onionbagblog

Published as part of the Keep Colchester Cycling project.

We are keen here at Keep Colchester Cycling to open up our blog to the many local partners that we are working with as part of our bike pool project. Playing an important part of this collaboration is Re-cycle - the bicycle aid for Africa organisation.

Based just past Rollerworld along Moorside in Colchester, this local group is genuinely changing lives in Africa. Re-cycle is also essential to our vision of promoting cycling in Colchester, by very kindly donating our fleet of hire bikes.

I spent a very engaging Tuesday afternoon at the Re-cycle HQ to find out more about the wider macro aims of the organisation, as well as how the work plays a role in the micro local economy. It is very much this meeting of localism and globalism that attracted Keep Colchester Cycling to forming a working relationship with Re-cycle.

Put simply, the aims of the organisation is to:

“Collect second-hand bicycles and ship them to Africa. Our partners distribute bikes and teach riders the skills to repair and maintain them.”

Never underestimate the genuine life-changing experience of pedal power. We may moan here in Colchester when North Hill becomes congested, but it is not a life and death matter. Liberating locals through cycling in an African village can be the catalyst for genuine social change.

It is by pure good fortune that Colchester has Re-cycle based in our own backyard. This came about through a connection with the University when Re-cycle was first established over a decade ago.

With the majority of the 37,000 or so bikes that have been sent to Africa so far coming from Colchester, Re-cycle is keen to offer some form of support back to the thriving cycling community in Colchester.

The downstairs workspace at Moorside is made up of the 1,000′s of bikes that are currently awaiting shipment; take a step upstairs and you will find the Re-cycle workshop and sales floor.

It resembles a more mainstream bike shop, although the level of service and prices are definitely unique in cycling circles. Each bike that is donated is lovingly restored, with a dedicated team of local mechanics, fronted by Colchester Bike Guru Matt.

As Matt explains in the audioboo below, bicycles are restored and sold in the workshop as part of a social enterprise project to help local families on a low income. Prices are incredibly competitive and well below the second-hand bike market value.

It is this circular approach to supporting cycling, sustainability and working at a local and global level that is so appealing at Re-cycle. It can cost around £10 just to physically ship a single bike out to Africa. The small amount of profit made in selling on the higher end bikes back to Colchester folk covers this cost.

I continued my tour, and wandered around the upstairs premises. A man can never own enough bikes has long since been my mantra, and I made a mental note to return to Re-cycle come the next pay day.

Back downstairs in the main studio and it was tempting to calculate the Bikes per Square Inch measurement. Space is vital, and every single bit of the workshop is crammed full of bikes that are ready for shipment.

I needed to find out more about how the process of an abandoned bike in North Essex then somehow finds itself being shipped to Africa to transform lives in a very different continent and culture.

Re-cycle Manager Derek very kindly agreed for a chat, and helpfully explained the process of how a Colchester warehouse at the back of Rollerworld is enabling better transport solutions for people across Africa.

We also touched on Keep Colchester Cycling, and the Re-cycle involvement in promoting cycling back here in our hometown. A fleet of around a dozen bicycles will be provided and serviced by Re-cycle. We are working with a number of local artists to transform the frames and present a unique paint job.

There is uncertainty amongst our various partners on this project as to where this project will take us. It is this very same sense of excitement and experimentation that has led to a Colchester organisation shipping some 37,000 abandoned bikes across continents for well over a decade now.

The physical maintenance and opportunities that a bike presents us with enable this way of working. It may be a long way from Namibia to North Hill, but Colchester is certainly putting itself on the global cycling map with Re-cycle.

You can support Re-cycle by simply donating a bike, or even buying one of the lovingly restored models that are for sale. Any bike is accepted as a donation - if it is beyond the point of repair then the parts will be used as spares. Hybrids, road bikes, MTB’s, BMX’s, children’s bikes - all are for sale in the workshop.

Re-cycle is open Tuesday - Friday 9-5, and 9-1 on a Saturday. Head just past Rollerworld, and you will soon see the workshop.