Fairfield’s Cycling Network saves 3200 bikes from the tip
THOUSANDS of bicycles were destined for the tip, but they fixed their tyres, popped new brakes on and then sold them to the next generation at cost – most for about $45. Western Sydney’s Cycling Network will have another clearance on Saturday.
THOUSANDS of bicycles were destined for the tip, but they fixed their tyres, popped new brakes on and then sold them to the next generation at cost – most for about $45.
Then on Thursdays and Saturdays and Sundays, the members of Western Sydney’s Cycling Network feel the sun on their neck as they go for a ride.
Now the cycling network has a shed full of repaired bicycles that have been primed for regular rides, and so they’re hoping to clear 75 of them for anything between $40 and $150 this weekend.
All kinds of bikes will be up for sale, including mountain bikes, racers, BMXs and more, for men, women and children alike.
“We’ve moved over 3200 bikes,” said Joe Farrugia, the cycling network’s president. “It’s something I enjoy doing, bringing bicycles back to life that nobody wanted.”
Mr Farrugia is one of 19 people who helped found Western Sydney Cycling Network. Fairfield City Council had placed an ad in the local paper in 2005, looking for a way to help recycle the bicycles that would otherwise end up at the tip.
He had just retired at 58, closing a chapter on a forty-year career as a motor mechanic.
“My wife noticed the ad,” said Mr Farrugia. “She said ‘now that you’re retired, you’re going to have some time on your hands’.”
The bicycle recycling program was launched under then Mayor Nick Lalich. There was a club with an enviable model in New Zealand, and so council representatives travelled across the ditch to see if it was adaptable.
It would end up surpassing expectations.
In the first two years, before the club went on rides, it had about 25 members; nowadays it boasts 110.
“Volunteers would come to the shed … and we were fixing (the bikes) up and making sure they were roadworthy. Each one had a job sheet and a serial number noted,” Mr Farrugia said. “Any unused bikes that were normally thrown into the tip, people were donating them to the club.”
Then from 2007, the club started embarking on communal rides, along 150 kilometres of bike tracks that snake throughout Fairfield City.
The local council has been paramount in the cycling networks success, Mr Farrugia said. They receive small grants annually and get to make use of the shed at Fairfield Showground.
Mr Farrugia said he had stopped cycling for a long time, before he rediscovered it.
“I used to ride bikes in my heyday and then when I retired, my son had a bike at home.
“I decided to hop on it and go for a stroll and go for a bit of a stride.”
Now he’s 71 and has been involved with the Cycling Network for more than a dozen years. When asked if he still rides with the club, he said: “the 30 kilometre ride, that’s nothing.”
SALE DETAILS
What: Western Syndey Cycling Network Bike Clearance
When: December 8, 9.30am to 1.30pm
Where: Fairfield City Showground, Smithfield Road Prairiewood (Enter via Moonlight Rd)
Cost: Bicycles from $40 to $150
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