11 Nov 2020 – The workshop is open and running, after March’s re-shuffle. Still at 113 Franklin Street Adelaide.
Entrance – No 113, Franklin Street, Adelaide
walk south, through the garden, keep The Joinery buliding on your left, to our fence, and lock-ups.
Trouble finding us?
The Joinery (formerly The Old Bus Station) – a well known landmark at 105-111 Franklin Street.
Helping Adelaide’s cyclists keep riding.
We are a not for profit, community workshop, run by volunteers, open 5 days a week (Tue-Sat).
The workshop is run by Bikes for Refugees SA Inc (ABN 20 663 461 735) – a small Adelaide based charity, registered with theAustralian Charities and Not for profits Commission .
What we do: think of us, as a charity op shop for second-hand bicycles, bike parts, and accessories. We also repair and service bikes for the public, and help with bike information.
We accept donations of bikes, parts and accessories, from the public, and from organisations.
Our volunteers check the bikes out and service them. Some are then given free, to people in hardship (referral needed), to assist with tranport needs. The rest are sold to raise funds, to run the workshop, and to assist other charities. Our focus is on helping refugees living in Adelaide, but we can also help other people in hardship (e.g low income, illness).
The workshop funds its activities from bike / part sales, repair work, and donations. At time of writing we do not receive government grants or assistance
Background information. The workshop started in 2012 in Plympton, and moved to Adelaide CBD in 2015. We currently recycle 1000+ bikes every year (20-25 bicycles every week). To date, we have recycled over 10,000 bikes. In Nov 2020 we received donated bike No. 10,736 – a Malvern Star Livewire mountain bike.
Opening hours: For up to date info, Check Facebook and Google.
Usual hours below – can vary depending on circumstances, volunteers
- Tuesday -Friday 11 am to 5 pm;
- Saturday 10am to 3 pm,
- Sunday Monday, Public holidays -closed
Bicycle sales – “market day” every Saturday, 10 am to 3 pm. We sell secondhand bikes checked serviced ready to ride, parts, and accessories. Workshop open to the public – many adults and children’s bikes – range of styles and sizes – store rooms open for bike parts and accessories – extra volunteers on hand.
Bikes are priced individually, starting from $70. As a rough guide, $100-$200 can get you a good second hand adult bike, checked and serviced, suitable for general riding on sealed roads. We also sell new locks, lights and helmets. Plenty to choose from !
Bikes of special interest, unusual bikes, and high value bikes – are advertised on Gumtree. If you check Gumtree regularly — you’ll keep in touch with what we have.
Bike repairs, servicing, information – any time we are open (Tuesday – Saturday). we repair and service most metal frame bikes used for everyday riding. Funds raised, support our charitable work. Please note – like many community organisations, we are an amateur organisation, not professional. Our volunteers are cyclists, who maintain their own bikes. They have experience, and know what they are doing. But they are not professionally qualified mechanics.
We can offer
- puncture repairs
- Check and adjust brakes and gears
- repair broken spokes,
- wheel trueing
- fit luggage racks and baskets
- replace broken chains
- general servicing (depending on volunteer availability)
- repair loose or damaged cranks and pedals
- adjust wheel axles
- crash repairs
- replace brake blocks
- replace broken cables
What happens to donated bikes, and funds raised? The workshop is independent, and raises its funding, itself. It currently does not receive any government grants. Proceeds from sales and repairs, keep the workshop running, and any surplus, is donated to other charities with aims similar to ours (e.g Red Cross; Australian Refugee Association). For more financial information – We report annually to the Australian Charities and Not for profits Commission, look us up on their charity search page. Our Annual Reports explain how we use goods donated to us to assist people.
Donate your bike, bike parts, or accessories. As a charity, we depend entirely on donations, to keep going, and are grateful to the public, for thier generosity. We can accept most offers of good quality bikes, in good condition, that we can quickly get going and hand on or sell. Minor repairs, traces of rust are OK. But if a bike is very rusty or damaged or very worn – we probably can’t use it.
The only exception – bikes where there is a collectors market, people buy them to restore. Those bikes, we accept in any condition – we can sell them to raise funds. they include old BMX, dragsters, pre-1960s bikes; parts.
We also accept bike parts and accessories, helmets, etc.
Before bringing a bike, please contact us first to check it is suitable for recycling. We can usually tell fairly quickly, from a photo, or from phone information. If we can’t use your bike – we will explain why — and suggest other options for you.
