Volunteer Bike Mechanic

Volunteer Bike Mechanic

Do you have a passion for bikes? Would you like to use your bike maintenance skills to make a positive change in your community?

We’re looking for people with proficient bike maintenance skills to volunteer on our Bikes Beyond Bars programme.

About this role

From repairing a wide range of donated bikes to supporting people after release, we have an exciting variety of roles in our public-facing workshops (Hubs) and prison workshops.

Depending on your availability, skills, and interests, you may feel you can cover one or multiple areas.

Prison-based volunteers:

We need competent mechanics to support the men in our prison workshop as they gain the skills to refurbish bikes. You’ll be working alongside Life Cycle’s Prison Bike Mechanic Tutors at HMP Bristol or HMP Fosse Way.

Hub volunteers:

We’re looking for people with proficient bike mechanic skills to help out in our public-facing bike workshops.

Duties might include: stripping bikes for spare parts and/or scrap, refurbishing bikes ready for sale, supporting staff to sell bikes to members of the public, helping us with our eBay account and generally mucking in to make the project work. You’ll be working on a wide range of bikes.

Supporting people after release:

We also have opportunities for volunteers to work alongside people who have been released from prison, supporting them to fix bikes.

You’ll get the chance to develop your skills, by working on a wide variety of bikes with our friendly team. You’ll also play a key part in helping us achieve our mission; to help people turn their lives around through cycling.

About Life Cycle

Life Cycle is a charity that works with people of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds at every stage of their cycling journey, from learning to ride, to building a career in the cycle industry.

In this role, you’ll be working on our Bikes Beyond Bars programme, Life Cycle’s innovative bike recycling project based at HMP Bristol and HMP Fosse Way. Unwanted bicycles are taken to the prisons, where the men learn how to strip down, clean and refit them, giving them a new lease of life.  

The bikes are taken to our community Hubs in Bristol or Derby where they are quality assured ready for sale by Life Cycle’s mechanics and our team of volunteers. Anyone can buy a bike, however many go to local people on low incomes, enabling them to get a bike and start cycling.  

‘’Life Cycle, they saved me a bit. I’ve done my City & Guilds whilst I was in prison. With a bit of pride, I tell people I’m a bike mechanic now, a real one.’’

 - Andrew, ex-prisoner.

About you

We’re looking for someone with competent bike maintenance skills, who’s confident working on bike refurbishments with light support from our friendly mechanics. If you’re unsure, please feel free to give us a call.

Due to the nature of the role, you must have an open, non-judgmental attitude and believe in the possibility of change for those who’ve been involved in the criminal justice system.

We wouldn’t be where we are without our volunteers! So if you enjoy meeting people from all walks of life and you’re enthusiastic about Life Cycle’s charitable mission, we’d love to hear from you.

How to apply: please apply via our website.