CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Topic: The Upcyclers

CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Topic: The Upcyclers http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Topic: The Upcyclers en Mon, 18 May 2026 18:07:44 +0000 chdot on "The Upcyclers" http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=9024#post-92748 Thu, 29 Nov 2012 11:49:43 +0000 chdot 92748@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ This was in a Sunday Herald supplement, don't think it made it on-line. <img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8490/8229594376_f677a3d97d.jpg"> <img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8340/8228530829_f8e4ab826d.jpg"> <img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8060/8229595876_6464fc56f5.jpg"> " Suzanne Hitchell adds a touch of flower-power to one of her recycled bikes Photograph: Martin Shields THE UPCYCLERS WHY BUY A NEW BIKE WHEN YOU CAN RESCUE A VINTAGE CLASSIC FROM THE SCRAPHEAP? BY SUSAN SWARBRICK SUZANNE Hitchell is introducing her bicycles. There's Deborah, a sleek racer that she rescued from a drug user who had "acquired" the bike. And Angie, a town bike with a looped frame and flowery basket. "I found her on eBay a few years back," she says of the latter. Together the bikes have a collective age of around 80 - and that's the way Hitchell likes it. She is part of a growing band of Scots who are eschew- ing brand-new bikes in favour of embracing a vintage revolution and upcycling old contraptions that might previously have ended up on the scrapheap. "I couldn't imagine buying a new bike," she says. "Everything in my house is vintage. I have always cared about the environment. There are enough second-hand bikes in the world that we don't need to buy new. I prefer an old bike." Hitchell, 42, from Rutherglen, Lanarkshire, took up cycling four years ago after becoming worn down by a soul-sapping daily commute. "I got sick and tired of driving," she says. "It would take me so long to get to work every day. I would sit at traffic lights and feel envious of cyclists whizzing past on their bikes. I decided enough was enough: I was going to get myself a bike too." Then fate intervened. Hitchell was working as a community warden in Glasgow when she saw a young woman pushing a bike along a city centre street. "It was clear she had been using drugs and didn't even look like she could cycle," says Hitchell. "Straight away I had a sinking feeling she might have stolen it. "Thinking on my feet, I said: 'That's a lovely old bike, were you about to hand it over to us?' and she replied: 'Uh, yeah, I was just on my way to hand it in. I found it lying over there.'" After the police collected the bike, Hitchell used social networking sites to try to track down the owner. "Six weeks later I enquired to see if the bike had been reunit- ed with its true owner but was sadly still unclaimed. The officer I spoke to said I could take it home," she says. "Deborah is a gorgeous wee bike that someone had clearly loved and looked after, but when I got her the chain was hanging off and she had two flat tyres. After a sendee she was perfect. I added a daisy garland and panniers." While Deborah is for everyday use, Hitchell uses her second bike, Angie, for more leisurely jaunts. Her musi- cian husband and three children aged 19,14 and four, are all keen cyclists, and the family's make-do-and-niend approach sees them recycle everything, from clothes and toys to furniture. They also grow vegetables and keep three chickens for eggs. "It's like the Good Life - our neighbours call us Tom and Barbara," laughs Hitchell. When people ask her advice on buying a bicycle, Hitch- ell directs them to The Bike Station, the UK's largest bike recycling charity, which has bases in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Perth. The organisation takes any unwanted or dis- carded bikes, regardless of age or condition. They then then patch them up to sell on, or reuse and recycle the Thorn Wall started cycling four years ago to get away from a monotonous commute Photograph: Martin Shields parts. Since opening two years ago, the Glasgow branch alone lias refurbished and sold almost 4000 bikes. "I have donated two of my daughter's bikes to The Bike Station and believe that's the way forward," says Hitchell. "That's where I tell people to look first. The website Gumtree is good too, as are car-boot sales. Cycling's popularity is going through the roof at the moment, but I would always suggest people think about goto g for an old bike rather than automatically buy new. By choosing second-hand you