Having started in Ireland, grown here and stayed here; ChainReactionCycles is moving huge parts of its operations after being taken over by Wiggle earlier this year.
Having started in Ireland as a small family-owned bike shop and grown into a world leader before being taken over by rival Wiggle, ChainReactionCycles is moving much of its operations from Ireland to Britain.
Around 300 jobs in Northern Ireland are at risk in the merged entity WiggleCRC.
The move, which centres of transferring warehouse facilities to Wiggle’s base in England, will also lead to fears that the company's status as an Irish firm will be lost.
The jobs now being threatened include 152 staff and 161 agency posts; all in Northern Ireland.
ChainReactionCycles has been a major supporter of Irish cycling, especially on the off-road scene.
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And it is also the secondary sponsor of the An Post-ChainReaction Continental road team.
WiggleCRC issued a statement signalling the move, saying moving much of the warehousing – a huge part of what is essentially a mail order business –to Wolverhampton was needed in the current financial climate.
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The warehouse facilities being moved are in Co Antrim; in Doagh, Ballyclare and Carrickfergus.
“As part of the review we are aware that delivery, including later order cut-offs and speed, is becoming increasingly important for customers and a highly competitive area for all etailers,” its statement said.
"For WiggleCRC to retain its position and remain competitive in the UK as well as increasingly global markets, we have concluded that this can be best achieved by concentrating the majority of our distribution through our warehouse facility in Wolverhampton.
“This necessary step will require the relocation of significant warehouse activities currently in Doagh, Carrickfergus and Ballyclare.
“As part of this proposal bikes and frames, including bike assembly handling activities and our wheel build operation, would remain in Ballyclare.”
ChainReactionCycles was founded as Ballynure Cycles in 1984 by George and Janice Watson in the village of Ballynure in Co Antrim.
In the early days the company expanded from its retail model into catalogues where customers could order and receive their goods via the postal service.
This model left them ideally placed to take advantage of the exponentially growing internet at the turn of the millennium.
Chainreactioncycles.com launched in 2000 and has grown hugely since then. It was acquired by rivals Wiggle earlier this year.
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