BAC or (BACBikes) is an idea whose time has come. South Port UnitingCare, under the leadership of Anne Garrow, decided to initiate a program to recycle old bikes, to train people to do this, and by doing this, help out people who don’t have good access to car or affordable public transport. We are about two years old just now, have received donations of over 500 bikes – just over half of which have been turned into usable, rideable machines again.
My name is Mark Horner, and I train participants and manage the program. I also run Council of Adult Education courses on site – these are paid-for education in the Art and Science of fixing bikes.
We seek donations of unwanted, but still usable bikes to restore and pass on to others for a nominal fee. We also seek people who are interested in bikes to come and learn how to do this, for their own amusement and edification, or to fix up a bike for themselves, a friend or relation. If you or someone you know is not in paid work on the days we operate (at the moment, Monday and Tuesday from 10 until 6, 6.30 in summer, and 1 ’til 5 on Friday afternoons), then come down and see if we can help you gain some skills and do something useful.
2 Comments
January 15, 2008 at 5:33 pm
i would like to help how do i get in volved
July 31, 2009 at 1:30 pm
Hi there,
I’d like to learn about repairing old bikes. I currently have 2 oldish bikes and I’ll donate one of them. Both need a bit of work. Rideable, but pedals clunk etc.
1 is a 1980s(?) Peugeot mixte 10-speed which I found roadside on Williams Rd the night before hard waste collection. The other is a German mixte called Haartje, a fivespeed, which a friend brought over from Germany. Both cool old bikes that roll beautifully. Of course I’ll work on any bikes you want me to work on, not just my own – but preferably old ones. Let me know how you want to do this… I can ride one of my bikes over to your shop, more or less any time during the week.
Cheers,
Martin