When it comes to the use of bicycles in cities, there is a general worldwide consensus that Northern Europe does it best. While Sydney might not be as bike-friendly as Copenhagen, there are many reasons why you’d want to ride a bike to your workplace or playground in the city: it’s free, it’s easy to park, it’s good exercise, it’s a green transport.
A specific group of Sydneysiders adds another dimension to the environmentally friendly aspect of bike riding: prolonging the lives of common objects.
Founded in 2009, the Cycle Re-cycle Club (CRC), currently based in Waterloo, has been teaching people how to maintain and repair their bikes, so that they don’t automatically throw away a mildly dysfunctional bike, to replace it with a brand-new one. After all, do people replace their car when they feel like the brakes are not quite as efficient, or the tyres not as gripping, or the gear lever not as smooth?
From a purely monetary sense, at a time when energy costs so much worldwide for all the wrong reasons, should we perhaps get inspired by older generations who were able to revive any device, simply because they had no means to replace a malfunctioning device?
The bonus for the environment is that the act of repairing instead of replacing is at the centre of the “Reduce, reuse, recycle” motto we should embrace as societies to preserve our planet.
And it is this motto that has kept the CRC going for more than 15 years.
Run by 15 regular volunteers and around 10 members helping every now and then, this community allows people to learn how to fix their own bicycle, so that the teaching also gets reused, as anyone who learns repairing skills can then pass them on to others (family, friends, colleagues).
In a full-circle way, newcomers learn the ropes at CRC, fix their bikes, and often become volunteers themselves to benefit the rest of the community.
On average, CRC receives 20 to 25 customers per session, Saturdays being the busiest day. Amongst the customers, some come to donate unwanted bikes, others to fix their own bikes.
So far this year, more than 106 bikes have been refurbished.
According to the founders, it is this sense of collective service that has made the reputation of the CRC over the years. Their growing success though means that their modest 28 sqm workshop is getting too small and the association is in desperate need for more space.
Spinoff versions of the centre have even sprung around Sydney, at the University of New South Wales or the Marrickville markets, for example.
A great illustration of the Sydneysiders’ remarkable community spirit!
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For more information about CRC, visit their website.
