We provide a free bike, helmet, lock, and lights for people on very low incomes in Newcastle and County Durham. You must be referred by a professional and meet criteria regarding income, location, and how a bike will positively impact your finances, physical, or mental health. Due to high demand, there may be a wait of several months. Contact: Fran@recyke.bike (Durham Bike referral funded by Durham County Council)
Community Outreach
Alongside refurbishing bikes, Recyke y’Bike offers a huge range of community outreach, aimed at increasing access to cycling and gaining bike mechanic skills.
See our programsRecyke y‘Bike’s commitment to community engagement.
At Recyke y'bike, we believe that bikes are a great way to address a range of social, economic and environmental issues (transport poverty, obesity, mental health, unemployment) as well as being really fun! Bikes are environmentally friendly (even more so when refurbished and reused), brilliant for health and well-being and cheap to get about on. With this belief and passion, We are committed to increasing skills and training opportunities to those often excluded or hard to access. We particularly focus our outreach work with women, people seeking asylum and refugees, children and young people from deprived backgrounds.
Our Community outreach is offered through a variety of formal and informal workshops, such as pop-ups in schools, street or community-based workshops for young people, women’s workshops and guided rides and professional level courses.
Develop Skills
We regularly run various repair workshops. This includes; Womens specific workshops, street repairs for young people and Bike MOT sessions.
Public Health
In 2024 we fixed over 500 bikes at Dr Bikes, Street repairs and community workshops and gave away 273 bikes
Advance Education
In 2024 we taught 70 young people at our young volunteer’s project and workshops in local schools across Newcastle
Protect the Environment
In 2024 we saved 4000 bikes from being dumped into landfill
Our Community Outreach Sessions
Sessions take place across Newcastle, North Tyneside, Sunderland and County Durham, alongside sessions in our shops in Byker and Chester le Street.
Referral Scheme - Newcastle and Chester-Le-Street
Supported Volunteering – Newcastle
Every Tuesday, we offer supported sessions for asylum seekers and refugees to learn bike mechanics. Volunteers start by fixing their own bike, then help refurbish bikes for the referral scheme. Their enthusiastic help is greatly valued and appreciated. Contact: Fran@recyke.bike (Funded by Bernicia)
Salvaging Project – Newcastle and Chester-Le-Street
Bikes that can’t be refurbished (due to frame cracks, heavy rust, etc.) are stripped for parts. We clean and reuse or recycle everything possible—tyres, parts, frames, and wheels. This process generates income for the charity and provides the public with affordable, quality secondhand parts.
Young Volunteers Club – Newcastle
Our young volunteers project runs every Saturday in two sessions (10am–12pm and 12pm–2pm) for ages 13-17. Qualified trainers teach bike mechanics, shop front-of-house, and general bike shop skills. If you or a young person want to get involved, please complete the Application and Consent Form. (Funded by: Community Foundation North East)
Pop-ups in Schools
We run various workshops in schools, including Dr Bikes (free services for students who cycle) and Bike Workshops where students learn mechanics. This is a fantastic way to encourage cycling and teach valuable, hands-on, transferable life skills. If your school is interested in collaborating, write to Fran@recyke.bike.
Byker Street Bike Repair Workshops
In partnership with Kids Kabin, we run free bike maintenance workshops every Wednesday (3:45–5:15 pm, April–November) in key streets in Byker and Walker. Children learn to diagnose, select parts, and fix hundreds of bikes yearly, promoting safety, reuse, and sustainability. (Funded by: The Wellesley Trust)
Women Only Sessions – Newcastle & Chester-Le-Street
We offer drop-in women-only bike maintenance sessions led by enthusiastic female volunteer mechanics. They’re for all skill levels and ideal for anyone wanting to learn more about their bike. Sessions are the Last Tuesday of the month (Byker, 5:30–7:00 pm) and the First Wednesday of the month (Chester-le-Street, 5:30–7:00 pm). (Funded by: Cycling UK)
Bike MOT Project
Our Bike MOT Project runs every Friday from 11 am to 2 pm. This service provides a free bike service exclusively for individuals who have previously received a bike through our referral scheme. Individuals must be referred to us by an official organisation to use this service. Contact: Fran@recyke.bike for more information. (Funded by: Sport England Movement Fund and LNER Community Fund)
FAQ
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Where do my donations go?
Your donation will help pay for parts and labour for bikes which we donate to people on very low incomes. Donations will also support: Heating our warehouse so that we can provide a safe, warm, pleasant working environment for our volunteers and staff, covering essential operating expenses so that we can continue the running of premises, to offer services including: refurbishing bikes for our bike referral scheme, teaching young people, women, asylum seekers and members of our community bike mechanics for free, ensuring we have the right qualified staff to facilitate all of our programmes.Your donation, no matter what size, will help! Thank you.