Author: Hobart Bike Kitchen

There has always been talk about a batch of HBK stickers, however for those who would like to ‘Rep’ Hobart Bike Kitchen with their ride, I cooked up these the other day.

The first batch of 40 are all gone. However a new set will be out soon. Hit us up for one or come along to any session.

Gus

Okay I’ve finally got my laptop back, so I can fill you in with what Hobart Bike Kitchen has been up to over the Festive Season.

Firstly the Sunday Sessions have still been in full swing (with a one week gap due to Christmas.)

Last session before Christmas saw a few gifts being ‘cooked up.’

This lovely step through bike is waiting to be claimed as a project bike by someone. It already has had its chain cleaned!

Anybody can come along and find a bike for themselves, its free! Usually we have all the parts you need.

Though sometimes it takes some effort to find them.

Over New Years I was helping out CoolPool Tas Promote Carpooling at the Falls Festival. This is the CoolPool walking car which attracted a lot of attention from the punters.

This turned out to be heaps of fun. Everyone should go register at Coolpool as even us bike riders sometimes need a lift and of course some of us drive.

HBK has teamed up with the Migrant Resource Center to set up some bike-related activities in their school holiday activities program. Over the first two weeks of January we had a bike maintenance session at Youth ARC, a group bike ride to Cornelian Bay and two mini Bike Kitchen sessions at Pulse youth center in Glenorchy.These actives proved popular and it was great to see many of the participants already had good bike spannering skills, all that was needed was some tools and they were right into it.

Some built up a bike kitchen bike for themselves.

The last session ran a few hours over time, as more and more bikes appeared. In the end there had to be a cut off point. As usual the few photos I snapped off don’t show the number of participants we had drop by over the two sessions.

By popular demand, we have an encore session Friday(22/1) from 2-4:30 If anybody is interested in helping out, get in contact. Beyond the scope of the summer holiday activities we are hoping to organise a portable Bike Kitchen happening possibly once a month in this location.

Okay thats enough for one post, consider yourself updated.

Gus

Continuing with the arty theme, Hobart Bike Kitchen is in dire need of a logo. However last time we drew something it didn’t turn out all that well.

With the below inspiration, will anybody put pencil to paper or pointer to pixel a create something stunning. Thou shalt be compensated in (bicycle) kind.

There is NO Sunday Session this weekend. Hobart Bike Kitchen has been invited to participate in the Pancakes in the Park Event which is happening Sunday Morning.

Event:

Pancakes in the Park, Sunday 22nd Nov, 10am – noon.
D’Arcy St Park, South Hobart.

What is it:
“The event is from 10AM – 12 on sunday 22nd.
The idea is for people to come along and eat free pancakes and get to know their neighbours. It is also for people to begin to learn what skills people have locally and to sort of set up a skills fair. So i might babysit your child if you cut my hair and made me a cake.
The event is aimed at those living in south Hobart, but its not exclusive so even if people are not in the area  is is still ok to come.
its a big social experiment which may fall flat or may be a roaring success.”

The thought of free pancakes was too much to resist.

If your about it would be great to drop in, especially if you live in or near south Hobart.

We are going to bring along a good set of tools and will be working away but won’t have access for all the spare parts etc we have at HBK HQ.

I’m considering running a 5pm onwards Session on a weekday to make up, get in touch if you’d be interested in this.

Also if your without a bike we now have so many different bikes that I’m sure we could find you a suitable project to work with so no excuses, come along.

Tata
Gus

I’ve just heard about this on the old Face vine. Sounds great.

An Article about us and the Sustainability Expo. Printed in the Sunday Mercury.

Hobart Bike Kitchen’s presence at the Sustainability Expo was a great success.

In the end we sold 14 bikes, some of those were at auction which was some entertainment. I’m not sure if the crowd was laughing with us or at us! We raised over $600 in funds which will be put to good use in the future.

The expo was also an opportunity to talk to heaps of people and get the word out. Contacts we made during the weekend should lead to some great opportunities for us to get out into the community. We are especially excited with some kids summer programs that will soon be organised.

Thanks to everyone who came along and had a chat to us, it was great to talk to you all.

Special thanks to those who helped it happen: Wade and Mick for helping manning the stall, Andy and Rodger for providing some of the bikes and the sustainability expo crew for putting on a great event.

Thanks also to Tim for the above photos, and to Simon for the shade tent.

We’ve had some lovely feedback since the event, and here’s a quote from Bronwyn

“I am the very excited new, old bike owner who fixed their bike up with a new gear cable on Sunday at the Sustainable Living Expo. When I got home my friend and I got out the tools and added more features like lights and a bag rack. Anyway today is a beautiful day, but I am at work with this new bike love in my heart, it’s distracting and I haven’t even taken it for a proper ride yet. I can’t stop thinking about how important the work you’re doing is for the community and I wonder if through my work I might be able to help get your message out there.”

We want to spread more bike love.

Exams are over. It sometimes isn’t raining. It must be approaching summer.

HBK will be in full swing at this weekends Sustainability Expo. Hope to see you there.

 

We have big plans for Hobart. They are something like this. enjoy.

(nicked from Cycle Chic)