As of today, potential customers and browsers attempting to view stock on the websites wiggle.com and chainreactioncycles.com will find themselves redirected to the main website of Evans Cycles, prompting speculation that what was once one of the biggest names in online retail within the cycling industry is now, finally, completely dead and gone.
Cycling Weekly has reported extensively on the travails of one-time online behemoth Wiggle Chain Reaction Cycles (WiggleCRC) since it was first put into administration in October 2023, after its parent company SSU filed for insolvency, with millions of pounds owed in debts to some 400 creditors.
In February the following year, WiggleCRC was acquired by Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group, with the sale subsequently creating headlines when it was revealed that the group – run by Ashley’s son-in-law Michael Murray – had paid less than £10 million for an asset once valued at over £200 million, and that almost all the company’s staff – around 450 people – had been laid off. It eventually transpired that Frasers Group only forked out £3 million for WiggleCRC.
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Previously, in 2018, the Frasers Group had hoovered up high street and online retailer Evans Cycles for £8 million, making 300 workers redundant three years later and placing the remaining staff to zero-hour contracts.
The group, which revolves around the main cash cow Sports Direct, also owns cycling retailer ProBikeKit, German chain SportScheck, luxury department store Harvey Nichols and a large chunk of Hugo Boss.
Frasers Group showed pre-tax profits £538m in the latest financial year, but having gone on a spending spree to acquire new companies, its net debt rose from £941 million to £1.26 billion in the year to 26 April 2026.
After acquiring WiggleCRC, Frasers relaunched both the Wiggle and Chain Reaction Cycles websites, which appeared separately to the Evans Cycles site, to maintain three online shop windows in order to achieve its stated aim to “become the no.1 Sporting Goods retailer in Europe”.
With two of the URLs now having been killed off, it looks like this strategy has changed, marking the end of the road for the Wiggle and Chain Reaction Cycles names.
Cycling Weekly reached out to the Frasers Group for comment.
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