Hobart Bike Kitchen

The first supper

In the middle of Dark Mofo there was an unheralded but nontheless important event happening in Salamanca.

The Hobart Bike Kitchen chefs got together for a time to make sure everyone had met, to talk about what we’re doing and to have a chat.

It might not have moved the world off it’s axis but we did set a World Record for the number of Hobart Bike Kitchen chefs in one place at anytime.

We had 12 wise me sitting around a table and had a great time sharing ideas, looking at ways to improve what we do. We even talked about the “vision thing”.

There are plenty of things happening with plumbing, the new bike hanging gazebo, tools and other events we’ll start planning for.

But most of all it was great to share the cameraderie of all these people who want to make the world a better place.
Not so much making the world a better place one bike at a time, more one more confident bike owner and bike at a time.

I know that unless there’s a photo on the internet then the event never happened, sadly we were too busy having a good time to worry about dragging the technology out (call us old school). So I can only leave you with this

Winter Hours 1:00 – 4:00

I think we’ve all noticed that the days are shorter, so much so that packing up at 5:00 is all a bit hard.

So until further notice our Sunday Session hours will be 1:00 to 4:00.

It’s still best to check the event detail on the Upcoming Events widget to confirm time and location.

The Upcoming Events widget is that thing on the left, if you mouseover or click on the event description it will show more information. The mouseover shows time properly, sadly for some reason when you click and go to the Google calendar it shows time in GMT if you’re not logged in to Google – sorry.

But even though it’s winter, we’ve been having some great Sunday Sessions, the sun’s been shining, there’s plenty of you turning up and we’ve got heaps to do.

Here are some photos from last weekend.

you can work in one's — you can work in one’s

when this one is finished it will deserve a story all it's own — when this one is finished it will deserve a story all it’s own

Cooking up a storm

So what’s been happening since the grander than grand Grand Re-Opening?

Well our Sundays have been full of bike fixing goodness. There’s been a great turn out each Sunday Session and the atmosphere has been terrific.

Also it’s been great to welcome some new chefs to Hobart Bike Kitchen. Dan, Paul C, Paul W, Rob, Matt, Jarod – Welcome!
A plan is useful, a space is important, some bikes critical – but it’s the people that make this thing work, and are also what makes it worthwhile.

So here are some pictures sharing the bike love.

See you soon, HBK team

IMG_20130428_163405 — food, families, fun – what more do you want?

IMG_20130428_163525 — that’s the sort of smile an afternoon at HBK puts on your face

IMG_20130428_163414 — what am i doing here?

So when are you open?

Our intention is to hold a Sunday Session, or some other activity, every weekend.

NB we are going to ride our bikes in Jan. 2020 so our next session will be 2/2/2020

So how do you know what we’re doing? It’s easy – check the Upcoming Sessions widget on the left hand side of the page. The event will have the date/time and location of what we’re doing and any other info. which might be useful.

Continue reading So when are you open?

Thank You

Well it’s happened and it was a great success – the Grand Re-Opening of Hobart Bike Kitchen was brilliant.

It looked just like the vision – Community, Cooperation, Bikes, Sunshine, …

For all of that to have happened we have a number of organaisations and people to thank.

Hobart’s indigenous owners the Muwinina people
The Wilderness Society – for a great space, and for sharing our vision
Tas Community Fund – without them there would be no new shed, fewer tools and no trailer, and the bike racking yet to come
Rotary Hobart – for toolboard & new power tools
Hobart City Council – for the rest of the shed, the workbenchs, the lovely Park tools
Island Workshop – for making the shed sit where it’s meant to, and will continue to do so
Hazell Bros – for the concrete on which everything sits
Min. for Sustainable Transport & Leader of The Greens – for the Grand Re-Opening BBQ and for riding bikes
Jackman & McRoss – wasn’t the bread great

Greg Parssey – for all of our signwriting
Luke – for extracting the digit and getting the foundations started

Lance, Ben, Mark, Sam, Paul C, Steve, Ollie, Dan, Tim, Paul W, Rob and to those whose names I don’t know who all contributed to the organising, clearing, digging, shed building, parts stacking, bike moving, … that created the new shed.

