Bike Maintenance Day - a deluge of bikes

31st October At the Pound Arts Centre

Only one Customer but 8 bikes were donated.

	working hard getting donated bikes working

It was a day of bike renovation with 8 bikes and a frame donated.  The day started early with the apprentices Sam and Matt arriving before anyone else.  We opened up and got the completed bikes in the display area and got the tools and stands ready.  I spotted a child's bike that needed a the tyres pumping up which turned out to have 4 punctures.  Whilst fixing the puntures we got some visitors who donated 6 bikes (pictures to come)  4 child bikes and 2 - 'his and her' - adult bikes.  They had not been used for some (maybe 20) years and has been stored in a garage so were not in too bad shape.

Sam and Matt were emediatly onto the childs  bikes taking the wheels off and cleaning the frames.  I carried on mending puncures.  Nick arrived with another childs racer to sell then Tim arrived with a mint Raleigh 'Caprice' Ladies bike with flowers on and a Cannondale Aluminium mountain bike frame.  Both had been rescued from the doom of a recycling centre.  The Caprice had never been used as the inside of the mudguards were mint.  There was however a major amount of rust on the Chainset and rims which Nick got to work on.

Edgar arrived with Robin and got the work bench out and worked on the Trek mountain bike with the rusty chain and mechs.  I still worked on the punctures,  The Green Dawes and juggled trouble shooting Sam and Matt's queries.

  One customer came through the door today who had a bottom bracket problem which was fixed for £7.5.  later on we got drinks and a slice of cake for everyone for about £10 so we made -£2.50.   However, the day was productive with lots of bikes saved from landfill and made ready to be sold.  Hopefully there will be a Christmas rush.

Veer the movie

see Trailer here http://www.veerthemovie.com/trailer.asp

Hanging the Bicycles

Tim and I (moley) did some work at the Pound yeasterday.  We put up some hooks so that the bikes could be hung and added some bike stands.

I've also bought some 6 and 7 speed freewheels and barings

Third Bicycle Maintenance Day

The third Bicycle Maintenance Day took place on the 3rd October.  We had Bradley Wiggings old Trek road bike in for the brakes to be fine tuned, a challenging gear shifting problem on a second hand racer and two apprentices Matt and Sam.  We got about 5 customers plus we also sold a bike and got 5 bikes donated including two childrens bikes.  Matt and Sam are brothers who want to learn about bike maintenance and brought two of their own bikes along that needed attention.  They managed to get the bikes going themselves and rode them away.  Next time they will have their own project.

We were very busy all day and more needs to be done.  People are already asking about the next one which is on the 31st October.  We should do something before then perhaps rebuilding the Cannondale.  We should also have a special event on the 31st.

I get the feeling that we are growing and heading in the right direction

The second Bike Maintenance Day 5th September

It was a sunny day for once but this time we only had 4 or 5 customers.  Still plendy to do renovating the bikes that have been salvaged.  One bike had its seat pin stuck in the frame.  With two people holding the frame and Edgar pulling on a very large adjustable spanner, the pin managed to shear off.  The Dawes and the Shopping bike are progressing well.  Robin did a sterling job of removing the grime.
We managed to sell our first bike for £60 which doubled the takings for the day.  This money will go towards tools for the project.  

About US

Spindles and Sprockets is a bike recycling project based in Corsham UK, that has been going since 2009.   

During Corsham festival in 2009, Richard and Edgar provided free cycle maintenance in Corsham High Street. Many people brought their bikes along so were very busy. The feed back provided that day led to the conclusion that Corsham needed a cycle maintenance facility. This would:

• Promote the skills of bicycle repair and maintenance.
• Keep bicycles on the road and being used.
• Increase the number of bicycle journeys in Corsham.
• Provide a recycling point for unwanted bicycles.
• Improve peoples experience of cycling.

It was suggested that the Pounds Arts Centre would be an ideal place for us and Spindles and Sprockets was thus born.  We started opening monthly on 1st August 2009 and in 2010 went weekly on Saturdays.  

We are currently based in Corsham Community Centre until 31st May 2014 when we must vacate to make way for the car park of the new Community centre which has no place for a bike project.

We currently consist of:

Edgar

Richard

Nick

Robin

Josh

Tim

with help from Alistair