More information on what we generally can and can’t accept. If you’re still not sure-aways happy for you to call us to ask.
What we generally accept
-BMX, Dragsters, cruizers, or any pre 1960s bikes, also parts – we accept these in any condition, even if rusty or incomplete. There is a lively collectors market, we sell them to raise funds.
-bikes used in competitive sport, eg road racing. Yes, any age
-Adult bikes, bought from a bike shop – generally yes, if in good condition, and stored under cover. Bike shops generally sell bikes of good quality, that repay time spent, repairing them. But if it’s worn out — very damaged — missing many parts – been stored outside in the rain and gone rusty – not much we can do with it.
-Adult bikes, originally bought from a supermarket e.g K mart, Target — we accept in as-new condition only. These bikes seem to wear out very quickly when people start to use them. We have found that even if we spend a lot of time cleaning and servicing and adjusting – often the end result is not satisfactory.
-Children’s bikes – recent bikes (last 15 years) only and in good condition only. We get many offers, but demand is limited. Bikes older than this, can look dated – children do not want to have them. For childrens bikes we get far more offers than we can use, and so we’re quite selective.
-Old “vintage” road bikes racers, from the 1980s – yes, if in reasonable condition. Bit of rust, flat tyres are OK. But if the bike has gone very rusty, or is in poor condition – we can’t use it. These bikes were well built, and often are easy to repair. The major limiter is rust. If the bike is very rusty, it is hard to make it look acceptable again. So Even if we get it working well – we find that people dont want to have them.
-bike shop bikes, involved in a crash, or damaged frame. Yes, we can often use those for parts.
-Helmets – yes
-adult trikes, unicycles, tandems, recumbents, etc — yes
-wheels – We accept good quality wheels, from adult bikes, in good condition. Also BMX wheels. What we don’t accept – rusty wheels; wheels from childrens bikes.
-frames. We accept good quality frames, from good quality adult bikes, where we can sell the frame as a fund raiser, and someone will want to buy it to do a re build. Lightweight racing frames of any age are accepted – e.g Tange, Columbus. As are unusual frames e.g historic imports, pre 1940s bikes. BMX frames, dragster frames – accepted in any condition. Other frames – only if we can sell it as a fundraiser.
-recent (post 2000) childs toys – e.g scooters, ride-on toys, green machines, etc. Sorry, no, very little demand for these. And when plastic breaks, impossible to repair.
-old childrens toys, pre 1970 – yes, in fair condition and complete- we can sell these to collectors to raise funds.
Refer someone in hardship for assistance. To find out how to refer someone for a free secondhand bike, please contact us.
. Although our focus is on refugees – we also help other people in hardship, – e.g illness, low income, disadvantage. Assistance usually takes the form of a free secondhand bike, plus ability to buy new helmets, locks, lights, at cost price, but if you need other assistance, happy to discuss. Referral is simple, and we accept referrals from a wide range of organisations. After receiving your referral, we will make an appointment for your client to pick up their bike. Pick ups are usually Saturdays, 3-4 weeks later.
Volunteer with us.
Do you have a few hours to spare, once a week / fortnight? We welcome volunteers for the roles of Bicycle Mechanic, and Customer Service,
Bike mechanic – checking, servicing and repairing donated bikes, to get them ready to sell or give to someone in need. You do not need to be a qualified mechanic – just a cyclist, able to do simple repairs on your own bike. If you enjoy fixing up bikes, and seeing old bikes put back into service – this may be for you.
Customer service – to assist members of the public visiting the workshop, to donate bikes, buy a bike, seek information, buy secondhand parts / accessories etc. If you are enthusiastic about cycling, enjoy sharing your knowledge with a wide range of people, and like helping people get the most out of cycling – this may be for you.
We are a registered provider of volunteer work for “work for the dole”.
And we can also offer places to school students, for community service or work experience.
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Don & Dale -volunteers
Tim working on a frame
Bruce, Don and the tandem
Downloads
- information & forms; technical information. – here
Contact us
- Mail: Bikes for Refugees SA Inc, Adelaide Community Bicycle Workshop, The Joinery, 103-111 Franklin Street, Adelaide 5000
- Street: 113 Franklin Street, Adelaide 5000
- Ph 0406 918787
- email acbwsa@gmail.com
The workshop is operated by Bikes for Refugees SA Inc, a charity registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission. ABN 20 663 461 735, SA Fund-raising licence CCP2132.
