Last week Halfords announced an ambition to grow its market share of female cyclists over the next five years. This plan was announced at the opening of its second Cycle Republic bike shop on St Margaret Street, London.

In a bid to achieve this, Halfords has partnered with British Cycling’s women’s network Breeze. The Breeze network is the largest programme in Britain, designed specifically to get more women cycling. The partnership will involve promotion of the network and its benefits, a new workshop teaching women basic bike maintenance and bike mechanic support at key Breeze events.

In addition to this partnership, the retailer has committed to increase its female specific offering across its store. The St Margaret’s store is leading the way with 30% of the total product in the store being female specific.

In response to a Halfords’ YouGov report which found that saddle comfort was a leading factor for women when choosing a bike (58%) ahead of design (14%) and price (39%) there are also plans to increase saddle ranges in its stores.

Cycle Republic is a new venture from Halfords and offers a ‘local’ bike shop vibe which is quite different to its existing offering.  The stores offer bike servicing at competitive prices, a broad range of bikes, apparel and accessories.

One of the most impressive things about the new Cycle Republic stores, is the commitment to get people riding. This is reflected in the ride home/ ride to work service it offers. If you are nervous about riding the city streets for the first time, a member of the Cyclic Republic team will either cycle home from the store with you or meet you at your home for your first ride to work.

In addition to this, Cycle Republic also offers a bike replacement scheme for any servicing that will take longer than a day so you do not have to contemplate public transport while your precious steed is being tended to.

Cycle republic currently has two stores in London with plans for rapid expansion across the country in 2015.