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Low-cost bicycle repair shop in Cloverdale overwhelmed by need

Cloverdale Community Cycles shuts doors to new customers for time being
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Kevin House (right) chats with a customer at Cloverdale Community Cycles. House is the chief mechanic at the low-cost bike repair shop which recently opened in the parking lot behind Pacific Community Church. (Photo: Malin Jordan)

Cloverdale’s newest cycle repair shop has become a victim of its own success.

Cloverdale Community Cycles has had to shut its doors to any new customers for the time being because of overwhelming demand for its services.

“We’re not accepting any bikes for repairs until August 10,” explained Cloverdale Community Kitchen director Matthew Campbell. Campbell also runs the cycle shop.

“We just got really backed up on repairs,” he added. “We just need to get caught up on everything that’s due so that we can turn around bikes in a suitable amount of time.”

Cloverdale Community Cycles and its innovative service model was set up to offer bike repairs to the greater Cloverdale, Surrey, and Langley communities at low-cost and no-cost.

“People in great need get their bike work done for free,” Campbell told the Cloverdale Reporter in June. “People who are low-income will get a very, very reduced rate, and people who can afford to pay can make a donation accordingly.”

SEE ALSO: Low-cost bicycle repair shop opens in Cloverdale

“This is a community bike shop,” added Campbell. “We work on donations, so it’s affordable for anybody at any level. If people can afford a lot, they can make a higher donation, if they can’t afford a lot, then they can make a lower donation.”

Campbell said for now volunteers will catch up on the backlog of work so he can reopen the shop in August and start serving the community again.

“We just wanted to give everybody a chance to catch their breath,” Campbell said. “It’s been wildly successful—more than we imagined, actually—so we needed to pause and make sure we were serving everyone the way we want to.”

Campbell added he’s hoping to get some more volunteers that could help with repairs. He said it could ease some of the backlog now, and slow the onset of backlog later, once the shop opens up to the community again.

“In Langley, some of the bike shops are backed up eight weeks!” Campbell exclaimed. “Eight weeks to get a repair done. And we were backed up three and growing into four weeks. That’s just not what we want to do.”

Campbell said customers were getting frustrated and staff and volunteers were getting stressed out.

Campbell added Cloverdale Community Cycles is always accepting donated bikes, whether they run well or are in need of repair.

Anyone who wants to volunteer can contact Campbell through the Cloverdale Community Kitchen website and anyone that wants to donate bikes, can bring them by Cloverdale Community Cycles after Aug. 10.



editor@cloverdalereporter.com

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Malin Jordan

About the Author: Malin Jordan

Malin is the editor of the Cloverdale Reporter.
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