Enterprise Club

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Hi there...Northamptonshire. Like I said we'd be willing to travel!

I know of three "olympic" tracks. Manchester, Newport (S Wales) and the new one in the east of London, built for the 2012 games. Possibly London is your best bet from Northamptonshire? http://www.visitleevalley.org.uk/en/content/cms/london2012/velo-park/

 

[jonny jeez]

The first session of the school's 'Enterprise Club' ran on Thursday morning. If you haven't come across my thread in the 'Wanted' section asking for any forgotten road bikes that are rusting away in our area - I've set up a club at school with the mission of restoring a couple of old road bikes that have been very kindly donated by people (thanks again @Fab Foodie !!!). We're going to restore them...The idea is to have some fun, learn a bit about bikes, develop the children's understanding about project planning and budgeting and give some of the children who aren't as academic a reason why school can be fun (as a side note - a couple of dads who don't really engage with school have said that they really want to come in to help out - bonus!)

14 children attended and met the bikes. We then ran through the names of all of the different parts with them making notes (cue lots of frantic writing and complaining that they didn't have enough room on their whiteboards!). We then split the children into small groups and had a competition to label the bikes. Lots of post-it notes later, I was really surprised at how much they had remembered. The next part of the session was setting up the new modern children's road bike that the school has bought for the group and setting up the turbo trainer for it to go on (also bought by the school for the club).

Next week we start stripping the bikes down slowly and looking at which parts can be salvaged and cleaned or what needs replacing. The children will then start researching to source the cheapest replacements. I've also told them to bring some shorts (padded if possible) because they're gong to race 1km on the turbo to set a baseline for themselves to beat over the coming weeks.

What an awesome idea, where abouts is your scheme based?

 

[jonny jeez]

Hi there...Northamptonshire. Like I said we'd be willing to travel!

Just seen this Et, so don't worry about replying to my same question

 

[jonny jeez]

I know of three "olympic" tracks. Manchester, Newport (S Wales) and the new one in the east of London, built for the 2012 games. Possibly London is your best bet from Northamptonshire? http://www.visitleevalley.org.uk/en/content/cms/london2012/velo-park/

The dulwhich velodrome is also a potential although its a little "vintage" and might not present an image that you will want the kids to aspire to this early on in their introduction to bikes...later on when they appreciate the heritage it might appeal.

I am within 45mins driving distance of the Olympic velodrome if you ever need anything dropped off or collected at a weekend, drop me a PM and I'll do my best

 

[Easytigers]

The dulwhich velodrome is also a potential although its a little "vintage" and might not present an image that you will want the kids to aspire to this early on in their introduction to bikes...later on when they appreciate the heritage it might appeal.

I am within 45mins driving distance of the Olympic velodrome if you ever need anything dropped off or collected at a weekend, drop me a PM and I'll do my best

Thanks Jonny...really appreciate the support

 

[biggs682]

@Easytigers did you now that many many moons ago the Go Kart track at Wickstead park was used for cycle races !!

 

[Pikey]

The first session of the school's 'Enterprise Club' ran on Thursday morning. If you haven't come across my thread in the 'Wanted' section asking for any forgotten road bikes that are rusting away in our area - I've set up a club at school with the mission of restoring a couple of old road bikes that have been very kindly donated by people (thanks again @Fab Foodie !!!). We're going to restore them...The idea is to have some fun, learn a bit about bikes, develop the children's understanding about project planning and budgeting and give some of the children who aren't as academic a reason why school can be fun (as a side note - a couple of dads who don't really engage with school have said that they really want to come in to help out - bonus!)

14 children attended and met the bikes. We then ran through the names of all of the different parts with them making notes (cue lots of frantic writing and complaining that they didn't have enough room on their whiteboards!). We then split the children into small groups and had a competition to label the bikes. Lots of post-it notes later, I was really surprised at how much they had remembered. The next part of the session was setting up the new modern children's road bike that the school has bought for the group and setting up the turbo trainer for it to go on (also bought by the school for the club).

Next week we start stripping the bikes down slowly and looking at which parts can be salvaged and cleaned or what needs replacing. The children will then start researching to source the cheapest replacements. I've also told them to bring some shorts (padded if possible) because they're gong to race 1km on the turbo to set a baseline for themselves to beat over the coming weeks.

That sounds like it is going to develop into something great!
I had the embryonic stages of such a workshop going at our school for a while, although numbers tailed off as the pupils (secondary) got older and then worried about clubs not being cool.

Have a look at a charity called jolerider, I think their project was called bikes for Africa. Basically they provide knackered bikes to clubs like schools, colleges, prisons etc... And they fix them up, then they get shipped to Africa so that rural children can cycle to school, when otherwise they wouldn't be able to get there because of the distance.

I think they are still running, just wish my club could have done more, the potential for outreach and trips is massive.

 

[Easytigers]

@Easytigers did you now that many many moons ago the Go Kart track at Wickstead park was used for cycle races !!

Never knew!!!

 

[Easytigers]

That sounds like it is going to develop into something great!
I had the embryonic stages of such a workshop going at our school for a while, although numbers tailed off as the pupils (secondary) got older and then worried about clubs not being cool.

Have a look at a charity called jolerider, I think their project was called bikes for Africa. Basically they provide knackered bikes to clubs like schools, colleges, prisons etc... And they fix them up, then they get shipped to Africa so that rural children can cycle to school, when otherwise they wouldn't be able to get there because of the distance.

I think they are still running, just wish my club could have done more, the potential for outreach and trips is massive.