are helping to save the planet by cutting down on carbon emissions and saving ;i bike h um ending up in landfill." Sophie Kromholz, a 24-year-old art historian and Glasgow University PhD student, wholeheartedly agrees. "I don't believe in buying new bikes because it's just not the done thing in the Netherlands where I grew up; she says. "As a small child I got a new pink bicycle forChristmas, but all the others throughout my life have been < iwned bv other people before me." Growing up in Maastricht, cycling was a way of life. "I biked to school, nil my friends and teachers used bikes," she says. "It's practical and just what you do. It's only really people who do a lot of big hills or go racing who buy specialist bikes. If you are simply cycling around town, there is no need for a fancy bike. There are so many second-hand bikes available in the Netherlands." When she came to Scotland, the first thing Kromholz did was buy a bike: a Raleigh Calypso which she found on Gumtree. "I'm not sure how old it is - at least 10 years <center>PATHS TO FREEDOM THE National Cycle Network (NCN) provides mainly traffic-free routes for cyclists for 2000 miles across Scotland. They includes NCN754 along the Union and Forth and Clyde Canals from Edinburgh to Bowling; NCN77, known as the Salmon Run, which follows the the Tay from Dundee to Pitlochry; and NCN1 from Aberdeen to John o' Groats, Orkney and Shetland. In Glasgow the NCN75 provides a means to traverse the city centre away from busy traffic, while taking in the iconic sights of the Clyde. Due to open this spring is the long- awaited cycle path over the "bridge to nowhere" over the M8 that will link Central Station and the west end. Other routes under development include NCN78, a 64- mile route from Fort William to Inverness, linked to a 53-mile section from Oban to Fort William. The Bike Station has made a map showing Edinburgh's impressive network of off-road routes and online journey planners can not only identify the quietest or quickest, but can be used via a smartphone as a cycling sat nav. CycleStreets.net has open-source mapping that is constantly updated with the latest routes and infrastructure by local cyclists; Google maps now has cycle journey planning. As part of its Cycling Action Plan, the Scottish Government has set a target of 10% of all journeys to be made by bike by 2020 - a number tied to its low-carbon and obesity strategies. Just 1 % are currently made by bike. Over the next two years, £6 million has been earmarked to improve Scotland's cycle paths and train schoolchildren. Yet with less than 1 % of the country's overall 2013/14 transport budget allocated to cycling, campaigners say more investment is needed if we are to come close to matching the Netherlands and Denmark, where cycling accounts for 27% and 13% of journeys respectively. In April, a Pedal on Parliament campaign saw thousands of cyclists converge on Holyrood to lobby for improved safety on Scotland's roads. visit www. sustrans. org. uk and www. thebikestation. org. uk SUSAN SWARBRICK</center> - and I chose it due to a combination of aesthetics and because it's closest to what I grew up riding back home. It's what we would call in Dutch 'omafiet' which means 'granny bike'. I find it more comfortable and it's easier to carry things around with me." Kromholz is reticent to be seen as a green crusader. "I appreciate the environmental aspects, but more than anything it's a practical means of getting about," she says. "I think the biggest misconception about cyclists is that we are all eco-hippies and have a political agenda. Certainly a lot of people who cycle do fit that descrip- tion, but there are so many other reasons to own a bike. For me it's a lifestyle choice. I don't have a problem with people who use cars, I just prefer a bike." WHILE cycling is currently undergoing a renaissance in Scotland, Kromholz believes much work is still to be done if we are ever to emulate the suc- cess of her native Netherlands as a bike-friendly nation. "Peo- ple are definitely becoming more aware and apprecia- tive of cycling, but it takes time," she says. "In the Neth- erlands there is a strong legal structure that protects cyclists' rights that the UK doesn't currently have. "I have to say my family was a little less excited when they found out I'd got a bike in Scotland just because of the lack of dedicated cycle paths. One of the first things my mum did when she visited was buy me a bike bell the size of a small grapefruit." Embracing the vintage bicycle revolution for his own reasons is Thorn Wall, 30, a Glasgow-based movie-prop designer. Originally