The owners of a bicycle shop in Helsby which was ransacked by thieves at the weekend have vowed to carry on trading.

Around £40,000 of goods was stolen from family business Bike Logic on Chester Road between 10pm on Sunday (January 18) and 8am on Monday – the second time it has been burgled in as many years.

The crooks cut the telephone and alarm wires and got in through a window before helping themselves to 29 high-end bikes, the entire clothing range stocked by the shop, all their saddles and lights, and numerous cycling shoes and helmets.

One customer’s time trial bike, which is worth £8,000 and is one of only two in the country, was stolen from the servicing bay. The CCTV recorder was also taken.

Ian Carter, who runs Bike Logic with his son Lewis Carter, told the Chronicle they had recently taken stock of a 2015 range of bikes in readiness for the spring, when they typically experience a surge in demand, but have been left owing a ‘vast amount’ of money to the manufacturers without the revenue to pay them.

However, Ian revealed they have no intention of letting the thieves win.

“The easy thing would be to cease trading but this would mean the thieves have won over our livelihood and we are not willing to bow down to this type of people,” he said.

“We have a following of customers who deserve a quality outlet for servicing and the messages of support encourage us to carry on.”

Bike Logic opened in 2012 after Lewis, a keen cyclist, decided to develop his passion into a business opportunity thanks to the increased interest in road cycling after the Tour de France and Olympic achievements of British cyclists in the past few years.

It offers a one to one buying experience and a repair service.

Ian said the shop will remain open for servicing but they now have little stock to offer.

“We hope our insurance company are able to support us as we need to settle our existing commitment to the suppliers before they will extend additional credit to us,” Ian explained.

PC Donna Halksworth, of the Western Rural Neighbourhood Policing Unit, said: “This was a well-organised and planned crime.

“However, to remove the volume of bikes and equipment would still have taken a substantial amount of time.

“We would appeal to anyone who saw activity around the shop at the time to contact police.

“We will continue to support and advise local businesses on security to ensure that this does not happen again.”

The makes of bike stolen include Bianchi, SCOTT, Moda, Orbea and Focus models.

Anybody who has any information about the break-in is asked to call Cheshire police on 101 quoting incident number 142 of Monday, January 19.