Don’t scrap your bike, bring it back to cycling life

Don’t scrap your bike, bring it back to cycling life

Recycle for Greater Manchester is partnering with Transport for Greater Manchester to encourage residents to donate their unwanted bikes to community bike re-use projects and not throw them away as scrap metal.

On average, people in Greater Manchester are throwing away 200 bikes every month. 

There are a growing number of local bike projects that will take old and unwanted bikes and bring them back to cycling life. This year, as part of Bike Week (16-24 June), the UK’s biggest mass participation cycling event, Recycle for Greater Manchester will be offering resident’s a free bike health check as part of ‘Britain’s Biggest Bike Fix’ theme. We will work with local bike projects to run free Dr Bike sessions in nearly every district, and at the same time, we also want to encourage residents to take this opportunity to donate all their unwanted bikes to their local community bike project.

In working with Transport for Greater Manchester we also want to promote re-used bikes as a sustainable and affordable method of transport and highlight the health benefits in cycling. For those who have not got a bike but want one they can enter our free prize draw to win a pre-loved bike or adult cycling lessons to help teach safe cycling.

A good basic second hand road bike cost around £50- 70 which is a bargain if you use it to get to work or just to keep fit. Some bike re-use projects that we are working with are giving them away as part of a back to work scheme, another is a restorative justice scheme where young offenders are given bikes to rebuild and restore, these are often given to victims of a crime, sold or given away to a good cause and the other is kept by the young person.

In Rochdale we are supporting two bike week Dr Bike and bike donation events:

• The Urban Cycle Centre Project will be at Falinge Community Centre, 238 Newstead, Lower Falinge, Rochdale, OL12 6RQ on Saturday 16 June from 9-12 noon
• Freehold Community, Centre 272 Olney, Rochdale, Lancashire OL114QL on Saturday 23 June from 9-12noon. The contact number for both events is 07800672868.

All sessions are open to any Greater Manchester resident, anyone can bring along a bike for a free safety check, so it is fit for the summer or donate an unwanted bike for re-use.

Please visit www.recycleforgreatermanchester.com/re-use/bikes to find out where and when the events are happening and to find out where your nearest bike re-use project is.

To find out more about cycling in Greater Manchester, please visit www.tfgm.com/cycling

Visit Cycling Events in Rochdale