For Andy Schleck, life is, and has always been, about family and bikes. From a young boy in a bike shop, through an illustrious career as a professional racer alongside his brother, and now as the owner of his own store, Andy has sought out the latest technologies and the newest equipment. We are proud that much of this journey (and many a component!) has been part of the SHIMANO family, and even more so that when Andy opened Andy Schleck Cycles it was essential to him that his store be a SHIMANO SERVICE CENTER.
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Andy Schleck Cycles opened in 2016 in Itzig, Luxembourg. After retiring from the professional peloton with a palmares including a Tour de France win and victory in Liege-Bastogne-Liege among many other accolades, Andy quite quickly came to the idea of opening a store. Following three weeks of travelling around the World, visiting bike stores and taking notes on things he loved and the things they lacked, he drew up his plan for a shop that was about much more than sales and numbers.
“I wanted to create a unique place where everybody could identify themselves. Where we speak cycling, not just sell bikes. We have races and events and really try to create a community. And this is something that I was missing when I visited other stores; they were great and beautiful but there was no soul.
I had this check list - all I need to open a great store - and SHIMANO SERVICE CENTER was right up there with the most important features to have. Today I can say proudly - because it works well – that we offer everything from all types of bikes, fitting, SERVICE CENTER, insurance and finance, lease and even 24h service.”
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So, that’s 'how it’s going’, but what about ‘how it started’? Let’s rewind back to Andy’s childhood, his love of bike shops and his earliest memories of SHIMANO kit, before delving into his favourite pro bike, why World Tour teams don’t have the best mechanics and the future of the local bike shop.
With a father who was a professional racer, and two older brothers into cycling, it was almost inevitable that cycling would be an important part of Andy’s life from a young age. And as far back as he can remember, bike shops were central to that.
“For me, since I was a young boy, bike shops were always exciting for me. Going in to see new bikes, new accessories - it was like kids going to a playground or video game store, but for me it was bike stores. Wherever I was in the World, wherever I would travel on family holidays, where there was a bike store I had to go in! Still today when we get new stuff, I need to be the first one to touch it. I need to be the guy that unwraps it! New groupsets, new accessories, I want to have it!”
Thinking back to the first SHIMANO equipment Andy had, he quickly picks out two particular pieces that stick in his mind, and both which came thanks to the strong family passion for racing. The first is his first pair of cycling shoes which were SHIMANO’s original carbon-soled shoes, and the second was his first Dura-Ace components. The first of many, as it turned out.
“I don’t know how I got hold of them because they were quite expensive at the time, but I believe that it was the kind of shoe that fitted me so my dad bought them for me.”
“My first bike was a full aluminium frame and to begin with a normal gearing on the frame. Then, quite quickly I would get the old stuff from my brothers who were also riding, so I ended up with Dura-Ace already quite early – was it 600, I don’t quite remember? But it was lever shifting and I loved it.”
Moving from the early days into Andy’s professional career, the love of equipment and technological development continued, and now he was at the forefront of that innovation, riding the newest equipment in the World at the head of the World’s biggest races. So, was there a particular favourite bike amongst all those world-class machines?
“It’s hard to say. I do remember the special bike for the Olympics in Beijing which was a custom-painted Cervelo soloist which I still have today in the shop on show. Then the custom-made Trek which I won the Galibier and Tourmalet [Tour de France stages] on, and the Specialized where I won Liege-Bastogne- Liege. All these important victories, the bike is your weapon so of course it stays with you and it goes into the history alongside me.”
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But putting sentiment and memory aside, would Andy still choose a bike from his professional career over the ones he rides today? Definitely not, he says!
“The market is crazy at the moment; the quality is always going forward. If you have a bike today that is two years old then you have an old bike. With disc brakes and Di2, SHIMANO was there already many years. The technology is there, it’s proven, it’s better. Definitely I would like to ride a 2022 bike and not even a 2018.”
And how about which mechanic he would choose – one from his World Tour days or one from his SHIMANO SERVICE CENTER?
