Evans Cycles

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British bicycle retailer

title: "Evans Cycles" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["cycle-retailers", "retail-companies-established-in-1921", "retail-companies-of-the-united-kingdom", "british-companies-established-in-1921"] description: "British bicycle retailer" topic_path: "geography/united-kingdom" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evans_Cycles" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary British bicycle retailer ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox company"]

Field	Value
name	Evans Cycles Limited
logo	Evanscycles logo.png
logo_size	200
trading_name	Evans Cycles
type	Private
foundation	in London
founder	Frederick Evans
industry	Cycling
location	Shirebrook, England, UK
num_locations	50+ stores (2024)
num_employees	500+
parent	Frasers Group
divisions	Evans GO
area_served	United Kingdom
key_people	David Crapper (Head of Retail)
revenue	£40.1 million (2024)
net_income	£-3.3 million (2024)
homepage
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Evans Cycles Limited is a British cycle retailer based in Shirebrook, England. It was opened in Central London by a London cyclist, Frederick Evans, who won an award from Britain's largest cycling club for the best cycling invention of 1925. He left his shop to be run by his manager and joined the Royal Air Force when World War II broke out in 1939. He died in a road accident in 1944 and the shop and the national business that developed from it has had several owners.

Evans' own brands include the Pinnacle range of bikes, and the FWE brand of basic accessories. The firm was acquired by equity companies in 2008, entered administration in 2018, and was then purchased by Sports Direct.

History

First years and development

The business was created by a London cyclist, Frederick W. Evans. He created what The Bicycle UK magazine described as a quick-release and reversible rear wheel device, for which he received an award for.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/Evans_Cycles,_Wandsworth_High_Street.jpg" caption="Evans Cycles store in [[Wandsworth High Street]], London, 2016"] ::

Evans edited the Cyclists' Touring Club's Cycling magazine before opening a bike shop in Westminster Bridge Road known as F.W. Evans Cycles in 1922. He is credited with inventing frames with a double fixed hub and rear-dropout screw adjusters that became almost standard on quality frames. He specialised in building touring bikes and in the 1930s offered French-designed Cyclo derailleurs allowing up to 12 gears at a time when most UK bikes were fitted with 2 or 3-speed hub gears. He also offered touring refinements such as braze-ons for racks, and hub brakes.

In 1924, Evans became the first president of the newly formed cycle racing club, South Eastern Road Club, a position he held until 1944.

With the outbreak of war in 1939 he joined the Royal Air Force and left the business in the charge of his manager. The shop traded from this site for 30 years. Evans died in a road accident in 1944, having never again run his shop. He was by then in the educational engineering branch of the RAF.

When Evans died during the war (knocked down by a milk float) his wife took over the business for several years, before selling it to Joe Smith in the 1950s. At the time the shop built frames and sold cycles and toys and later moved to Kennington Road.

During the 1990s the stores were mostly franchised but in the 2000s, Gary worked with Mike Rice, the Croydon store franchise owner, to buy back the franchised stores to become part of F.W. Evans Cycles (UK) and by 2013 there were 47 stores.

Acquisitions

The company was acquired by the firm Active Private Equity in 2008 for £30 million. British private equity firm ECI Partners then acquired a majority stake in the company in May 2015 for £75 million.

On 30 October 2018, Evans Cycles entered administration, and was purchased by Sports Direct (now, Frasers Group) in a pre-pack administration for £8 million. At the time of its insolvency in 2018 the company had 60 stores UK-wide.

In 2019, despite many store closures following the insolvency, the company opened its 4th Glasgow store and an additional branch in Shirebrook, both within flagship TRI UK stores.

After the takeover by Sports Direct there were complaints about poor customer service, which formerly had been very good, according to those customers.

Sponsorship

For many years Evans Cycles has been involved in many different rider sponsoring activities, including various racing teams in a range of cycling areas.

References

"EvansCycles (Financials)". Road.cc.
(2018-09-19). "Evans Cycles Limited overview - Find and update company information - GOV.UK".
[https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/pinnacle-goes-utilitarian-10-year-anniversary-range-334805], ''Cycling Weekly''
The Bicycle, UK, 13 December 1944, p25
"London Classics: Evans Cycles".
(13 August 2019). "Evans Cycles shuts The Cut shop, ending 98 years of local history". London SE1.
(1 May 2015). "ECI pedals off with Evans Cycles".
"ECI Partners to buy 90-year-old UK bike shop Evans Cycles".
(1 April 2018). "Evans – ECI Partners - UK middle market private equity (PE) firm".
(2 November 2018). "What is Mike Ashley's plan for the High Street?".
(30 October 2018). "Evans Cycles sold to Mike Ashley's Sports Direct as part of pre-pack administration". The Independent.
(30 October 2018). "Evans Cycles sold to Mike Ashley's Sports Direct as part of pre-pack administration".
(11 March 2019). "Evans Cycles to open new Glasgow store after completing round of closures".
Miles Brignall. (20 July 2020). "I feel like I've been taken for a ride by Evans Cycles". The Guardian.

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