Repair your bike yourself, a practice that meets more and more followers. More economical and ecological, it appeals to cyclists. The self-refective workshops are increasing in France. Benoît Narbonne went to one of them in the 11th arrondissement of Paris.
Twenty old people bikes crammed, hundreds of used parts stored by category on a shelf and tools placed on the wall … in theCycklette workshopeverything is available to refurbish your bike. Margaux Franquet is an employee of the association. She is not there to repair bikes, but to help repair them for yourself:
“” In the workshop, when members come, when people come, they can come and, independently, repair their bike if they do not need us. They can also call us. There are a lot of people who need help the first time. »»
In exchange for membership of 30 euros per year or 15 euros per year for students, cyclists can come and repair their two-wheelers themselves by using recovered parts. For Margaux, they have everything to gain knowing how to revise their bikes themselves:
“” The repair of a bicycle, when you learn to do it yourself, it has a hyper educational interest. We know what’s going on on it. An economic interest too is unbeatable. You can’t have cheaper than your own labor. And the spare parts too: they are at unbeatable prices since they are at free prices. »»
Repair his old bike
The hair attached to the Va-Vite, Agnès, 23, is a experienced cyclist. She has three different bikes and modifies the one for her trips in town, an old fluorescent orange racing bike: “ It is a little too big, so I try to see what I can modify to make it comfortable. »»
She puts one of the blues of free access work and rolls up her sleeves: ” It is ecological and economical, but it is also because it is rewarding to learn to know your bike and know how to fix it. The first time I changed a wheel, I felt ultra -strong. It seemed to me ultra hard and in fact, it’s quite easy. And then in fact, there, it allows us to have lots of tools and to have lots of different advice and it’s pretty cool. »»
Another activity of the workshop is the recovery of old abandoned or damaged bikes. Marc is an intern of the Cycklette. He examines one of them: ” It is a bike that we could either go up and put for sale, or put it in disassembly to recover the parts to ensure its destination. We test the gallows, for example the seatpost which, there, is still blocked. This bike could be raised. »»
If the bike can be rehabilitated, it will then be offered at broken prices to the members of the workshop or used for organized outings with other associations. In France, the networkHappy cycling Removes nearly 538 self-repair workshops throughout the territory.
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