Scotstoun project encourages bike building and riding

A bike project in Dumbartonshire. De’ils on Wheels, run by the Dumbarton Road Corridor Environment Trust (DRCET) helps people re-build bicycles recovered from the waste stream, and encourages them to get out and ride.

Sessional staff and volunteers, who are all qualified cycle mechanics, strip down bicycles, salvaging parts from some and scrapping others, leaving a ‘kit’ of a bare frame and a box of parts that includes everything to make a good, safe bicycle.

Young people in the local area are encouraged to use the De'ils on Wheels fully equipped workshop and re-build a bike under supervision. Not only do they get a new bike to keep and ride at the end of it, they learn how they work and gain new mechanical skills.

Having served their ‘apprenticeship’, they can then come back and maintain their bikes, help repair their friends’ bikes, or do jobs around the workshop to ‘earn’ upgraded parts and accessories for their new steeds.

Adults can also build bikes but are asked to cover the cost of new parts (cables, brake blocks, etc.) and make a donation to the project, either in cash or in kind.

De’ils on Wheels has also embarked on a new programme of organised bike rides, cycle skills sessions, and cycle training, offering cycle proficiency courses for people who need a bit more confidence to get out on the roads. The organisation has built a cycle skills course for events and sessions locally.

It's also open for ‘fix-your-own-bike’ sessions where you can rent a work stand and do your own repairs. A professional workstand – with all the tools you need, and grease and oil demanded by your bike – costs £4 an hour and is available 6pm-8pm Monday-Thursday.

The main De'ils on Wheels workshop is open Monday and Tuesday 5pm-8pm and Wednesday-Thursday 2pm-8pm.

Read more on the De'ils on Wheels website