Bring your beautiful little bikes down the the Bike Project for our monthly family days. 

Set up by a volunteer group of local parents, event organiser Imogen Pettitt had this to say:

“I picked up second-hand bikes for myself and my son but I didn’t have the tools to fix them at home. I realised that this is the same for most parents, so we’re hosting these monthly sessions! ”

Alex, a Bike Mechanic, and his son will be on hand to help with any tricky bits. He told me that it’s a great way to learn about physics and engineering.

“My son loves learning about bike mechanics, it’s a lovely idea and I’m looking forward to helping all the parents and children   on the 12th”  Alex Wilson, Bike Mechanic

It’s not just for budding mechanics though, we always have a few extra activities from decorating your bike and other cycle-based crafts, to wheel dome building, spin painting and pedal powered smoothies plus opportunities to talk to parents about child seats and other kid carrying systems.

“I’m going to cycle more with my daughter on my bike so I want to see what’s out there!” Emily Stewart, local parent

Emily’s husband, Iain, will be helping with the Bike Swap on the day. “ We’ve been lucky”  he said “Someone gave us their child’s old bike, it’s in perfect nick. It’s a crying shame so many kids bike’s are scrapped when they could be swapped, often they’ve hardly been used!”

We’re really looking forward to opening the workshop to more people, see you on the 14th!

We LOVE these guys! More info here.

Short film created by Made Good. @MadeGoodBikes

As well as stenciled chainrings he has used wheel hubs, wing nuts, and more modern quick releases to decorate an old set of drawers.

Cycling upcycling. We like it. 

Led ably by Andrew, the project’s Director of Woodsmithery and Finance, we managed to harvest 20 or so planks from the trunk of the ash.  In the next couple of weeks these will be cut to size and slotted into the steel frame of our new bike shed which has been fabricated by the project’s Chief Metalsmith Eric.

It was hard work, but as you can see from the pictures we were blessed with gorgeous weather and a stunning setting for our work – there was also the added bonus of wielding a chainsaw.

Thanks to the whole bunch of old planks for their hard work on the day. From left to right, Tom T, Chris, Ridders (Andrew), Giacomo, Eric and behind camera James P.

This clip just came through the ether from our pal Richie T, director of two of our favourite all time bike shorts, Mini Bike Winter and Los Angelopes. That is some serious tallbike action!

Last Friday we ran our final session with a group of 8 year six pupils from Shirehampton Primary School . The programme began in January of this year and continued each week, with each session focusing on a different aspect of bike mechanics. After 6 weeks of intense learning and fun, the group had the opportunity to start refurbishing a donated bike and make it into their own. There were four tutors from the Bristol Bike Project teaching and supporting the group. The final session was the result of all the effort everyone had put in. It was a real reward to go on a ride together.

This is the second year we have accommodated a group from Shirehampton. Both the pupils and the tutors have thoroughly enjoyed every second of this scheme, and it is a success we hope to reiterate again in the future.

The Bristol Bike Project Team

Support the Kickstarter here.

Thanks to Ali who is currently cycling 900 miles (all on a single-speed!) from Glasgow to Bristol for Bespoked Handmade Bicycle Festival this coming weekend and raising money for The Bristol Bike Project and Glasgow Bike Station in the process! Check out the site here for more information.