Kingston's Eco-conscious Community Bike Project finds a new home
By Emily Dalton
4th Oct 2023 | Local Features
The environmentally-conscious Full Cycle Bike Project (FCBP) has found a new home in New Malden.
Previously located just next door to Berrylands Station, the community group will deliver bike repairs and second-hand bikes from 175 Kingston Road.
On a mission to make cycling accessible and affordable for people from all walks of life, Full Cycle refurbishes and repairs second-hand bikes. All profits feed directly back into its local initiatives- helping others get active, improving their mental health and wellbeing.
Run by Gary Lee, founder, and an enthusiastic team of volunteers, Full Cycle is passionate about giving people access to affordable, efficient and healthy ways to get around.
Enabling access to free transport, the community bike project empowers people to do the activities they would like to do even if they do not have the means to do it.
Although Kingston is perceived as an affluent area, the borough has pockets of deprivation that rank amongst some of the most disadvantaged in the country.
Set up in response to the shortage of bike-related community facilities in the Kingston area, the Full Cycle community bike project's mission is to give people from all backgrounds access to affordable cycling and promote active travel.
Starting in March 2020, Lee admits it was a "weird" time to set up the project. Yet, it was also busy- cycling was a great means of alternative transport and opportunity to exercise during the pandemic.
After coming out of lockdown, more volunteers signed up to help FCBP and the services boomed, collaborating with lots of local organisations.
In its first three and a half years, the non-profit has developed partnerships with RBKares and Refugee Action, with additional recent projects for Refugee Action, Save The World Club and KCAH (Kingston Churches Action on Homelessness).
"It has the potential to change someone's life," Lee said. He anecdotally told of women from Refugee Action using bikes instead of public transport to go to job interviews, and individuals sleeping rough cycling to social events.
Lee said: "I really want to push the training and skills side because it can be a barrier against people using their bikes."
Full Cycle's regular 'fix your own bike' sessions and bike maintenance workshops allow Kingston residents to learn essential cycle maintenance skills under the tutorage of professional staff and experienced volunteers.
The sessions enable people to use workshop tools as they learn how to diagnose basic bike problems and repair their own bikes, with many people returning to share their new-found mechanic and problem-solving skills as volunteers.
Lee added there are volunteers from all sorts of backgrounds, and often a 50/50 split between men and women. He emphasised the volunteers have become a social and inclusive group, encouraging each other as they work through problems together.
Operated by volunteers, Full Cycle has also benefited from students doing work experience. Something which Lee hopes to continue with growing links to schools and getting everyone involved.
He added it was difficult to run repair classes at first because of covid and social distancing. However, Lee said knowing how to repair your own bike can be a "basic level of knowledge" which "people can underestimate their ability to do."
The maintenance classes consist of two levels- basic and intermediate- to encourage people repair their bikes rather than dump them.
Different pricing levels means that individuals can 'pay it forward' to subsidise another person's training lesson. Or, even their new bike.
"We get some amazing donors," Lee said. "It can make a real difference to subsidise a bike if someone can't spend £75."
Full Cycle reconditions bikes, which otherwise would have been thrown away, to sell them on- with the proceeds going back to support their community work.
For instance, a second-hand, reconditioned bike sold at £150 would be of better quality than a new bike at the same price. The refurbished bike may be older but will be made of higher-end parts.
Starting from £75 to about £150 (on average) someone can buy a second-hand bike made up of quality parts. More specialist bikes are put on Ebay and fetch for around £300, but it depends where the market is. Lee admitted he had spent months trying to shift a tricycle.
Relying on sources like South Western Railway and housing associations- Lee appealed for the public to donate their unwanted bikes. Whether they be at the bottom of the garden, in the back of the shed, or simply ones the kids have outgrown and replaced.
For more information on the Full Cycle Community Bike Project and how you can get involved, visit the link here.
For further details on the upcoming maintenance sessions, contact [email protected]
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