New bike shop teaches lessons by getting your hands greasy

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/08/2011 (5477 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For the organizers of the Winnipeg Repair Education and Cycling Hub, it’s pride over blemish.

Winnipeg’s newest community bike shop held its official grand opening Aug. 11, at its North End headquarters, the product of eight months of building a volunteer base, scouring city landfills for discarded bikes and doing outreach in communities across the city.

“Winnipeg is on the path to becoming a really great cycling city. It will just take some time,” said WRENCH program director Cara Fisher, a West Broadway resident.

WRENCH is a relatively simple concept. People looking for a bike are encouraged to come in and select a bike they like from the inventory of some 150 used bikes. Clients are shown how to fix the bike with secondhand parts. The cost is free and people are asked to give back by volunteering their time at the shop.

“What we contribute to the community is making cycling accessible,” Fisher said. “You don’t have to spend $700 on a new bike, you can build one relatively cheap.”

With some 2,000 square-feet of space in the basement of the city’s animal services building at 1057 Logan Ave., and a two-person daytime staff, WRENCH is the biggest and most accessible community bike shop in the city.

The eight others in the city are volunteer-run and operate during evenings and on weekends, Fisher said.

“One thing really unique to Winnipeg are these community bike shops,” said Fisher, who moved to Winnipeg from Vancouver last year.

“People are very community-minded here. There’s very much a nature of being involved in your neighbourhood. People, once they discovery the excitement and freedom of cycling, want to share that with others.”

WRENCH is hoping to pass that excitement on to youth. They’ve been partnering with community organizations and youth agencies like Art City and schools to deliver workshops.

A handful of kids from the Tuxedo Family Centre were on hand at WRENCH’s grand opening, their first day in an eight-week build-a-bike program.

“The pride they feel in having built something from the ground up with their own hands, I think, is really an empowering experience,” said Geoff Heath, a West End resident and mechanical director for WRENCH.

“I don’t think a lot of these kids have had the chance to pick up a tool and use it in this environment before. I know I hadn’t when I was their age.”

Jageor Muhamad, a 14-year-old Tuxedo resident, said he’d prefer to build his own bike to see it transition from old to new again.

“It’s a good experience,” he said.

Heath added it’s a good chance for kids to learn about the environmental impact of cycling.

“So much of what we do is mechanics, but inevitably you have conversations about how these bikes are from the landfill and why are we throwing out a couple thousand bikes every year?” he said.

For more information, visit www.thewrench.ca.

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matt.preprost@canstarnews.com