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Dr Bike and Cycle maintenance courses


Since November 2009 SWELTRAC has been providing members of the Teddington Travel to Work Network with free Dr Bike sessions and a one-off cycle maintenance lesson. These initiatives are being provided FREE to network members to encourage more staff to cycle to work.

Dr Bike services are MOT-type checks, which cover basic maintenance (including tyres, brakes, gears and general bike set up) and are intended to improve the condition of staff bikes. The cycle maintenance courses include a demonstration of basic skills in keeping a bicycle roadworthy. Handouts and cycle repair kits are provided.

The project ended in November 2010 with over 700 bikes checked at 17 locations across South West London, eight of which were in Teddington. This equated to around 150 hours worth of Dr Bike sessions and 18 hours of maintenance courses. In December 2010, the final Dr Bike sessions were awarded to members of the Teddington Network for their fantastic effort in the Teddington Winter Cycle Challenge, where 123 staff cycled almost 6,000 miles in just a week.

Kevin, who co-ordinated the project, has written a report on the successes, offering lessons learnt for future intiatives. This report can be downloaded here. We hope that you will find the report both useful and informative when considering similar services in the future.

'Really appreciated it! Now I feel much safer cycling knowing my bike is still roadworthy! I appreciate Tearfund's commitment to environmental issues.' - Tearfund employee.

For any organisations looking to promote Dr Bike on-site, we have produced a poster, which can be tailored to your organisation. This can be downloaded as a Word document here.

To give you an idea of the content of our cycle maintenance courses, the handout can be downloaded here. Please note that the information in this document is not intended to be used in isolation; it is designed solely for the support of the Teddington Travel to Work Network Bike Maintenance Course.