On Your Bike is a local two-wheeled recycling service. That doesn’t mean dragging old newspapers and wine bottles to Poole dump on your old Raleigh. This social enterprise, based in Rockwell Green, takes in unwanted or outgrown bikes, refurbishes them and then sells them at bargain prices.
Since launch in June 2010 the charity has recycled [or serviced] over 1000 bikes from its workshop on the Rylands Industrial Estate. Even better OYB retrains or helps employ the socially under-privileged, long-term unemployed or ex-offenders, with 10 such people finding useful work via OYB is two years.
“”The great thing about bikes is that they are relatively simple machines and not too expensive to make roadworthy and safe,” said OYB founder Ben Fox. “We train people from a range of situations and help them make a real contribution to a real business.
“If they reach the Cytech II qualification then there are openings with a good many bike shop that need technicians, especially with the boom in cycling after the Tour de France and Olympics successes.”
On Your Bike sells recycled adult road bikes from between £40 and £90, youth sizes from £30 to £70 and toddler bikes from under £30.
Whether you are a harassed parent trying to balance a finite Christmas budget against infinite demands or a greener person wanted to avoid unnecessary consumption of raw materials then On Your Bike has a great deal to offer you.
And yes, we can confirm that the Around Wellington company bike is a Ridgeback road bicycle bought earlier this year for £65 and still running like a dream. When the gears got a bit unaligned the OYB team fixed in minutes at no charge.
Visit On Your Bike online
