Broken Spoke’s DIY community bike workshop reeopens this Saturday in a Covid-secure outdoor workshop with slots available to book on their website.
Run by qualified mechanics and supported by volunteers, the workshop teaches people how to fix their own bikes.
The sheltered workshop and kitting out of the space was made possible largely by funding from Oxfordshire Community Foundation’s Community Resilience Fund, set up early in the pandemic to support the community sector in Oxfordshire.
The community workshop closed to the public in March 2020 and instead focused its efforts on running repairs to keep as many key workers on the road as possible.
It also partnered with Cyclox and Active Oxfordshire in the Bike for Key Workers Scheme, providing free refurbished bikes to key workers across the county.
Last July Broken Spoke restarted cycle training, helping boost confidence and encouraging more key workers to commute on two wheels. Their two instructors are now teaching every day of the week.
Community coordinator Inês Rahtz said: “We welcomed our volunteers back to the space a few months ago, testing out the new outdoor workshop space, and recycling and refurbishing donated bikes to then sell second hand, which subsidises our community programmes and our work with underrepresented groups in cycling.”
The DIY Workshops are open to the public whatever their background or mechanical experience.
A past participant said; “It was so empowering to be handed the tools by the mechanics and learn about how my bike worked and how to fix it if anything went wrong. ”
Open Saturdays 1pm to 6pm and possibly longer through the summer. They are also open Tuesdays and Fridays 9am to 5pm offering repairs and servicing as well as selling refurbished second hand bikes.
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