Bristol Bike Project
Stapleton Road, Bristol, January 2022
The Bristol Bike Project's focus has always been on the community. It's a member led cooperative with no hierachy and all those involved in the project are welcomed in to the community with equality and respect. And this then extends outwards. One of the best known aspects of the project is how they rehome bikes into the local community. For the people who receive these bikes it can be life changing - and those words are chosen carefully. A bicycle is, in many ways, a key to freedom and allows someone to have agency. In a city a bike opens up what it has to offer. It allows people to travel further and quicker than on foot. It allows people to save money that would otherwise be spent on transport. It allows a parent to get home quicker and be more of a parent. For many of us the ability to move around as our lives dictate isn't something we stop to consider. When your radius of opportunity is defined by how far you can walk in a set time your world can quickly close in. For everything urban living can offer it can also be a closed and lonely place.
On top of what the lockdowns and Covid brought the Bike Project also had to find a new home. Hamilton House, a well known block in Stokes Croft, was to be redeveloped and they had to find a new home. So, after a lot of work, the project now finds itself in a former fishmongers on Stapleton Road. The front of the building is run as a standard bike shop - offering bike sales, repairs and parts to paying customers. Out the back, where walk in freezers and prep counters once lived, is the volunteer workspace. Half a dozen work stands live in the main area with hundreds of used parts and tyres carefully stored around the edges of the space. The volunteers work together to strip, fix, and rebuild bikes to be rehomed. There are a few sessions a day and coordinators are on hand to help and advise when needed. For the most part the volunteers come here to learn more about bike mechanics and to give their time to help the project.
"Learning through doing is I think an integral part of our philosophy" explains Gruff, a coordinator who first started at the project as a volunteer in 2018. "It's the only real way to do it. I've cycled my whole life but until I joined the project I didn't really know what I was doing". While some might take it for granted, working on bike takes an element of confidence, especially if it's your main mode of transport. "It's such a valuable exercise to be able to grab these bikes, strip them down to the absolute bare bones, seeing how stuff fits together and learn how to fix them". The coordinators are intentionally hands off, allowing the volunteers to figure things out themselves as much as possible. "It's the best way to learn" Gruff believes.
For the volunteers there are many positives. As Graham, who started volunteering in October 2021, says, "It's win-win-win really. People get good bikes, we get to learn a new skill, and we get to hang out and have fun. And there's no catch".
Without the volunteers these bikes wouldn't reach the community. And as Gruff points out, a bike can open up your world. "That complete and easy freedom is empowering, it's liberating".