Nothing to do with warming lunches, Bikesoup is a new website that aims to connect buyers and sellers of bicycles in the UK, with the promise that it will be devoid of stolen cycles.
It plans to achieve this by requiring sellers to pay for their ad in advance by debit or credit card, thus declaring a physical address as well as an email. With reported bike thefts reaching 115,902 in 2011/12, it's aiming to solve a big problem for potential buyers.
"We did a lot of research into buying and selling platforms available and there's no other cycling specific site in the UK that offers the same breadth of products and consumer buying tools," said founder Antony Auty. "We're passionate about bikes and the specialist nature of a bike means they deserve their own site."
At launch over 4,500 new and used bikes are available to search through, with retailers able to host their own shop page on the site, and plans afoot to add 'Click & Collect' tools in the near future. Head to www.bikesoup.com for the full listings.
