Christchurch and cycling have always gone well together. That winning combination of flat terrain and wide roads makes the Garden City a great place to cycle. With new cycleways rolling out around the city, it's becoming more and more bike friendly.
Assuming that you have a bike, that is.
Luckily there are options for people who don't have their own wheels to pootle about on.
Spark Bikes
Similar to the "Boris Bikes" of London, Spark Bikes offer those in Central Christchurch the opportunity to travel further than their feet can take them, but without the hassles of parking.
The bikes, which come complete with a lock and adjustable helmet, are available at 5 stations around the central city and can be used for 30 minutes, free of charge. Additional time is charged at $4 per hour, or a bike can be borrowed for a full day for $20.
Kind of like a library but with bikes instead of books!
There is an initial $4 charge to register and "borrowing" is managed either via an app or the mobile website, so it's also quite smartphone dependent. The project is currently in pilot so may extend to more bikes and more stations in the future.
RAD Bikes
RAD stands for "Recycle A Dunger" and is a not-for-profit initiative that takes donated, unwanted bikes and parts and helps turn them into rideable bikes.
From their shed headquarters (shedquarters?) at 70 Kilmore Street, RAD Bikes provides all the tools, equipment, parts and expertise to help get your bike roadworthy. They also gift recycled bikes to charity organisations.
ICECycles
"Inner City East" Cycles runs bike maintenance workshops to help people get their rides ready for the road. They also accept donations of bicycles and bike parts.
Bikes for Madagascar
If you're in the envious position of having too many bicycles then maybe you'd be interested in exercising a little bicycle altruism?
Madagascar is one of the poorest countries in the world and access to education and healthcare is a real issue for people who live in remote areas.
a large number of people living in rural communities could not afford to get to a health facility when they needed it. They were totally reliant on volunteer community health workers (CHWs) to travel to them. Most of these CHWs have to walk to visit sick patients. But, if you give them a bike then suddenly they can cover three times the distance!
The plan is to collect 400 adult size mountain bikes and ship them to Northern Madagascar. The collection day is on Saturday 15 August: Bikes need to be dropped off at SB Global Logistics, 11 Syd Bradley Road, Dakota Business Park (next to the Christchurch Airport). If you can't make it on the collection day: You can drop your bike at an alternative location by Friday 14 August at Limitless Supplements, 22 Stanley St, Sydenham.
If there are surplus bikes these will be donated to ICECycles for local use.
For more on bikes and cycling
- Our web page about Cycling
- Search our catalogue for New Zealand Cycling
- CCC cycling transport page
Add a comment to: All the ways to share a bike