Powacycle Salisbury to be sold at Makro

[Alex728]

Disclaimer : I am not a shareholder of UTN although after seeing the effect this announcement has had on their share prices I wish I had bought a load in the last bear market

ULTIMA NETWORKS Plc ("Ultima")
Distribution Agreement with Makro UK
Ultima Networks Plc, the AIM listed green technology company, is pleased to announce that its Electric Bicycle Division has entered into an agreement with Makro UK to supply it with Ultima's range of electric cycles. Makro UK is a major cash and carry wholesaler operating in the UK. Initially, 27 Makro UK stores across the country will sell Ultima's high quality, mid-range PowaCycle Salisbury LPX, and Ultima expects other electric bicycle models to be introduced in the near future.

Distribution Agreement - London Stock Exchange

 

[Sir_Bob]

Hi

I dont get what all this mean. How do I get my share from makro.

thx

Bob

 

[Mussels]

How is Makro's market share doing though? I used to use it often as did a few of my friends but since supermarkets have upped their range I've found I don't save enough to make it worth the hassle to shop in there, I don't know anyone who goes there anymore.

 

[Bigbee]

I havent been there for ages.We used to spend a fortune on stuff that we didnt actually go there for.We may make a trip before Christmas.I hate shopping with a capital H so its good to try to get every thing under one roof.

 

[20 inch terror]

more importantly,what kind of aftersales are they providing.........
i am always dubious about these kind companies jumping on bandwagons..

 

[flecc]

I only used Makro for a short period, the lack of choice and frequent absence of the best quality options ruled them out for me. However, this will give Croydon here a third outlet for e-bikes, though the other two do very few sales. Somehow I can't this local Makro having much success selling them anyway, it really does seem to get the lowest price obsessed customers who aren't too likely to impulse buy at £600 plus.

Thompsons in the more northern parts of England used to sell thousands of £300 to £450 Chinese shopper style e-bikes every year out of their five outlets, so I could be wrong.
.

 

[eddieo]

I only used Makro for a short period, the lack of choice and frequent absence of the best quality options ruled them out for me. However, this will give Croydon here a third outlet for e-bikes, though the other two do very few sales.

what are the other 2 outlets for e bikes in Croydon then please.

De Ever cycles, London road, Norbury, now stock Giant E bikes....I was shocked! as they are a bit of a hard core racer shop.

 

[Alex728]

Looking at Makros website it appears they must sell a fair few unpowered bicycles. I doubt either powacycle or Makro would have not just set up this deal without thinking long and hard about it.

there seems to be an increasing trend of "unlikely" high value items being sold in these sorts of warehouses, Costco in Croydon(?) was even selling expensive jewellery, to the point they got violently robbed!

As for after sales service I expect what local bikes shops cannot or will not deal with with (and they are slowly waking up to the fact that ebikes are becoming more popular - will eventually get passed back to Harlow and the ball is in then back Powacycles court.

Salisburys are fairly reliable and robust machines so it should not be so much of a burden. Its a good affordable e-bike and in these times of doom and gloom I wish the two British companies involved the best in their venture.

 

[flecc]

what are the other 2 outlets for e bikes in Croydon then please.

De Ever cycles, London road, Norbury, now stock Giant E bikes....I was shocked! as they are a bit of a hard core racer shop.

I didn't know about De Ever Eddie, so that makes three others, now to be joined by Makro on the Purley way.

The first of the other two is the discounter CycleKing, just past Warham Road at the start of Brighton Road. They always stocked some of the traditional Powabyke range including the trikes, but I haven't been in there for some while so don't know if they stock the X bike.

The other is the big BikePlus store, a division of Geoffrey Butler Cycles of South End, Croydon who are also a hard core race bike outlet with a fine manufacturing and race bike history. They are also on Brighton Road but about halfway down to the Royal Oak Centre and on the eastern side next to Machine Mart. They are Giant agents and sold the Lafree series over the years, but only stocked one model at a time and had very slow sales, about one a year typically. Unsurprisingly they seemed to lose all enthusiasm for e-bike sales and I haven't seen the latest Giant series in there so they may be leaving it to DeEver. They are competent bike repairers though and are always happy to accept any e-bikes for repairs to the bike side including motor-wheel building, spoke repairs etc.

At the time when Halfords were selling the Carrera Sparc e-bike from a few outlets their Croydon local managers were emphatically insisting that Halfords "didn't do e-bikes", so I've no idea whether the two branches are participating in Halfords latest efforts in that direction. It's the last place anyone should buy an e-bike though, judging by the horror stories attached to the Carrera Sparc sales, so I wouldn't include them anyway.
.
.

 

[eddieo]

Cheers Flecc, thats handy to know regards Bike plus

De Ever sorted out my creaking front wheel/loose spokes a few weeks ago. and the chap who owns the shop and name escapes me (he was a well known racer at one time) was sitting on a chair front of shop in a heavy apron spoking a wheel. he seemed to know little regards E bikes lol but said he would be happy to maintain the wisper and a rear wheel rebuld would be no problem.........Its funny as they have been a bit snobbish regards E bikes in the past

 

[flecc]

he seemed to know little regards E bikes lol but said he would be happy to maintain the wisper and a rear wheel rebuld would be no problem.........Its funny as they have been a bit snobbish regards E bikes in the past

They've seen the trend reported in the trade publications Eddie, so that might account for them being anxious not to miss out. I think they'll find the Croydon prospects disappointing though. Maybe it's the North Downs hills and the Purley "alps" in the south of the borough that put people off utility cycling, whatever it is, cycling is far below the South London levels elsewhere.
.

 

[eddieo]

They've seen the trend reported in the trade publications Eddie, so that might account for them being anxious not to miss out. I think they'll find the Croydon prospects disappointing though. Maybe it's the North Downs hills and the Purley "alps" in the south of the borough that put people off utility cycling, whatever it is, cycling is far below the South London levels elsewhere.
.

thinking of downsizing a little and moving to south croydon and beyond.....but like you say It ain't the best cycling territory!

 

[Alex728]

I remember that this area in the 80s/90s was (and perhaps still is) a popular area for pirate radio broadcasters transmitter sites due to the terrain..

 

[flecc]

thinking of downsizing a little and moving to south croydon and beyond.....but like you say It ain't the best cycling territory!

Definitely best with one of the Panasonic powered bikes or, if you avoid the very steepest of the climbs, the most powerful hub motors, Quando, Forza etc. Cycling around here is fine if you don't mind spending nearly all the time either going uphill or down. Although climbing loses 7 to 9 mph, downhills can gain 15 mph or more, so average speeds can be very high if you let a bike have it's head downhill.
.

 

[Bigbee]

I only used Makro for a short period, the lack of choice and frequent absence of the best quality options ruled them out for me. However, this will give Croydon here a third outlet for e-bikes, though the other two do very few sales. Somehow I can't this local Makro having much success selling them anyway, it really does seem to get the lowest price obsessed customers who aren't too likely to impulse buy at £600 plus.

Thompsons in the more northern parts of England used to sell thousands of £300 to £450 Chinese shopper style e-bikes every year out of their five outlets, so I could be wrong.
.

I agree flecc,people looking for bargains wont spend that sort of money on an ebike.Plus they wont know what it is nor will the staff.I looked into importing 4 stroke quads a few years back.I was envious when a new brand got into Makro.At the time £900 was good,they didnt last long in there though.