Just emailed Chris Crash about this but I met our local Hackney bike coppers (the two on Trek's) and was in no rush so stopped and had a chat about what was going on and what they are doing about it. They are fully aware of the situation but are (apparently) ridiculously understaffed. Apparently they will soon be running workshops for kids so they understand how to build a bike and will then think twice again about stealing one (can't see this working) - but are also fully aware of the teams of thieves.

I have given his details to Chris Crash but I think that Chris and few more pro-active folk should go down and see the guy and have a chat about what is going on and some more realistic ways of dealing with this problem. He seemed like a nice chap to be fair but a bit clueless as to the state of play.

I took his card so if anyone wants to get in touch his name was Nick Geden and his email is nicholas.geden@met.polic.co.uk.

Hope all had a good weekend.

i just got an email from a simalar copper in Islington over at the blog (which reminds me if you missing a genesis flyer, get in touch with me), I will get in touch with these officers, but really i don't like dealing with the police, so if any one wanted to help out at the stolen bike blog, now would be a good time to volunteer.

I think this is a great Idea and something I would volunteer my time for - they run similar workshops for youths with cars and mechanics volunteering their time - Its not going to stop bike thieves but give young kids something to do rather than being so bored that one of the things they can do for enjoyment is go out and steal a bike, where as a bike is the best transport for a young person until they are able to drive (then move on to the car program?) they can learn a bit about mechanics and Im sure something could be done with all the abandoned bikes we see, maybe these bikes could be liberated with the blessing of the police and council, then these bike could be used for the workshop then when the kids build their bikes get to keep them they wont feel the need to go steal one.

As I say your not going to combat the rudeboy "I stole this shit" scene that will always be there but it all helps.

+1 to donating time to that, me and some mates used to do that for the homless and kids around the projects in denver, but there where all these pretentious politics that killed it

It's a start - just wish they'd do something like that here in Bristol. A colleague of mine got 4 bikes stolen at a cost of approximately £5000.00 (!) Sad part was, they busted into his garage in the middle of the night and rode off with them (he saw them disappear in the distance)...

So, just out of curiosity - is there a bike building scheme somewhere in north london, manned by volunteers? Would love to help out if there was...

there is the leyton bike recycling centre not 100% north buth then it does depend where you live it is north of peckham
i volunteered there every friday for 6 months they collect dumped / donated bikes and get them road worthy sell them to the general public.
do a google search they are always looking for volunteers
good place to pratice your mechaniking skills before you attempt anything with your pride and joy

There's something like that near Victoria Park I think, Gun Wharf... I see them out on a Saturday, teaching people how to ride bikes. I kind of always thought that everyone could ride a bike because thats what I grew up doing, but seeing some of these people learning gave me a new perspective.

^that's Bikeworks

And of course the LCC run various borough-specific workshops a few times a month (I'm sure Mr Schlick will appear soon with more info)...

Someone posted about a bike workshop in tottenham too. I think they said it was in the n17 industrial estate thing.

I volunteer for the Tower Hamlets chapter of the LCC. There is a monthly workshop where everybody can drop in. We also go to community festivals, pop a little gazebo up and tell people to bring their bike so we can fix it. Often a horde of grubby estate kids turn up and we help them fix their crappy Halfords BMXs.

Ok, so technically Walthamstow is East London, but there is a pretty good bike recycling project up there.

http://www.walthamforest.gov.uk/inde...ng-recycle.htm

Mr Schlick? Mr Schlick? Sorry, he must have popped out for a moment.

Hope I can be of assistance for the time being.

Select event type 'workshop' on this page.
http://www.lcc.org.uk/index.asp?PageID=55

Lenny's already banged the drum for the lovely THW workshop, so here's the one in Hackney:

http://www.hackney-cyclists.org.uk/workshop.htm

The longest-running workshop in London, no less.

There's a full listing in the magazine every issue.

Unfortunately, bike recycling hasn't taken off in London as much as we hoped, largely owing to the difficulty in getting premises sorted--it needs room to store a *lot* of bikes. Only Jim from Bikeworks has been singularly successful in finding places and generally runs a great operation.

There are lots of people still interested in bike recycling, though, and if they had a place, something could be started up in no time. PM me if you know anywhere, I'd be happy to put some people in touch.

Thanks for the feedback - live in Archway, so going to try the islington group first, and then go from there...

Mr Schick - on the matter of facilities for recycling - how much storage room, and how many is a lot? And is it just storage, or does it have to be workshop as well?

Ta...

there is some thing free and bikey on hackney city farm, i saw signs for it, but didn't stop by.

Yes, ICAG are a great group, well worth hooking up with.

At one point, the whole of the basement at Hackney City Farm was taken up by Bikes for Asylum Seekers, a notable recycling initiative that had to close some years ago and had about two hundred bikes at that time, I think. I don't really know how much storage space that takes in square footage, but you can imagine that it's a lot.

Yes, workshop space would be essential, ideally directly adjacent to the storage

However, at the moment, beggars can't be choosers, so to start with, no doubt a moderate space would do, but in case the project took off, there are always loads and loads of recyclable bikes around that it would be a crime to turn down ;).

How much space exactly they need really depends on how fast the volunteers can work to reduce the pile of bikes they have available.

Hope that goes some way towards answering your question!

There are often courses at Hackney City Farm, free or non-free. It's where the Hackney workshop started and it's now also the location of the new Bike Yard East repair service run by Thérèse and Celia:

http://www.bikeyardeast.com/

Sorry, forgot about this:

http://www.lcc.org.uk/index.asp?PageID=634