Hellos and Goodbyes
As we started our new social enterprise
we were saddened by the closing of Ridgways Cycles after more than 45
years. Ridgways was a place where, if you put some time aside when
you visited the store, you could find that very thing that you
couldn't find with confidence anywhere else.
While ordering stuff online can be a
wondrous and miraculous adventure, the joy of finding what you want
and more in a bricks and mortar store while talking to people who are
brimming with knowledge and experience transcends the short-lived
thrills of buying off the internet.
We made a couple of visits to Ridgways
before they closed. We said “goodbye” and in our final chats with
Simon and Graham we were reminded of what was ending – the old
fashioned bike shop where breadth and depth knowledge can be found.
The old fashioned bike shop has been slowly disappearing, and while
the range and availability of tools has increased, the range of
durable bikes and accessories is now generally limited. Sadly, in
this day and age, we are seeing the arrival of the Bunnings of bike
shops – loaded with lots of stock, but not much variety.
|
The front window of Ridgways, November 2018. |
Shortly after we secured our secret
inner city warehouse space, we also acquired a piece of history in
the form of the Park Tool double work stand that used to have pride
of place at Bicycle Revolution. We said “hello”. It now sits
proudly in our secret workshop, a reminder of the bike kitchen
beginnings of Bicycle Revolution and the possibilities for a new bike
kitchen.
|
Our secret workshop space in inner city Brisbane. |
Our Vision
We have a vision of a bike kitchen, a
place with tools to borrow and advice on hand, somewhere with a
library of bike books and the opportunity to pick up skills. A bike
kitchen is fuelled by the community who use it and a constant supply
of old bikes.
The constant supply of bikes is
crucial. Bicycles were once, and can still be, an excellently
recyclable machine. No functional bicycle should end up in land fill.
It is our objective to save as many bikes as possible from an
undeserving fete. We will go almost anywhere to pick up a pile of old
bikes and parts!
Bike repair and maintenance skills sit
at the centre of our vision. To support our bike kitchen we are
engaging with the community, making ourselves Useful. Outreach will
be central to our success and takes many forms. Community
organisations and educational institutions have varying needs and we
pride ourselves on our adaptability and our passion for passion for
learning.
Please get in touch with us at any time
to discuss anything bicycle related. We are certain we can make
ourselves Useful.
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