Chainline UK helps independent bike shops and cycling brands get found by the AI tools their customers are already using to decide what to buy, before they ever visit a website or walk into a store.
Pilot audits now open — reduced rate for the first retail and brand partners.
Buying a quality bike has always involved research. But the way people do that research is changing faster than the trade has noticed. The shift isn't dramatic from the outside, it's quiet and cumulative.
Instead of typing "best trail e-MTB 2024" into Google, a growing number of buyers are asking ChatGPT, Claude, or Perplexity a direct question, and getting a curated answer, with specific recommendations, before they look at a single website.
These tools don't return a list of links for the customer to assess. They form a considered opinion about which products and which retailers are worth knowing about. By the time a customer arrives at your website or your door, that opinion is already formed.
AI tools build their knowledge from structured, clearly written, contextually rich content across the web. Most bike shop websites and brand pages aren't built that way, they're built for inventory management, not for being understood by a machine trying to match a rider with the right bike.
This is still early. No agency in the UK is working on this specifically for the bicycle trade. The window to become the recommended retailer or brand in your region, your category, or your niche — before competitors catch on — is open right now.
You've spent years building genuine knowledge of your local trails, your customers, and the bikes that suit them. AI tools don't know any of that — because your website doesn't tell them.
Why this matters now: Pre-qualification is moving earlier. Customers are forming strong opinions about which shop to visit before they walk in. The audit shows you exactly where you stand — and what to do about it.
A structured assessment of how your business appears across AI research tools
We run the same queries your potential customers are asking — across ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity — and measure exactly how visible, accurate, and competitive your business is in the answers they receive.
Pilot programme open. We're looking for a small number of UK independent retailers to work with at a reduced rate in exchange for honest feedback. If your shop is a serious candidate, get in touch — these spots are limited.
When a rider asks an AI to help them choose a bike, the tool draws on everything it's encountered about your brand — reviews, articles, product descriptions, forum discussions. You probably haven't optimised any of that for this purpose.
Why this matters for brands specifically: As a brand without a direct sales channel, your retailers are your last mile. If neither your brand nor your retailers surface in AI research, the purchase journey ends with someone else's bike.
A four-dimension assessment of your brand's AI presence across the UK
We test your brand across the same AI tools your potential customers use, mapping where you appear, how you're described, which competitors outperform you and why, and where your distribution network is letting purchase intent fall through the gaps.
Pilot programme open. We're inviting a small number of UK and European cycling brands to take part in our pilot audit programme at a preferential rate. If you want to understand where your brand sits today, this is the starting point.
Below is a sample of the insights a Chainline GEO Visibility Audit generates. All findings are specific to your business, scored, benchmarked, and explained in plain language.
Want to see the full audit structure?
Download our sample retailer report template to see the complete framework — every section, every scoring dimension, and the action plan format.
Chainline exists because of a straightforward observation: the bicycle industry is heading toward a structural shift in how customers find and choose what to buy — and almost nobody in the trade is prepared for it.
I'm in a relatively unusual position to see that clearly. Over twenty-five years I've worked at almost every layer of the cycle trade — as a mechanic on the shop floor, as a store manager scaling a multi-site IBD, as an inside sales rep at Trek UK supporting hundreds of independent dealers across the country, and as a territory manager for a European brand. I know what the inside of a bike shop actually looks like, how decisions get made, what systems are being used, and where the friction sits.
A career pivot into the automotive technology sector gave me something else: a front-row seat to how product development works at the intersection of hardware, software, and the people who use both. Working from technical support through to R&D and product ownership taught me how to think in systems — and to care deeply about the moment where a well-designed product meets a real person. That's the discipline I now apply to retail.
The "chainline" idea matters to me beyond the name. In cycling, a perfect chainline means the drivetrain runs straight, clean, and without unnecessary resistance. Power flows directly from effort to outcome. That's exactly the principle behind everything Chainline UK does — removing the friction between a business's genuine expertise and the customers who need to find it.
Independent retailers and smaller brands are the reason specialist cycling is as rich as it is. They carry unusual stock, employ people who actually ride, and build the local communities that keep the sport growing. If the shift toward AI-led discovery happens without them adapting, they lose ground not because their offer is weaker — but because their information architecture wasn't ready. That's a solvable problem. That's what Chainline is here for.
This is a new area. Most of the people we talk to haven't thought about AI visibility before. These are the questions that come up most often.
Whether you're an independent retailer wanting to understand where you stand, or a brand looking to map your distribution visibility, the first conversation is free and without obligation.
Not a generic digital agency. Built by someone who knows EPOS systems, model year cycles, and how riders actually buy.
The audit is a standalone deliverable. No retainers, no ongoing contracts unless you want them.
We're working with a small number of first partners at reduced rates. Places are finite — we'll be honest if we're full.