New Hope: Bike coop to give new lives to old bikes

phyllistsang — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 01:14:24 +0000

-HAMILTON- "This is the stage I like the most about fixing bikes,” Sid Slotegraaf, Coordinator of New Hope Bike Co-op and a soft-spoken downhill racer and dirt jumper, said while dusting off a "pre-loved" bicycle, "you don't always know how they would turn out. It's like giving them new lives again."

New Hope Bike Co-op, a program which focuses on giving back to the community by helping people to fix their own bikes, and providing low cost parts, free use of tools and low cost refurbished bicycles, is the brainchild of Jeff Neven, a cyclist and a father of four who could ride only when kids are put to sleep.

The idea was born in 1997 when Jeff was working with inner city kids in Grand Rapids where he started a bicycle repair club for boys and girls. Upon returning to Canada, he continued to find opportunities and partner with likeminded groups, like Recycle Cycles in Kitchener and MacCycle Co-op at McMaster University to serve communities with his bike repairing skills.

In the past three years, First Hamilton Christian Reformed Church and its church plant, New Hope Church hosted a couple single-day bike repairing events at East Hamilton and had been well received by their neighborhoods. The success of these events furthered Jeff’s vision of developing a bike co-op at East Hamilton. This summer, New Hope Bike Co-op, backed by church donations and a grant from Service Canada’s Summer Job Initiative, finally becomes a reality.

Since its opening in June, the bike co-op has been serving 20-40 people a day in two locations: a bike shop in the Delta East neighborhood which opens Thursdays and Fridays and a stall at Ottawa Street Farmer's Market during Saturday mornings.

bike coop

New Hope: Bike coop to give new lives to old bikes