BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
Students looking for a bike on www.studentwheels.com input budget and brand choices and then get directed to their nearest IBD who has signed up with the NUS-endorsed site.
If the IBD doesnt have an ecommerce enabled website of their own, the student can email or phone the shop to arrange the sale, or test ride the bike.
The participating IBD can list brands and models of bikes available, opening times, staff member names, directions, as well as any further offers or incentives the dealer may want to provide exclusively for NUS student members.
Of relevance to students and some bike shops, IBDs will also be able to advertise their used bikes.
From a shaky start, studentwheels.com looks as though it could be a useful route to a fickle market for some IBDs. At £40 a month it wont break the bank
However, the success of the site will depend on (a) enough suppliers of the right calibre paying the £5000 per brand to be featured and (b) enough IBDs around the country signing up.
