Customer service provides the velocity for bike outlet

Talking Sport with Stephen Glennon

A Kiltormer cycling enthusiast, who has already been to the forefront in producing Ireland’s first high-end racing bike, is now looking to take bike fitting in this country to a new level with his Apex Performance machine.

Mark McKeigue is no stranger to triathlons, Ironman events or, indeed, cycling races, having begun competing in these disciplines back in 2006. He was immediately bitten by the bug.

Five years later, in 2011, McKeigue, along with his father Sean, produced the TURAS, a racing bike developed using cutting edge components from the top companies all over the world.

The next logical step was to establish a base, so he opened Vélocity Bike Store in Oranmore over the Summer.

However, he insists that while they sell brands such as Cube, Focus, Cervelo and Parlee, this is not just a bike shop. He stresses that fitting bikes using their Apex machine, and customer care, are two aspects of the business which are equally, if not more, important.

“You can do a hundred ‘Bike-to-Works’ (Schemes) a month but that is temporary,” says McKeigue during the course of the interview. “However, if you build on customer satisfaction, it is a bit more permanent. The rest will work itself out.”

In this respect, this premise aligns with McKeigue’s background in the hospitality industry, where customer satisfaction is everything. A student of Shannon College of Hotel Management, he worked in the trade until his early 20s when he decided to join his father in the financial services sector.

“I didn’t have to work nights and weekends anymore so I was looking for something to do,” he continues. “I went to go back hurling – I hadn’t played since minor – but you lose the touch, lose everything. And I was never a smashing hurler anyway. So, I got into triathlon and cycling.”

Between 2006 and 2009, McKeigue travelled the country competing – from Athlone to Mullaghmore; from Galway Triathlon Club’s event in Carna to Tri-Athy in Kildare. “So, I would have seen the uptake in triathlon and I saw the growth of these sports.

“In 2010, I got involved in a different bike retail business. There were four of us involved but then about two years ago two of us sold out to the other two. It was the type of business where you only needed two to drive it.

“I had also been involved with Sean (father) as well in TURAS bike brand. So, we would have been busy getting our bikes branded up and getting them produced in factories in Italy. We then sold them direct online here and in the UK. We were doing that out of Ballinasloe before opening here [in Oranmore].”

The aim was to grow TURAS as a global brand – still is – but what they found it wasn’t sufficiently different enough to its competitors. “It was very much the same as your Focus or your Cube. So, it wasn’t unique enough. It was late to market.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.