Wiggle swap bike for Twitter follower's car

Wiggle.co.uk have swapped a Twitter follower’s car for a brand new bike. Last weekend they handed over a Mekk Poggio 2G Ultegra bike to @shotbyjohnson in return for his MG Rover – which puts a strange twist on the usual “You could get a car for that” line that has been used on every cyclist who’s ever spent more than about a grand on a bike.

Back in October, Jonny Heneghan – to give @shotbyjohnson his real-world name – asked the online retailer if they’d take his car in return for the Mekk bike. How serious he was to begin with we’re not sure, but Wiggle responded with, “Sounds like a fair trade,” and the wheels were set in motion.

Jonny’s approach made it clear that this was a man with a passion for cycling, his interest in the sport having been spurred on by romance. He had started cycling to save money to marry his fiancée (who doesn’t have a name, apparently). It was a great idea until Jonny was faced with having to strike a balance between saving money and developing his newly discovered love (for cycling, that is; we’re taking his love for his fiancée as a given).

Feeling inspired to train harder and ride longer distances, Jonny wanted a better bike and had to come up with a cost-effective solution. That’s when he played his genius move of tweeting Wiggle and offering swapsies, he got the idea he says after he saw a news article on a chap who managed to blag a free holiday via Facebook. “ My Fiancé's Brother and I just thought ‘let’s tweet a bike shop and see if they’re game!’

“When Jonny got in touch, we leapt at the opportunity; it was such a unique proposition that we really couldn’t say no,” said Wiggle’s Social Media Executive, Daniel Loots. So they said “yes”.

“We would like to wish Jonny and his fiancée the best of luck with their wedding and hope that they go on to have many happy years together – with plenty of cycling, of course.”

And so would we. It’s the feel good cycling-based story of the year.

No word on what Wiggle are going to do with the car by the way.