South Osborne Bike Hub

Amazing Crew. Resourceful and awesome volunteers. Thanks fot all your help.

What a great place to fix your bike and good staff, very professional and welcoming. Thanks for being there.

July 20, 2020South Osborne Bike HubA Customer Review by Hassan Hawash“Dad, I can’t take my bike out for a bike ride. I’ve got a flat” my son informed me. What am I going to do now? Oh, wait a minute! What was that place again? The one that got the write up in the Sou-Wester. The article said something along the lines of learn how to do it yourself. Yeah, let us go there I thought. It could make for a nice father son activity.So now where is this place? Down at the bottom of Kylemore Street behind Lord Roberts Community Centre. They are open from 9:30 am on throughout the day to 9 pm Monday to Friday. We had plenty of time when we left our house at 6:30. There just beyond LRCC we noticed South Osborne Bike Hub. There was a signboard showing the bike repair shop logo in black and white on the fence.On our first look around the corner we noticed two bikes being worked on. There was a couple originally from India both of whom were working diligently to get their bikes road ready. With their mission done the couple settled their transaction with Brett. A donation, decided on by the customer, he said. Upon leaving the guy said he had not had much experience with bikes, but did manage to take care of his repair work as did his wife. She, he claimed, was very good at taking care of her bike. Also, with her back to us was a young woman engrossed in her task in getting the pedals adjusted. Turns out she, Carrie, and another young man, Tommy, help out in the evenings volunteering so Brett is not on his own.‘Hello, are you the guy I chatted with on Facebook messenger a little earlier this evening?’ I asked with my son by my side. Brett looked a little quizzical. Noticing this puzzled look I continued ‘In any case, I understand this is a bike repair that has the customer do the actual repair with some guidance from the personnel here.’ To get a read of the 23 year old U of M student, I wondered aloud how do punctures happen. With a measured pause, the young seasoned cyclist gained from 10 plus years, with some savoir faire from his family’s auto business back in Melita, began, ‘Well, it could be a puncture from a sharp object. It could be a case of not having enough air in the tire causing the tube to squeeze against the wheel resulting in a sharp pinch so you have air seeping out.’With that said, Brett had us mount the bike, which he assisted with, on a clamp to get the wheel off which my son promptly took care of. Brett then showed us what the next part of our task would include which prompted him to bring out two blue plastic levers. The idea was that we would both work the hook of the tool inside the rubber tire and the wheel a good six inches apart from one another. Eventually, with heavy emphasizes on eventually, we got one side of the tire off. Then, it was on to the other side and the same process. No point getting frustrated take it slow and steady. “Let me do it Dad’, enthusiastically appealed my son. Once he got the tube out he was eager to find where the puncture was. “Found it’, he claimed triumphantly. So, Brett brought out a new inner tube and my son pumped air in just enough so it held its shape. ‘Oh no Brett, something doesn’t seem right’. In no time, Brett had the tube fitted to size. On we were to the next part of the task at hand.‘Let’s fill the other wheel before leaving’, I reasoned not wanting to risk what Brett mentioned earlier. ‘Oh no’, my son discovered air seeping out. Brett ever so encouraging reassured us ‘You guys are experienced now. It shouldn’t take too long.’With all that said, it was a lovely evening. A mission accomplished under Brett’s watchful eye. Time well spent between a father and son. The sun had not yet set. We still had time for a short bike ride.

Every kid needs to start somewhere to learn hands on learning to fix a bike, YouTube can’t teach this.Support your community bike clubs!

Open from late may to October of each year.

Wonderful, helpful, patient, and knowledgeable. Thanks!