from Slane in County Meath. Ire- land, he started cycling four years ago as an alterna- tive to a monotonous commute by bus. "I figured a bike would keep me fit," he says. After buying a second-hand fixed-gear bicycle, Wall decided to customise it to suit his tastes - a notion that has since blossomed into a near obsession with stripping down and rebuilding bikes. "The only thing I have left of that original bike is the rear rim and wheel spokes, everything else has been replaced," he smiles. "I buy Sophie Kromholz grew up in the cycle-friendly Netherlands new parts and the ones I don't need any more I pass on to mates or sell." In the current challenging economic climate, it's a shrewd technique being adopted by many thrifty cyclists. UI would love to have £5000 to spend on a per- fect bike," he says, "but then you'd worry about it get- ting broken or stolen. This way I can constantly upgrade it, add bits here and there. It's a great hobby. Most of my friends have a project bike taking up space in their spare room or hall. I just finished a bike which I sold to a friend. I was sad to see it go, but Fm already thinking about the next one." Buying new, believes Wall, can often be a false econ- omy. "The frame I have on my current bike is 25 years old - and it will last another 25 years if I look after it," he says. "You can't say that about a new bike. Most aren't designed to last. They are mass produced using the cheapest materials around. Unless you are spending big bucks you aren't going to get quality. "I spend a lot of time on eBay buying bits and pieces. I just bought a new front-brake caliper for £15 that I will keep and use at a later date. Fm hoping to build a track bike at some stage and working on a design for a custom frame. Fm always on the look-out for bargains and proj- ects, things I can fix up. I have a wardrobe full of parts." Wall now works as a freelance mechanic and cycle trainer for The Bike Station, and has a side project - dubbed 2nd Cycle Designs - making belts and accesso- ries from recycled bicycle tyres and parts. He owns five bikes he has built or is rebuilding from scratch. "At first it was simply about getting from A to B but it's now become a social thing too," he says. "If I have to go a few days without getting on the bike I feel weird." That's echoed by Hitchell. "If there are days I feel a bit low, I simply put my jacket on and go out on my bike," she says. "I always feel uplifted afterwards. Getting a bike is a bit like having a dog - you suddenly find people want to come up and talk to you. One of the first times I cycled my bike, Deborah, the chain came off. I was just getting off to fix it when three cyclists stopped to help. "I have at least 20 new friends I wouldn't have if I hadn't got a bike. My life has been enriched since I took up cycling." BY NUMBERS Over one million more people in the UK now cycle regularly since 2008, including 100,000 in Scotland. Upwards of 10,000 people took to the traffic- free streets of Edinburgh for this year's Sky Ride in September. Since June 2012 more than 12,000 people have signed up to British and Scottish Cycling's social groups, with 264 groups already being formed around the UK, including 13 in Scotland. * Since 2009, Scottish Cycling membership has increased by 77%. LET'S GET TO WORK CYCLING Scotland operates a Cycle Friendly Employer award that celebrates companies that provide the right facilities and incentives to encourage their staff to cycle. interest-free loans are available from the Energy Saving Trust to help fund dedicated parking and changing facilities for employees, while Cycling Scotland itself can provide small grants to help with the purchase of pool bikes. They also offer subsidised commuter training courses. The nationwide Bike 2 Work scheme lets employees save up to 42% on bikes bought through a salary sacrifice scheme. This means people can buy a tax-free bike, through their employer, and pay off the costs over a set period through their salary. Because repayments are taken at source, both employee and employer save on national insurance and tax contributions. Another benefit for employers encouraging a cycling- friendly ethos is reduced travel costs: the recommended rate for bikes is 20p per mile, much cheaper than driving (40p per mile) or taxi fares. Cycling Scotland recommends each workplace sets up a Bicycle User Group (www.scotbug.com) and regularly monitors staff cycling rates via the bi-annual Big Count (www.bigcount.co.uk). For more information, visit <a href="http://www.cyclingscotland.org" rel="nofollow">http://www.cyclingscotland.org</a>