Biketrax

Popped in here to buy a couple of bits and pieces for my new biking binge. The shop is well laid out and sells plenty kit. A lot of it is expensive so I figure it’s for die hard cyclists who wouldn’t bat an eyelid to spend £90 on a skinny wee waterproof jacket.
Anyway, I asked the bloke behind the counter «if there are any earmuff things I can wear under my helmet because my ears get really sore in the wind. Do you do earmuffs?» He didn’t even laugh, so that’s a positive. He then led me to a headband thing that is windproof and you put it over your ears like a dafty. However, it’s been the best thing ever as my wee lugs are happy happy.
I also bought a high-​vis vest and the guy was very helpful. No idea if this place works well for serious cyclists but I didn’t feel intimidated as a beginner and found the service really good.
Looks like they mostly sell bikes and accessories — didn’t see anywhere for repairs etc. Handy just off Tollcross, would come here again.

The first thing to note is that these are summer opening times. Through the rest of the year things are roughly the same except that it isn’t open on Sundays, although they do operate an extended summer here and its only when it really is too cold to enjoy cycling that the summer opening times end.
This is very much a high end specialist store, but they do also do repairs. However, when I brought in my knacked old bike to be fixed they sent me to Bike Station. They were helpful and friendly but knew it wasn’t worth their while to fix it given that I’d told them it only cost £45 and given the state of my bike they were probably right. It may seem like I’m complaining, but I’m really not, they recognised that I wasn’t wanting to spend a lot of money on my bike and instead of roping me along to half fix it they told it to me as it was. Many shops might have strung me along and charged me for a bike I still couldn’t use.
The bikes themselves are really only for committed cyclists, but if you are looking for specialist bikes this is a great place to come.

If you’re like me, you’ll have noticed that cities can be a bit thin on the ground for good bicycle and bike accessory stores.
Bike Trax helps to fill this gap in Edinburgh, as it’s got a consistently good range of bike-​related goodies on offer, as well as quite a lot of clothing that should interest any bicycling enthusiast. The prices are generally quite competitive, and if you’re looking for an all-​purpose store to get your hands on a few bike goodies, you’ll be well served by checking it out.
if you’re coming from Princes St or that general area, you can find Bike Trax by heading to the Cameo theatre and taking a right turn down the next street.