Cycling Stories: Richard, Glasgow Bike Station

Ahead of the opening of cycling exhibition 'The Perfect Machine' at Summerlee Museum in July 2014 we are profiling cyclists from around Lanarkshire and Glasgow. Richard works at the Bike Station in Glasgow (www.thebikestation.org.uk/glasgow).

“I’ve been working at the Bike Station now for 3 years. I previously worked in another Glasgow bike shop and it’s always a little bit different than your conventional bike shop as far as the recycling element. I’m not just working in a shop basically.

“As long as I can remember I have been interested in cycling. I guess at some point my interest did go from just being a young boy into bikes to having a serious professional interest in it and that’s when I started working in bike shops. I do like the general cycling culture and the ethos that goes with it, I am into for want of a better word upcycling as well as general bikes so matching my interest in recycling to bikes has been great.

“This is a pretty unique bike I guess. It's actually originally a cycle speedway frame but I have rebuilt it as a town bike so it's not my number one bike by any means. It's the bike that I normally leave outside pubs and leave lying around, it's not super expensive but I guess it's quite unique because it uses a coaster brake so aesthetically it looks quite minimal. It's probably not for everybody to be honest! It's single speed as well which is in my opinion all you really need for town but I've got a relatively short commute so I don't need a bike with a range of gears. It's the only bike I have mudguards on because mudguards do look rubbish normally. It started off as a cheap, throw-together bike but it's hard to make a bike that I don't really like to be honest.”

If you would like to be featured in 'Cycling Stories' please contact Justin Parkes, Industrial History Curator on 01236 856376; ParkesJ@culturenl.co.uk

'The Perfect Machine', Summerlee Museum of Scottish Industrial Life, Coatbridge
5 July to 14 September 2014