“I always thought that we had the best mechanics - that the best mechanics in the World are in the World Tour teams - which is not the case! When you are in a World Tour team, when something brakes then you replace it; they don’t fix things anymore. When I see my shop mechanics fixing bikes of 20 years old, building their own bearings to find a solution, that for me is a real mechanic. No offense to all the pro team mechanics out there! Of course, even when you are just replacing things you can’t be a person with two left hands, but definitely the mechanics in the workshop have more know-how than those in the World Tour teams.”
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It had never been Andy’s plan to open a bike shop. Indeed, there was no plan at all on a career post-professional racing because if you have a Plan B, you don’t believe in Plan A, he explains. With energy still to spend and a passion for bikes still strong, the idea soon planted to create his own cycle store. A lot of time, money and energy went into planning what this store would be like and establishing what the key features must be. Much of it was about customer experience rather than material goods.
“I had to think, ‘what can I do to so that they will buy a bike at Andy Schleck Cycles rather than go online and purchase it there?’. It goes without saying that we have to make sure my staff are taught well – that they know their stuff, they know the material, what bike can do what. We do a lot of hours behind the desk to really know everything from A-Z, and then we find the right bike for each client. It’s so important that you find good people, with a good attitude, because with a good attitude you can already do a lot. Ninety percent of people coming into our store need advice. You need someone to guide them and explain things.”
Being able to offer the kind of services that are unavailable online was key, and a SHIMANO SERVICE CENTER is of course a perfect part of this solution. For the store it is a unique selling point, and for the customers it is a guarantee of a superior service.
"I’m the only SHIMANO SERVICE CENTER in Luxembourg. It’s not just a label, it really works. We profit enormously from being Service Center because we get clients from all over the country and even across the border. Even bikes that are not bought in our store – especially e-bikes with the SHIMANO STEPS system – we service them here. And then maybe that person who bought their bike elsewhere, maybe online, will next time buy in our store.
There are a lot of good mechanics out there, but the schooling and lessons for us are organised by SHIMANO so we can solve every problem on SHIMANO parts where others struggle to find the parts, the problem and the solutions. We can do all this because my staff is well-taught from SHIMANO.”
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Andy has five full-time mechanics working at the SERVICE CENTER, plus one apprentice. He occasionally finds himself in the workshop fixing a flat tyre or building a bike, but he jokes that it would not be fair to charge the customer by the hour when he is doing the work! Thankfully the SHIMANO-trained mechanics can whizz through the work because the industry has seen huge growth in the last year and the demand for bikes, and subsequently for bike services, has boomed. So, what of the future - are bike shops set to sustain their healthy sales figures?
“It’s tough for us at the moment – we can’t get enough bikes! It’s easier to sell a bike than to find a bike today so it’s really hard to do your pre-order with parts and with bikes. I’m certain that the boom will continue, maybe not the same as last year, but all the e-bikes we sold I don’t believe that was due to Covid but more that they are now so advanced and people want to try them. Covid helped because people were at home and they could ride more, but cycling is an addiction: most people who start then continue to do it their whole life so I believe it will continue.”
And what of the future of Andy Schleck Cycles? The shop is a successful business, and it supports race teams and talented young riders as well as offering a centre of community and camaraderie for cyclists from near and afar. It seems that as a boy growing up and loving bike shops, who then went on to win the biggest bike race in the World, that there is a sense of bringing his passion full circle. Is it his goal to leave a legacy and offer a launchpad for the next Luxembourgish cycling star?
“Yes, that’s my goal. I have a beautiful store and I want to do a lot more. Certainly I want to expand and to continue with the team and the athletes we support.”
At SHIMANO, we are really proud of our SERVICE CENTERS and the part they play in many great bike stores. To have Andy Schleck Cycles on board is a great honour and it seems that the respect is reciprocated.
“For me, cycling and SHIMANO go together; it’s like fries and mayonnaise!
Almost my whole career I rode with SHIMANO. But not only that, I did wind tunnel testing with one of the owners of SHIMANO who I was really happy to meet. I did the first disc bike testing on Mount Etna with SHIMANO. I’m just really happy that I got the opportunity to be a SHIMANO SERVICE CENTER back when I started; there was a lot of trust from SHIMANO towards me. I certainly want to continue with SHIMANO and feel part of the family.”
Bikes and family. From the beginning and into the future.
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