate the store well!

A good trustworthy local bike shop, these guys aren’t going to rip you off, and you know you will get a smile with your service!
The small bike shop on Cheltenham road does not have the largest range of bikes but they have all your basics and a fair few bikes for you to have a good look at when you are waiting to collect your bike!
They know their stuff too, you know that the guys that work here are passionate about what they do, never a bad thing in my books!

Handy bicycle shop on Cheltenham Road, the small shop front extends back to form quite a large shop selling everything from helmets and bikes to baskets and mud guards.
This shop has been in Bristol for yonks and the cute red and white painted brickwork gives it nice homely look. Inside though its not just baskets and bells — the modern interior packs in plenty of products and there is a service centre at the back of the shop. This came in particularly handy when I couldn’t put my chain back on properly — not strictly worthy of visiting the service centre but one vaguely confused look and a smile and they fixed it back on free of charge.
Since then I’ve popped in for the odd accessory and the guys behind the counter have been a little more interested in talking to each other, albeit about bicycles, than chatting to customers but if you ask then you’ll get a full rundown of whatever product you happen to be eyeing up.

Surprisingly large store with massive amounts of things crammed in. Having come from a cycle-​loving family I was impressed with the variety and quality of their products. The staff are very helpful and more than willing just to have a chat with you without subtly trying to sell you something.
A very handy shop if you have any problems with your bike too as they do repairs.

I’ve never seen so many bikes crammed into such a small space (not that it’s at all small, but the amount of stuff in it makes it feel that way). There are three floors in total and they’ve certainly made good use of the space, with a huge range of mountain bikes, racers and standard commuter affairs (ie, those foldable numbers that you people taking onto trains and busus). What’s more, there’s a great range of accessories, including everything from lights and reflective gear to puncture repair kits and speedometers. The best thing about the shop, though, are the staff, who are all extremely knowledgeable and helpful — always the sort of thing that will keep me coming back, even if it means spending a couple of pounds more than I would do at some massive (and soulless) chainstore. Apparently, they’ve been operating since 1935, and you don’t keep a business running for such a long time without doing something right! Keep things local and shop here for all your biking needs.

Whilst certainly not Halfords sized, Fred Baker is a largish bike shop in Stokes Croft. As well as having an extensive range of mountain bikes, they’re also good for road bikes and things like locks and breaks pads — what they’re most useful for for someone like me. The size of the place means that they usually have what it is you need (I should add that I’m perhaps not the most demanding customer, though there does seem to be everything you’d ever want to do with bikes here).
As well as a large selection of accessories they’ve got loads of different bikes on display. If you’re thinking of a getting a new bike then make sure to stop here just to make sure you’ve thought through all the options.
Slightly odder offerings include electric bikes (at the very top of my ‘things I’ll buy when I’ve got far too much money’ list) and the weird lycra things that mountain bikers like to clad themselves in. Fred Baker is run by enthusiasts for enthusiasts and has anything the more casual cyclist would like as a result.

Much bigger than it looks from the front, so it has lots of bikes on display. They stock mostly Gary Fisher and Trek bikes plus a few others. They can usually handle repairs and services without an appointment which makes it handy if you have a puncture and no desire/​ability to repair it yourself! A Bristol-​only company.

I used Fred Baker a few years back and found them very helpful, but when i had my bike pinched recently i went back and got a slightly different repsosne. Whether i caught the salesman on a bad day remains to be seen, but he was fairly not particualry forthcoming with information.
The shop has a pretty good selection of kit, but i think it may be suffering due to to competition from web based shops such as wiggle.
We need to support these places otherwise they will disappear for good, but how can we if the shop staff balatanly want to be somewhere else!