Hi Pikey,
Just hoping our club doesn't fizzle out! Hopefully the bike and turbo will keep them going...I might even try to wangle another! I'll research jolerider after we've been running a few weeks. Thanks for the heads up!

 

[young Ed]

sounds awesome!
thought about asking my school about if i used my own bike and my own turbo could i just turbo for my 1 hour sports lesson a week but in the end decided getting a turbo to and from school each week would mean bus for 2 days and leaving it in school overnight for 2 nights and then i would have to ride the nice bike in for that one day rather than the commuter as the commuter just isn't going to cut it for a turbo and i hate the idea of the nice bike commuting what so ever and then by the time i have set it up and packed it away i only have 30mins max and also everyone would take the piss if i wore padded shorts so all in all wouldn't work for me also people would bug me for a go although the size 13 spd shoes might put them off

happy it all worked out for you and that the school is so supportive
do you have a workstand such as this one i have?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/150544733...l?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=150544733103&_rdc=1
not expensive but well worth it, could invest in one your self and just bring it t school once a week for the club

worth having real tools as well, not cheese! makes learning so much easier, it's what my school has done for their bike workshop, we have a couple a stands and 99% parktool tools not cheap but well worth it and for my self at home i am just buying parktool when i need a new bike specific tool
Cheers Ed

 

[Easytigers]

sounds awesome!
thought about asking my school about if i used my own bike and my own turbo could i just turbo for my 1 hour sports lesson a week but in the end decided getting a turbo to and from school each week would mean bus for 2 days and leaving it in school overnight for 2 nights and then i would have to ride the nice bike in for that one day rather than the commuter as the commuter just isn't going to cut it for a turbo and i hate the idea of the nice bike commuting what so ever and then by the time i have set it up and packed it away i only have 30mins max and also everyone would take the piss if i wore padded shorts so all in all wouldn't work for me also people would bug me for a go although the size 13 spd shoes might put them off

happy it all worked out for you and that the school is so supportive
do you have a workstand such as this one i have?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/150544733103?ru=http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=150544733103&_rdc=1
not expensive but well worth it, could invest in one your self and just bring it t school once a week for the club

worth having real tools as well, not cheese! makes learning so much easier, it's what my school has done for their bike workshop, we have a couple a stands and 99% parktool tools not cheap but well worth it and for my self at home i am just buying parktool when i need a new bike specific tool
Cheers Ed

Hi Ed,

It's a very different world in primary school...it's actually cool to be involved in a different kind of club and in a small school nobody will take the p*ss out of the kids as they'd know I'd not be a happy bunny...it's never good to pee the headteacher off! Don't have a workstand but the site supervisor was an avid racer so has all the kit (some of his kit is probably worth more than my bike!!!).

 

[ChrisEyles]

Sounds fantastic - great work!

 

[Easytigers]

Week 2:

We decide to get the children moving so finished off setting up the new road bike - only needed to pump the tyres up. It was really interesting as we gave the group the track pump and said we'd time them to see how long it took them to get the tyres to pressure. It was obvious that the kids had never seen a presta valve (in fact the dust caps had them stumped for a minute or two!!!). Took them about 5 mins to figure out the locking nut (with a few final hints as I was getting bored even though they were really into it!). They worked out how to lock the pump head so they could start pumping and they did a good job of the front wheel (with some guidance about the correct pressure - reading this off the side of the tyre).

They really set about the back wheel and were flying - actually they got a bit too excited and after a huge BANG, they found out that inflating a tyre too much resulted in a blow out (and a few pairs of underpants ruined!!! The look on some of their faces was hilarious!). In the next part of the session they learned the ancient art of taking off a wheel and tyre. We were going to repair the puncture but the tube was almost completely ripped in two at the point where it blew!!! We didn't have a spare tube and so had to get the one out of the old kids road bike that @Fab Foodie gave us (I know I keep saying thank you but it would have been a much shorter session without it!!!). This led to a great discussion about how the wheels are made up and the function of the different bits (the kids were keen to know whether the wheel/tyre system was the same on a car). We then got the back tyre to some kind of pressure and clamped it into the turbo... A very educational 15 minutes!!!

Next was the kid's first time on a road bike (albeit on the turbo)...they were like pigs in muck! They all had two turns for a couple of minutes each and even they were surprised at how tired they got...the competitive streak definitely came out in quite a few of them and they were really hammering it (the cunning ones soon learned how to change gear!!!) . Red faced, they were desperate for another go but it was nearly time for the bell to ring for 'line-up' time.

We finished by looking at the kid's road bike and figuring out what we'll need to buy initially e.g. cables...and of course a new inner tube!!! There's other stuff as well that they don't know about yet but we'll leave that for another week. The club are meeting tomorrow, quickly at lunch, where they are going to do some research on the internet to find the cheapest cable and tubes and then I'll let them put an order in (I'll put the credit card details in though!!!)

For next week, I've decided that a cycling computer is a must...the kids are really competitive (in a good way) and are keen to improve how far/fast they go. Don't want to sound like a scrounger but if anyone has one lying around in the garage that they don't want anymore, give me a shout. I don't mind paying the postage out of my own pocket (I know it sounds bad but the kids have a small budget and don't want to take anything out of it if possible).

 

[Easytigers]

Ready to rock and roll!

 

[Pat "5mph"]

@Easytigers I've got a redundant (pre-garmin) cycle computer, pm me your details and I'll send it on Monday, no postage required.
Not sure if I have the instructions for it, but they can easily be found on line I guess, it's either an Aldi or a Tesco one.