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We are delighted to announce that we have been awarded funding by Awards for All Scotland to re-open the De’ils On Wheels cycle workshop.
Tonight Dave and Dylan finished their bikes after just 3 sessions, and made a really good job of it too. They picked the workshop soundtrack for the evening and went for The Misfits, The White Stripes and Queen. A++
Andrew’s also been in helping us out a lot this week, tonight he spent a while repairing a puncture on an unloved BMX that lives in a garden. We’ve persuaded the owner to come in and give it a bit of TLC…
Other news – we spent some of today talking with potential partners about exciting plans, and we hope that some new developments might be in the pipeline – watch this space!
What’s definitely happening is a trip to the Western Titans BMX track at the end of Feb – Scotland’s only ‘proper’ BMX club have invited us along for a taster. Magic, and best of all it’s only 3 miles so we can ride there.
And finally… thanks to two: the Bike Station in Edinburgh for taking the time to chat this week – they have an amazing project and despite being ridiculously busy were happy to spend a while on the phone giving very good advice. Second, Billy Bilsland Cycles, who are helping us out with workshop supplies for now. Support like this is further proof that local bike shops rule.
Pedal on, Kirkpatrick.
Woop! Lots of images here The workshop is officially open – Mon Tue 5-8pm, Wed Thu 1-6pm. We had a busy day up there today, there’s now 14 candidates applied for our build-a-bike courses, and today we had two people in fixing their bikes with Sandy’s help. Martin sorted out some niggly gears, brakes and headset issues, while Jim came in for an hour or so and cleaned and oiled his chain and freewheel, which were starting to seize up (despite liberal applications of cheap margerine to his chain – we think this could be a new market: “I can’t believe it’s not chain lube”) . Jim told us he rides around a lot and it helps keep him in good health, but lately he’s not been out on his bike at all because it wasn’t working and he’d been told it’d cost £70 to fix. All it needed was the right tools and a few drops of oil – Jim’s well pleased and he’s coming back next week to learn more about bike maintenance.
De’ils on Wheels is the name of this project – it’s a reference to Kirkpatrick MacMillan, who invented the bicycle in 1840. The story goes that when he rode into the Gorbals and caused a stramash, they thought he was the “De’il (devil) on Wheels”.
Our workshop is open for a new crop of De’ils to put together their wheels (Monday and Tuesday 5-8pm, Wednesday Thursday 1-6pm) but we need more bikes!
Workshop photos and more details of what we’re getting up to will follow… stay tuned – sign up to email notifications by clicking on the button.
The workshop is officially open!
We’ve been working hard to get the workshop back up to scratch an our bicycle recycling project is ready for re-launch. We need bikes and we need volunteers, so get down to 40 Kingsway Court and help us out. The workshop looks fantastic – photos will follow, and we’ll fill you in about exactly what will go on there in a post to follow.
But in general, it’s all about encouraging cycling. We want local kids and adults to learn to build and maintain bicycles and use them every day.
