There is this place called the Nunnery in Newtown, (not really a nunnery, just the name for a women’s collective who live in the building) but in the backyard every Monday from 5pm until 9.30pm there is a bike club.

I had been moaning for ages about the 7 ½ minutes it takes me to walk to Blockbuster and back and have wanted to get a bike to help with the burden. My prayers were answered in the backyard of the Nunnery. When we peaked through the fence we found a treasure trove of bike frames, wheels and metal. There were two men setting up the area, putting tarps up and cleaning the place for all the people that would show. At 5pm we were the early ones. Armed with a packet of Tim-Tams (bartering tool) I asked Mark and the un-named man with glasses, just what the deal was. It’s always daunting when you go somewhere unknown for the first time. Smiling at the chocolate biscuits, Mark spoke, a voice deeper than expected.
“Basically, you just pick a bike frame that you like from this pile in front of you and start working on it.”

There was a long stack of bikes under a tarpaulin that had people’s names and dates on them and I was told that I couldn’t touch those because they were current bike projects of some of the bike clubbers (bikies).
Still not completely sure of the whole concept, “So, what your telling me is that I can pick any of these bikes here, fix them up and just take it? For free?”

After a complete ethical overhaul, I scoured the stack for my prize. There she was, an amazing dark blue old Chinese ladies bike frame, original 1970’s seat, well it was old and tattered, so I am assuming it came from a time long before my own. There was nothing much else on the bike, except a little rust and the name ‘Phoenix’ which could only help to make it go faster. But this left me with the problem that I, a person with little to no mechanical engineering skills was going to have to rebuild a bike from scratch.
“Where the hell do I start?”
More and more people started to turn up, each chatting about their fit-outs and ferrals, and all these other terminologies that will take me a few more Mondays to figure out. Around 30 people showed up over the space of the night, apparently a slow night. Everyone was so friendly and helpful offering advice on all things bikological.

Now my bike in progress has two wheels (different sizes), some pretty dodgy brakes, a broken chain and a squeaky bell and lop-sided basket. Now all that’s missing is a transistor radio and I’m set! So if you need to get those dvd’s back on a cold night, or just want to have some fun, turn up to 40 Foster St Newtown on a Mon from 5pm and make your own bike. Ride On!