RETAILERS
gone into developing his workspace from an old Victorian cellar into something fit for purpose. He began by explaining the motivation for setting up the project. “The bike fixing and riding goes way back into my childhood,” said Fillan. “I sort of left it alone when I was a teenager and then came back around to it when I was in my mid 20s. But this here, this workshop and the Community Focus Cycles project happened when we moved to Haworth on the day that lockdown started. We arrived and then everybody was just stuck indoors and those that didn’t want to walk or run, wanted to go out on bikes. “Bike shops were absolutely rammed, and I had this space here, so I got a bike stand and I already had some tools and I just started posting on Facebook, saying, ‘I’m here. I can fix bikes. I’ll do it for free.’
“It was more sort of aimed at people that perhaps didn’t
have the means to get their bikes repaired at the time. So people started showing up and people wanted to make donations, so I started using that money to pay for cables and brake pads and stuff to use on other people’s bikes who perhaps didn’t have anything to give. It also turned into a sort of recycling situation where people would drop off bikes that they no longer had use for, I would do a bit of work on them and pass them on.”
‘The e-bike guy’ Community projects like these are vital for people who perhaps don’t have the means to buy a bike, get their kids a bike, or even if they don’t know how to maintain them. But although funding is key to keeping projects like this afloat, Fillan works elsewhere while he builds up his Community Focus Cycles business. “I’ve been working at a bike shop over in Wakefield,” said
Fillan. “I started off volunteering for them because they were so busy in lockdown. They put me through my qualifications to say thanks, and then it became a part time job and a full time job. “Alongside this I’ve been working part time for a shop in
Keighley while their mechanic recovers from illness, so I’m in here Wednesday all day then any other days I’m not needed elsewhere, and the occasional morning or evening.” Through his work in other shops, Fillan has earned a reputation as an e-bike specialist, something that more bike shops are seeing being dropped off in their workshops as they become more popular.
“I didn’t exactly choose my speciality, it was more because the other guys didn’t want to work on them, but I like fixing e-bikes,” explained Fillan. “Sure, they’re heavy, they’re not easy to figure out when something goes wrong because it’s no longer a mechanical
Haworth (Tim Green via Wikimedia Commons)
www.bikebiz.com
November 2023 | 17
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68
