I’m currently working with Leeds Bike Mill and have worked with a few other cycle related co-ops over the last few years (both cycle repair/maintenance/training type and courier co-ops). I’m currently discussing with Sam holding an on-line meetup of cycle co-ops, to include non members co-ops too.
My idea for an initial 2h meeting in late November would be an opportunity to meet other worker co-ops in the cycling sector and explore how we might support each other. This first session is an opportunity to do this and to get things going we’d like to explore how cycle co-ops are balancing their social mission and the provision of affordable products and services with the need to pay themselves a decent wage.
What do you think? Good idea? What else might we cover?
(We have been speaking to other groups more over the last year. There is now a Bristol and surrounding area Community Cycle Project Network that meets bi-monthly. Broken Spoke in Oxford came and visited us. And some folk in Sheffield set up a WhatsApp group for community cycle projects round the country. Although none of these is strictly co-ops only.)
Hiya, this sounds great! We at BBF have been intending to set up something similar and were in conversation with somebody from Brixton Cycles about setting up a meeting of bicycle co-ops from around the country, but it didn’t come to anything as they sadly had to close I would like to discuss how we can share skills and help to upskill each other, and secondly would like to talk about CICs who aren’t worker co-ops and how we can support them to become worker co-ops. But appreciate that they might be conversations for later down the line, not necessarily for the first meeting!
I ride with Vegan Wheels in Glasgow ( vegan food delivery by bike - working with various bakeries and restaurants ) and we are a CIC, but also co-op curious as culturally we operate very much like one .
I’m a mechanic at Leeds Bike Mill - we’re a worker co-op & CIC so we can share experience of that structure.
We are particularly interested in how other bike co-ops have set up their bike repair offer. It’s not a big part of what we currently do (we focus on bike recycling, teaching, and events) but are exploring increasing our offer - in part given the ongoing closures of bike shops in our city/ reduction in choice for cyclists.
Thanks for setting this up Mark, Was nice to meet people I also wanted to let people know that - somewhat miraculously there is now also a more generic community bikes whatsapp group that was set up in the same week - I can’t tell if that’s just a wild fluke or somehow related..
Here’s the blurb - there’s no invite link so direct message me your number and I can get you added via whatsapp:
This group is to ask questions and share knowledge, tools etc about how to run a community bike project.
Please add your contacts who are involved in the organisational side of community based bike projects/hubs/kitchens/spaces across the UK.
Our projects typically are focussed on enabling the public to do DIY cycle maintenance and refurbishing used cycles, they rely on significant volunteer labour and are grassroots in feel.
Group rules:
Posts should be about helping eachother run our projects well.
Please only share events etc when it’s likely that people will actually want to attend, we all live in different cities and are busy, sought after people.
Assume goodwill.
Be lean of speech.
Tolerance of eachother is key, be nice
List of other bike projects around the UK:List of other Bike Projects (2024).xlsx - Google SheetsFeel free to update it with what you know and invite others to here if you want. (But some projeThis group is to ask questions and share knowledge, tools etc about how to run a community bike project.
Hey! It’s been organised quite autonomously following Leeds Bike Mill demand and Birmigham Bike Foundry attending and telling others about it. I’ve been happy to help swing these into action alongside Mark but to be honest all I’ve done is just provided a meeting link and advertised the meetup on the newsletter. We haven’t ‘collected’ emails or made a list as such (I did ask about whether co-ops would find this useful but didn’t really hear back with a definite answer). So there’s nothing to ‘add’ you to at the moment. If you all want to go ahead with more sessions that are self-organised a co-op or individual might want to take on the task of collecting emails or making a list. If it’s going to be supported or facilitated by workers.coop as Mike said that would need a worker co-op focus although it could definitely be open on the edges to collectives and other non-hierarchical groups that operate in a co-operate fashion. We’d still be happy to list a meetup on the event listings in that case. Cheers!
My name is May and I recently joined the community cycling charity Sunny Cycles in Glasgow as their Development and Enterprise Officer.
We are an inclusive cycling charity based in Glasgow. We teach and support people of all ages and abilities to ride bikes. We have a fleet of adapted bikes including trikes and a velotransporter (can be used to carry a person on a wheelchair so they can be included in group cycles). We are registered as a Sottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation. We are not a cooperative, but try to work by the principles.
I have experience volunteering in cooperatives. I was a member of Glasgow Student Housing Cooperative for 3 years, and was secretary over the period we bought our house. I also attend Glasgow Cooperatives Meet Up with @gneissgrrrl. I am on the board of the federation of student housing cooperatives which I know @seanfarmelo has also been involved with.
All this is to say Sunny Cycles is not a coop, however, we aim to run by those principles and we have cooperative experience in our team.
I am particularly interested to hear from other cycle coops about the various ways you generate income. My role is mainly to build corporate relationships to raise sponsorship donations and market paid-for wellbeing services. We are trying to decrease the proportion of grant funding we rely on, and up donations and income producing projects. We are also looking to start charging for consultancy which we have previously been doing for free. We are also looking at enterprise options such as running a grow-a-sunflower campaign (as a sunflower is a symbol of hidden disabilities) and a T shirt design competition. Some of our members have undertaken personal challenges like one of our members taking the challenge to cycle 1km on an adapted bike. She has cerebral palsy, and this was a major challenge for her. An incredible success! See videos on facebook under ##JaninesOneBigKilometre
Please do let me know other ways in which your organisations generate revenue, and I’m looking forward to chatting about it!
Chichester Community Bike Project is a democratic charitable Community Benefit Society, with a commitment to the Co-op V& Ps written into their Rules: “The Society will seek to abide by and operate in accordance with the Co-operative Values and Principles, so far as is consistent with the charitable nature of the Society.” Not a worker co-op. https://chichesterbikeproject.com/
I would love to hear about if any orgs in this thread have done consortium bidding. I went to a training on how to form consortium to bid for tenders by Supplier Development Program Scotland. There is a push backed by legislation in Scotland for public sector purchasing to be more innovative and bring in social enterprises where possible. I’m not sure what the situation is in the rest of the UK.
I would like to discuss how we can share skills and help to upskill each other, and secondly would like to talk about CICs who aren’t worker co-ops and how we can support them to become worker co-ops. But appreciate that they might be conversations for later down the line, not necessarily for the first meeting!
I also wanted to let people know that - somewhat miraculously there is now also a more generic community bikes whatsapp group that was set up in the same week - I can’t tell if that’s just a wild fluke or somehow related..