What is Bike Tech ?

BIKE TECH -WHO AND WHY'S

BIKE TECH is a community project run by volunteers with assistance from sponsors and the general community/cycling community to inspire young people to take an interest in all things BIKE!

We teach young people everything from how to change a tire to facing off a bottom bracket and why, all the way to teaching you how to ride your bike on different terains.

All our volunteers are passionate about bikes riding them fixing them and building them and the beautiful part is that there is no cost involved for the young person taking part, its all free.

BIKE TECH is happening under the umberella of the Youth Wise Trust (not for profit) which has been running youth related programs and Hutt Valleys premier youth space for 11 years in the Hutt City.

Manager Simon Gilbert realised through his work that a lot of the young people were not attending school and related activities because many of them could not get to school, many more young people were not interested in cycling as a sport because they either cant afford a bike or they dont know what is available to do in their city. Simon, a keen competition cyclist for some 36 years realised that bikes were a workable answer to this problem and set about making cycles for young people, that was the start of it and that has now become BIKE TECH.

We exist to give young people every opportunity to engage with some form of cycle, everyone should have a bike!

The project -
Bike Tech offer a free technical service to young people in three connected ways :
  • Service/repair a young person’s bicycle at one of the Bike Tech Hubs
  • Build bicycles from at least 70% recycled parts/materials for young peoples groups schools etc
  • Teach young people how to repair/build a bicycle to proven industry standardsTeaching Gateway classes in Bike Tech where students can achieve NCEA credits
  • Teaching Bike Tech in Schools
The Objectives
Bike Tech aims to:
  • Assist young people to continue to use or become users of bicycles through the maintenance or building of bicycles for use in their schools or for young people to get to school.
  • Develop young people’s confidence and competence in bike technology and encourage an interest in building bicycles.
  • Build bicycles for good causes such as school bike projects or community projects
  • Promote positive bicycle experiences to young people.
  • Build bikes for young people who may not otherwise be able to obtain one
  • Encourage young people to consider bike Tech as a future employment opportunity
  • Recycle and reuse bicycles and parts that would otherwise become refuse
  • Increase access to recreational use of bicycles and cycle trails locally
  • Promote cycling and cycle sports as a healthy activity
  • Promote the creation of a youth orientated cycle club in the Wellington area
Working with youth
The nature of this project is built around young people and is primarily focused on this particular sector of the community, because the Bike Tech volunteers will be working with young people they will be asked to learn and observe youth worker standard codes of ethics and observe best practices in this matter. Experienced Youth workers will be on hand and any training needed will be supplied

ECO Angle
Bike Tech is an Eco project and it is recognized as such by Hutt City Council who are actively assisting the project to achieve its outcomes through their Eco Hub initiatives.
It is recognized that many cycles are discarded via the city refuse and these machines could be rebuilt and reused. Hutt City are partners in this project and will assist in the recovery of used and discarded machines and parts. It is the hope of all the partners in this project that a core value that can be taught to young people is the value of recycling and the benefits of recycling, it is hoped that this will encourage young people to embrace less materially wasteful lives or at least plant the seed that recycling is a real and necessary option in our society. There may well be other links to other kinds of recycling options that may be encouraged and it is hoped that this would be embraced as the opportunities arise.

The format - How will Bike Tech operate?
Bike Tech will operate from several “Enviro Hubs” initially in the Lower Hutt area. Volunteers from the general community, some of whom already have experience working with bikes will be trained and become qualified mechanics for the delivery of the core business of this project.
Volunteers can offer as much time to the project as they wish but are asked to give a minimum 1-2 hours per week.  The specific days and times are to be arranged.
We have a standard format for sessions with an emphasis on teaching rather than just doing the required work.

Do you have time or old machine bits to donate to our project?
If you do please give us a call to arrage a meet we will consider anything you consider worth giving.

Bike Tech aims to achieve the following goals:
  • Short term -      repair young peoples bikes build reputation. Recycle bicycle parts and build the core Bike Tech Team.
  • Mid term -        Teach young people the above skills and support them to gain NCEA credits
  • Long term-       Offer schools the opportunity to teach Bike Tech in school
  • Start a youth cycle riding club and build cycles for them to use at parks and trails.
Longer term Vision
A large steel container could be situated at the Wainuiomata Trail Project area where bikes could be stored for use on the trails.  These bikes will be built and maintained by Bike Tech and will be made available to schools and possibly community groups for use on the trails.  This service may also be opened to the public at weekends and other holiday type occasions and is intended to increase access to the cycle trails for youth and the greater community.  This is a relatively inexpensive way of storing bikes and parts and could also provide a venue from which Bike Tech could also run parts of its program.

Tools
We have with Hutt City Council’s assistance acquired several basic sets of Park brand tools and Park Tool bike stands in order to create two work stations.  We also have some specialised job-specific tools. We anticipate that more tools will be required as the project develops.  Bike Tech currently has enough tool variety to make a good and productive start to the project.

Materials
Materials other than the rudimentary (frames etc.) parts sourced from refuse sources will be acquired from our supporters/sponsors.  These are for example, consumable parts like cables, brakes etc. A discounted wholesale price will be sought from these sponsors in order to keep the overall costs down on the finished products. in the short term as these finished products are not being made for sale to the public at least as far as is possible we make the machines “for free reuse” by the community and particularly the youth community.

Our Sponsors

Hutt City Council Eco Hub                                                       Secret Level Youth Center

Shepperds Cycles                                                                     NZ Retail Association

Avanti Plus Lower Hutt                                                

Wellington Regional Council

WANT TO BECOME A SPONSOR WE HAVE GOOD OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOU.