**NOW GENEROUSLY BACKED BY POWER TO CHANGE- THE COMMUNITY BUSINESS TRUST THAT WILL MATCH PLEDGES MADE PROVIDED WE FULLY MEET OUR TARGET!! HELP US DELIVER THESE FUNDS FOR LOCAL RESIDENTS & CREATE EVEN MORE LOCAL SMILES PER LOCAL MILES! **
THE WHY- The reason for being- Families, Local Community, Healthy habits & Planet as One- A library of all things Family Cycling!
A unique offering that puts the community as a whole, first. We want to create a movement that grows & self-mobilises itself to deliver healthy travel habits for all local journeys, sustained into the long term, for the benefit of all local residents. We want to deliver new meaning to active travel accessibility in north London, and beyond.
We have been inspired by the change that recent times have enabled for people's engagement with their local environments; to enjoy local. And with this the undeniable appetite for new ways to enjoy leisure time as a family; in ways that don't put local infrastructure under extra pressure. We want to sustain this into the future, delivering joy-filled active local journeys and further embed wellbeing into daily life, for the long term.
We think active travel should be a truly public & accessible good, for all. Not all families can afford £300 plus for the latest kids bike that might only last a couple of years in terms of sizing, nor the £3000 plus for any family-accommodating bike. We want to deliver back equality of access to active transport. We believe this is a social justice issue.
We think families are ready to leave their cars behind for a majority of local journeys, given the right support & equipment. We want to help them on this quest. Hence our accessible community hire club was born! No ordinary hire club! See below!
THE WHAT- The offering-
A unique multi-functional offering delivered via not-for-profit social enterprise (formally limited by guarantee)- Family, Utility & Multi-rider hires, all under one roof!
We will use all the amazing innovation currently being delivered to cycling equipment in family cycling, utility & functional domains, to fully activate both fun and practicality in equal measure for all involved. We will host a variety of the latest long-tail family bikes, child trailers, front and back child seats and safety accessories, all available for hire. We will also have a separate specialism in cargo-carrying trailers, cargo bikes and other truly functional utility hires. All under one roof!
We also believe fully in the power of cycling to remove barriers to local mobility. To this end, in addition we also intend to stock a range of multi-rider bikes, where there can be main "pilot" rider to assist with steering; as well as a fully active second rider putting their feet to the pedals. All the while still delivering the benefits of active travel to all riders, and inclusive of all. We also plan to have available tandem, triplet and even a one-of-two ever made... quad multi rider bikes!
Along with the physical hires, we will offer a raft of member perks that we hope will go a long way to make cycling locally safer; more sociable; more accessible and something where any remaining barriers for previously marginalised demographics are removed. Watch the power of people and pedals combined!
THE WHERE- A physical hub- Active Travel... and information hub! A library with a difference!
We have taken occupation of a quite derelict, and long time vacant unit at the side of Enfield Chase train station. For us it made the perfect site in terms of genuinely connecting public transport to onward local personal transport, and potentially functioning as a real hub for beginning local journeys. We want to act as a conduit to getting people active and exploring their local area. We are determined that the hub will act as the social activator for nurturing relationships amongst the local active travel community. We will do this through being the starting point of organised group rides; cycling proficiency classes; being the expert source of bike servicing & local route information provision and much more. We will proactively position people together and create networking platforms, both in digital and physical realms (e.g. via our family cycling buddy programme!)
The unit itself needs some TLC, but we believe this is also something worthwhile, re-activating local premises for the local community for them to get maximum use out of, mutually. We intend to do more than just sit back and watch our cycles & accessories merely leaving the door (although this in itself will provide us with much joy!) We also intend to offer art activities for young and old hands alike, and also to allow these artistic skills to extend to temporary colourful personalising of different parts of our equipment library for example!
THE WHO- One BIG Family- Advisors, Members, Partnerships & the Local Network!
We are formally a non-profit social enterprise limited by guarantee, with zero shareholders. No monies can ever be extracted from the entity. Any surpluses must be reinvested entirely. We want to operate a truly empowered member-style cooperative entity, whereby, once we build to a small base, our members start to make the decisions on a collective basis. They will be given this power through our constitution and will be able to vote (with absolute equality of 1 vote per member) on any major decisions. We have (voluntary) directors who are experts in cycling proficiency training & cycle maintenance to help steer us through any problems that might arise.
Beyond our immediate entity, we have already reached out and established some uniquely powerful partnerships with some leading cycling brands who we believe will provide unique utility per item to end-users. We hope to further activate and make the most of these partnerships as any funds raised allow.
