Part of the Grace Network based at Brimscombe Mills, The Bike Drop was founded during the pandemic when a team of young people got together to collect and deliver items on pushbikes. Their aim was to become more active and to support local business and the community.
Since then, The Bike Drop has evolved, selling refurbished bicycles and servicing customers’ machines. Recently they launched The Bike Drop Academy, offering industry-leading servicing by top mechanics who are also training new apprentices.
“The Bike Drop Academy provides industry-leading cycle mechanics training with career pathways into the industry while removing financial barriers to re-training,” explained Harry McKeown, Director of The Bike Drop CIC.
“Our 18-month paid placements include in-house training along with Cytech L1, L2 and L3 qualifications. Our expert staff provide training from our purpose-built Academy workshop based in Brimscombe Mills, allowing candidates to hone their skills using bikes kindly donated to us.
“A by-product of this teaching process is a fully working bike that is checked over and enters our refurbished bike shop, providing affordable and reliable used bikes.
“We hope to change the cycling infrastructure locally to enable more people to cycle more often. A well-known challenge within the industry is the availability of skilled mechanics – we aim to change this!”
For more information visit: www.thebikedrop.co.uk
Video by Matt Bigwood
