Home based Bicycle mechanic and bicycle service
About Us - Big Beardy Bikes.
the home based bicycle mechanic
"The best ideas are born from the stroke of a beard"
A Bicycle Mechanic?
This is the story all about us Big Beardy Bikes and the person behind the name.
It started in January 2022 from a bit of fun playing bicycle repair shops with my son. I said “we need a name for this” and my son replied “Beards on bikes” so with a bit more contemplation the name Big Beardy Bikes was conceived.
As the game went on it got more and more elaborate until I said “ok let’s get the tools out and actually fix something” two kids bikes fully adjusted and ready to go later it was time to pack up. We had a lot of fun and we joked around afterwards with the new name for our play business.
I couldn’t get the name out of my head for some reason and as you do when you’re laid in bed and your mind wanders the seeds for a real business sprouted.
I love bikes, ever since I can remember riding them. I love the sense of freedom they gave as a child, to feel the wind rushing through my hair and being able to go further and explore than was ever possible on foot. Bicycles have always been a big part of my life and I have never been without one, from long weekend rides with friends to commuting through city traffic and even mountain bike technical trails.
I am also a chartered mechanical engineer and currently working as a structural engineer, being an engineer, it comes as second nature to tinker with mechanical kit and bikes are definitely no exception. As a kid I would spend hours in a bike shop just talking to the staff about how to do different things until eventually I was stripping my own bikes down and rebuilding them again without a second though of how to go about it.
so back to the business, with the whole COVID lockdown of 2020 – 2021 I found that on popular online market places for second hand goods, (yeah, you know the ones I mean) there was a significant rise in the amount of second hand bikes that were for sale cheap as people wanted I’d of them for their nice shiny new one as part of their drive to get out to exercise as part of the lockdown exceptions. Being an engineer and a father of three, sustainability and environmental wellbeing are big concerns for me as I want them to grow up on a healthy planet, so, this led me to target the home based diy enthusiast to try and recycle/reuse those old dusty and rusty bikes.
Big beardy bikes aims to help those who, rather than throw their old bikes away, to break out their tool kit and roll their sleeves up to get those old bikes rolling again. To do this as a business model we aim to provide a local bicycle mechanic service but also to establish an online presence with resources, tutorials and product reviews to help those at home who are willing to work on their bicycles.
To do our part for the environment other than helping to educate people so that they can continue to ride their old bikes for longer, we will search the online markets locally for unused bikes with potential for restoration so they may be re-used rather than sent to the rubbish tip. Some bikes are just not economical to be refurbished and in these cases they will be stripped to their component parts where we will re-use what we can and send aiming to be recycled.
So why “Big Beardy Bikes”? well my son thought of the name, I love it and oh yeah, I have a big beard!!!
Welcome to Big Beardy Bikes