We also intend to partner with local cycling training partners, to deliver the full wealth of local cycling safety expertise for our members. We believe and hope we will create a new social community that feel empowered to explore their local area actively and to develop new and lasting friendships while doing this. Join us on this journey!
HOW ANY PLEDGE MONIES WILL BE SPENT
We have made a small start on our own, but have now exhausted our limited resources. We have focused so far on critical tasks such as securing the hub facility; the procurement of a handful of basic bikes; and the establishment of basic website functionality so that we have the capacity to handle bookings & create a web presence so that we can reach a wider audience. We now need to finish the job prior to launch. We need your help to do this.
Any hub is only as valuable as the accommodation it can provide. Any hire fleet is only as useful as its diversity. We will spend any pledge monies on making our initial offering as utility-giving as humanly possible. We want to establish a varied working fleet (trailers, tag-alongs, child bikes, child seats and cargo options galore!) as quickly as possibly that can then start delivering all the benefits to members that we hope for. The more substantial and varied that this initial fleet offering is, the more we are able to offer to each of our prospective members and thereby create a virtuous circle, where the level of local community who deem it worthwhile to be involved, join and help us expand our offering further still.
We will spend a limited, much smaller, amount on sprucing up the hub and adding some finishing touches- e.g. installing some critical fixtures and fittings (a counter, cycle racking and crucially like some shopfront signage! ) as well as installing an all-wall chalkboard. We also wish to install some living vegetation to improve the environmental quality at the hub itself for the benefit of any visiting members.
Indicative cost of initial fleet items e.g.
Child Seats- £40+
Balance Bikes- £50+
Kids Bikes- £100+
Long-Tail Family Cargo Cycles- Non Electric- £800+ | Electric- £2000+
Indicative cost of initial refurb items e.g.
All-wall chalkboard- £1500
OUR REWARDS
Check out our fantastic reward offers, with an additional 50% our normally ultra accessible price points for early supporters (see further details about membership options below). We also have a range of one-off rewards on offer, never to be repeated post launch! Such as our "TAKE-THEM-ALL" Multi rider reward! Get in quick!
Amongst regular hire offers we also have cycling proficiency; pedestrian; wall art install and much more!
We also have some specific PIF "pay it forward" (or "suspended") membership offers, where your pledge will go into a protected fund, from which we will carefully distribute that specific membership on a complimentary basis for those locally without the ability to pay currently. So if you don't have a current need or are not in the immediate area, you can still get involved!
(Please note, upon request, any "normal" reward can also be converted to a suspended one upon accompanying instruction. Just get in touch post pledge!)
THE HOW- Our memberships
We intend to offer highly affordable access to specific lines of family and multi-rider cycling equipment and accessories, according to your needs. Our memberships will typically offer unlimited-hires within any month so that there is no ceiling to usage, thus achieving our aim of more active journeys locally.
Intended core categories of membership to be offered from the start, include:
1. Kids Balance Bike & Scooter Hire
2. Kids Bike Hire
3. Child Bike Seat Hire & Pannier Rack Hire
4. Family Bike Hire
5. Kids, Dog & Utility Trailer Hire
6. Tag-a-long Hire (hopefully including a tandem tag-a-long!)
6. Multi Rider Bike Hire
7. Pedestrian Membership
8. Donation/ Pay-It-Forwards "Suspended" Membership
All hirees will also have access to...
We want to ensure that being part of our movement, will be transformative for all, the collective and the individual equally. To this end we have put together a package of benefits that we think make our offering truly unique to anyone cycling. Even when you are not hiring anything by way of equipment, we think these perks will be worth their fair weight all on their own.
These will include: group led-rides programme; club buddy programme; pillion partner programme; complimentary safety provision; cycling proficiency course calendar; group-discounted uniquely comprehensive cycling insurance; club bike carbon tracking app; complimentary child art classes and much more to be latterly confirmed!
THE DREAM- Our longer term ambitions
In the short term our plan is to offer, from our one community hub, a wide provision of family & utility cycling equipment, to be made available for hire at a very reasonable cost, to enhance access for all families to active travel right here in north London.
However we sincerely hope that this is just the beginning. Upon proof of concept, it is our great intention to open subsequent "libraries of family cycling" hubs, across the south-east and wider still, to serve all communities and wherever there is a need that there is a matching provision, with all the accompanying personalised support. As our fleet expands on any site, the hope is that this increases the pool of equipment even further for all to share in, regardless of location! Items will be able to be requested between hubs! This is the dream!
Our website at https://www.thefamilybikeclub.com/ is currently under construction but provides some more info on our setup; and how our members are in control for example! Check back soon for further updates!
Many thanks for reading and we truly appreciate ANY level of support, big or small.
The Family Bike Club Team (Or Molly, Felix and Ted!)