Build Your Own Bike – Fraser’s Story

I love bikes and cycling. Any chance to play with bikes and I’m on it! That’s why the opportunity to do Build Your Own Bike (BYOB) with Bike for Good took priority over everything else for me.

I was recommended BYOB through the housing first project at a time when my mental health was extremely poor and I found the course to be spectacular. I could have done the course every day forever. It was so much fun stripping down and rebuilding the bikes. I didn’t know anyone on the course when I first joined the cameraderie was great. I have always walked away from the sessions feeling like I have gained loads.

I had never done anything like it before and I am now proficient in bike maintenance. I can sort out what I need and I’m now capable of fixing my own bike. The bike I built is still running beautifully! I enjoy getting out on my bike and it makes a big difference to my day, even when the weather is bad.

I went on to volunteer at Bike for Good after the course and it was just brilliant! I preferred Bike for Good to other volunteering I’ve done as I really benefitted from it, it was always good craic and it became the highlight of my week. I wasn’t doing much else with my weeks which were spent alone and quite socially isolating, so Bike for Good was just the perfect opportunity for me.

I now have employment, which was through the Wheatley and GHA housing first project. This incorporates various agencies and opens up opportunities for homlelss people.

Bike for Good provided me with the opportunity to upskill myself at a time when I was in a mental rut and not being productive or learning anything. They gave me the hope of learning new things, retraining and gaining employment in something I enjoy. The place is great and the staff are too.

I’d like to thank Bike for Good for a wonderful experience and hope I’ll be back soon. I’ll help out any way I can in the future and I am really gutted to not come to Thursday BYOB anymore. 

Thank you to Henry Smith Improving Lives, Glasgow City Council Smarter Choices Smarter Places, Bank of Scotland Reach and Agnes Hunter Trust for funding Build Your Own Bike.