Bicycle Lovers Action Group

Our Purpose: Operated by bicycle fanatics, paid mechanics, and a few volunteers BLAG's purpose is to rescue, restore, renovate, and re-home old, broken, abandoned, un-loved, or under-used bicycles in all shapes and sizes to save them from going to waste, metal recycling, or the already full landfill.

There have been several charities in Canberra that collected donated bikes for redistribution to more needy people. They accepted old bikes but if they needed repairs or were “too old” they went to the tip as landfill or the crusher as waste, only keeping the better, fully functional bikes.  So out of 20 donated bikes, only two or three were put to use.    Other people working for Canberra Charities and individuals on a goodwill mission have sent shipping-container loads of bikes to developing nations such as East Timor and Africa. While these bikes go to a good cause, they leave Canberra and never return.  There are bikes for sale at the “tip shops”, but the majority are very old or are not roadworthy. Most bike-riders cannot repair their bikes and hardly any bikes on the second-hand market are defect free.  Bike shops will not repair these old machines as they consider that they have “….exceeded their economic life” or they have a policy of “if we did not sell you that bike, we will not maintain it”.   A minor service costs $85 to $100.  The entry level cost of a new, shop-sold, decent quality bike is around $500-$600.  This is more than many students can afford and more than working visitors to our city for less than a year are willing to pay as they all leave at the same time at the end of the year and no-one is buying at that time.  In Canberra once residents invest in a bike they tend to keep them in the garage for decades even when they are not using them… just in case.  Most garages have a few bikes in them.  We estimate that some 65% of all bikes sold are ridden less than 350km in their lifetime and one in five homes have at least one bicycle that is not being used.  All this has the effect of considerably reducing the second-hand bike stock available in Canberra that is available for recirculation. Consequently it is becoming harder and harder to source second-hand bikes in this city.  Every year from January to March newly arriving students are forced to drive up to Sydney to buy a decent bike that is both safe and has been serviced.  As a result, new arrivals in Canberra were buying second-hand cars rather than a bike to get around as new bikes are too expensive and getting onto an affordable used bike is just too hard. But Canberra is supposed to be the bicycle capital of Australia!

We at BLAG are trying to fill the gap, providing a supply of serviced and affordable bikes, to get more people riding rather than driving.  We repair and sell bikes on behalf of friends and neighbours to get un-used or abandoned bikes up and running and on the road again.  This assists visiting students, and new postings arriving in Canberra.  We provide tips and free advice to riders who are new to Canberra (see "TIPS FOR BICYCLING IN CANBERRA" tab).  Without quibbling we service bikes we sell for free if they are bought back with any problems.  We have provided advice and loan bikes for free to buyers who have been in a vehicle accident on one of the bikes we sold.   We have even taught a 40 year old buyer how to ride a bike for the first time.   We set up all bikes to suit the rider’s size and physical requirements.  We adjust their helmets that bike shops sold them so that they fit properly.   We don’t sell people bikes that do not suit them or their riding objectives just so that we can clear “dead stock” to make room for the next year’s model.   Our objective is to get unused bikes back in circulation where they will be ridden.   The problem is each bike needs a minimum service (about 2hours of labour) and a mechanic's time is expensive (up to $80 per hour) while parts are both expensive and hard to find.  Which explains why there are no cheap second-hand bike-shops, ... it is just not viable.  Recently we sourced and provided about 30 bikes free of charge to a bike-education company for distribution free of charge to mental health patients who were on a program to get them out of their houses and undertaking physical exercise as this is a good treatment for depression and lethargy.  They had plenty of willing candidates wanting to learn to ride, but most did not own a bike until we stepped in to assist.  We did this anonymously and for no payment.  Most of our buyers are foreign students who are on very limited budgets, arrive with poor language skills and find great difficulty sourcing a safe bike that they can afford. We will often deliver bikes to them at the ANU at no extra cost to get them riding rather than driving.  Bicycle re-birthing is conducted part-time on weekends from the backs of our garages, relying on word of mouth, referrals, as well as access to free advertising at ANU, Pedal Power and electronic bulletin boards.   It is very time intensive and financially rarely breaks even.   We greatly appreciate the assistance provided by Pedal Power and ANU who continue to support our endeavours to encourage more people to participate in the healthy and environmental benefits of bike riding in our Capital.

Buying from Bicycle Lovers Action Group provides funds to allow us to buy bikes from the scrap metal collectors before they go to the crusher to restore to road-worthy condition and match-make that bike to a new owner. 

Every time an unused or damaged bicycle is returned to the road, it removes the demand for another new bicycle and therefore reduces the demand for more steel mills, paint factories, power stations, hydroelectic dams, rubber factories, transport from China, etc.

BLAG wish to offer bicycle riders a more sustainable alternative than buying new.... a model that is good for our planet … and bike riders.

We are a Waste Wise Organisation :  We live by the creed ‘Reduce, Reuse, Renovate, Restore, then Recycle’

 The attached web pages provide a list of bikes that are currently looking for a new home or information on how to specify your biking requirements so that we can select the best option for you. .