To everyone who has been part of Hobart Bike Kitchen since we started, whether you’ve worked on the tools, made a donation or received assitance, and made what we are doing worthwhile.

Lastly, but most importantly, to our partners & families who have enabled this to happen by putting up with us, by being understanding of the amount of bikes and bike related stuff that has entered their lives and by supporting us.

Cutting the ribbon - actually cutting the rim tape. — Cutting the ribbon – actually cutting the rim tape.

We're going to build a bigger one over there — We’re going to build a bigger one over there.

Not everyone who made it but you get the idea

It’s this Sunday

I hope you’re getting excited, we certainly are.

The Shed is up, the tool bench is a picture of beautifully organised tools (long may it stay that way) and the shelves are full of bike bits.

We’ve got food and drinks, some VIP guests and a good forecast for the Grand re-Opening.

So roll on Sunday and we’ll get the shed open and our first Sunday Session on the new site.

Thanks to everyone who is coming along to help us kick off in style.

Not that everything is done. We’ve still got a big bike rack to build and fill so let us know if you want to lend a hand.

We also want to add a whole lot more of you to the HBK Chef roster to ensure we can run plenty of Sunday Sessions, expand into other days of the week and engage with a whole lot more groups who appreciate the wonderfulness that bikes can provide.

Bike love,
HBK

Grand Opening!

Its taken a long time, but at last it’s really happening!

Shed day!

it was a big day on the Hobart Bike Kitchen calendar – the slab has had a couple of weeks to cure, we’ve got some big cardboard boxes of shed and we’ve got some great HBK volunteers.

Thanks to everyone who turned up. It might not have been an Amish barn raising but at the end of the day we’ve got ourselves a 3m x 6m shed full of possibilities.

We have a couple of weekends to go with some ridying up to do, shelving, work benches and the like so keep an eye out for our next couple of working bees.

So here’s a bunch of photos of getting through the day.

Building a HBK home

Well, we’ve got a selection of new bike tools, a shiny new shed still in its box, now we just need to get some construction underway. HBK is going to need capable hands over coming weekends to make our new home a reality, starting with this Saturday morning.

1. Australia Day Working Bee to help prepare new home for HBK

Q: What could be more Aussie than listening to the Hottest 100 on Australia Day?

A: Helping out a good cause in the morning to prepare you for a more relaxing afternoon listening to the best tunes of 2012!

When: Saturday 26 January, 9am-noon

Objective: We need to dig out the foundation area for the concrete slab that the shed will sit on – this is a job that should take 4 able-bodied adults about 2 hours to complete. We also need to limb a tree that is a bit to close to our future shed (So ideally, someone with a chainsaw and a trailer that needs some firewood, as we have to remove it off site).

2. February working bees (weekend days only) to build new home for HBK.

On weekends in February we will be aiming to complete the following tasks:

· Prepare the foundation (this involves carting sand to site and compacting it, and laying waterproof membrane)

· Pour and finish the concrete slab (6m x 3m), so we would appreciate anyone that has experience in this stepping up for this (or put in touch with people who can)

· Erect the shed

Please contact Ben Clark on 6223 6118, or 0488 625 586, if you can assist, or email hobartbikekitchen@gmail.com

If emailing please indicate your availaiblity and skills you can contribute. Even an hour of your time would be greatly appreciated. The more people we can get helping the sooner we can focus on our core role of fixing and refurbishing bikes!!

— Cheers Ben

HBK helping out

Hobart Bike Kitchen was very happy to be able to help provide a bike for Hussein. He is in Hobart and because of Dept. of Immigration restrictions and confidentiality reasons; I can’t give you much information about him other than he is from Afghanistan and is very thankful for the gift of the bike. It means that he can access the city a lot easier and that will help him greatly with his efforts to get employment.His current work means starting before public transport can get him there and he was walking an hour and a half to get there.

We hope it’s a small gesture to making Hussein and others feel welcome in Hobart, and that he enjoys a bit more sleep in the mornings.

Bike Love to you all, HBK