We have been gradually finding our groove down at the Mamachari workshop. Since adding a few rather talented mechanics to the team, production, efficiency and quality have been increasing every day. We have begun to sell some lovely helmets from Nutcase. We are stocking Brooks saddles. We even have baby seats. We had hoped to do all this as we seek to promote more and more commuter cycling in our city. What we hadn’t counted on was meeting Juan.

Juan, who spent many years in his family-owned car and bicycle restoration workshop in his native country, Chile, joined us about a month ago. When a customer with an old German-made Torpedo that she found for a bargain in a church yard sale came in, Juan, in his own irrepressible style, told her to leave it with us and he would have it running like new. Our resident skirtguard and pannier craftsman, Brooke, replaced the old plastic guard, and Juan worked his magic on the rest. The resulting bike, of which we are all a wee bit jealous, was so fantastic that we agreed to make restoring bikes a part of our business.

Our ceilings are still lined with Japanese bicycles waiting to be reborn, but we figure that throughout Wellington there are probably also hundreds of old bikes given up as lost. So, if you have any kind of non-sports bike under the house, in the garage, or even rusting in the backyard, think about bringing it to us. If you’ve been meaning to fix it up one day but have never got around to it, it’s not too late. I’m sure you can recall the days before in-built obsolescence, when things were ‘made to last’. They really were and, if we have our way, we’d like to make them useable again. Or as the word in the shop is, we’d like to make them hum.

Our goal is to see more Wellingtonians and New Zealanders choosing to integrate the bicycle into how they get around. Sometimes the best way forward is to look to the past. I can’t wait to see some beautiful old bikes from NZ’s history back on the road, back when they did things with a certain style and panache.

Down here at the workshop we’re always trying to come up with ways to make commuting easier without breaking the bank.  All the workers at Mamachari are jack-of-all-trades and one of our budding sail-makers, Brooke, has come up with a way to recycle billboard skins into bike panniers.

Above is the first prototype and he is beginning production immediately. If you’d like a single or double pannier, let us know.  They will come with optional shoulder straps so that they can double as a cool looking satchel.  Single panniers cost $80 and the double panniers are still in development stage.

Due to quite infrequent sunshine down on the southern coast it’s been difficult to find the weather for painting, but today was beautiful. As we sorted out our second big shipment of bicycles from Japan inside, Jon put the final touches to his mural on our Mamachari workshop on the outside.

After a challenging past couple of weeks, things have been falling into place. I love how our place looked like on the inside and outside today. If you’d like to visit us in future, here is how to find us. Cycle, walk, bus or drive down to the sea end of the Island Bay Parade and turn left at Reef Street. The #1 Island Bay bus also stops on Reef St. Then walk past Shorland Park on your right. Once you reach The Esplanade, turn left again and head towards the picture you see above.

You can also see more of Jon’s artwork on www.drypnz.com .

There is a revolution on the horizon.

It will be simple, it will be quiet and it will do no more harm.

It is a bicycle revolution and it has already begun…

Mamachari Bicycles was established in order to provide the wheels for the revolution. Our goal is that everyone has access to a comfortable, practical and beautiful bicycle to commute on.

Join us as we celebrate the official launch of this little company with big dreams. Our first attempt at this event was postphoned due to stormy weather on the southern coast. The new details are below.

Tuesday June 1st

4pm – 7pm

240 The Esplanade, Island Bay

There will be mulled wine, pizza and a screening of The Triplets of Bellville. Bring your bicycle if you can, and your revolutionary musings…

I’ve had this old picnic basket lying around for a while now and since winter is fast approaching I thought it best to have a lid over the stuff I’m carrying around on the back of the bike. I was a bit worried things might’ve fallen out of the beer crate (which I still think looks brilliant on the back of a bike).

I attached this basket using cable ties (that you can get from the electrical aisle in a hardware store) onto the carrier. I used 6 ties and you’ll just need something to push a couple of small holes through the bottom of the basket. It feels really sturdy. I left the lining and everything the same inside as you can see below but I probably won’t keep a couple of salt and pepper shakers handy…

I recently returned from my first ever trip to Japan and I was blown away by the sheer volume of bicycles on the road, the footpaths, in the parks, parked where normally we’d see cars. There were just so many bicycles it was hard to believe this was the same country where we get all of our hand-me-down cars from.

Speaking of hand-me-down cars, the hand-me-down mamacharis in our next shipment will be a treat. My Russian friend Ilnur has hooked us up with some very nice bikes, and I can hardly wait to get working on them to show you all. Watch this space!

On the third day I was there, I got adventurous and wandered around Osaka on a hired mamachari. I  got the impression that cycling in Japan is not just for students, greenies, sporty types or those who simply can’t afford a car. I saw mothers with children, men in business suits, grandmothers, children, cooler than cool teenagers on thier fold-ups and so many women dressed in heels that I wondered why lycra should ever be necessary.

Japan is a country with a landmass similar to our own but many, many times the population. Their cars are priced more realistically than ours are and so most are reluctant to operate one. Makes sense. There are so many people on such a small island that everyone driving around in their own car would be ridiculous. And Japanese people know more than most countries what it feels like to suffer from senseless war. Perhaps Nagasaki and Hiroshima means they can empathise with Iraqis and Afgans and would prefer to use less of that blood-bought oil if they could. No wars were fought to power my mamachari bicycle as I cruised around Osaka on a nice sunny spring afternoon. Just sushi, Japanese beer and ramen noodles. Makes sense.

Thanks to our new friends at Sticky Business we now have  some bright new stickers to decorate our bikes with.

Of-course, there are some brilliant stickers already adorning a few of our mamacharis, brands, models and even poems (commonly referred by us as bike engrish) which we couldn’t possibly want to remove. We recently sold one called Carrot, and on the chainguard was the tagline, ‘It’s a main dish isn’t it?’

If you already have one of our beautiful mamacharis and you would like to make it even more so or let passers-by where they can find a mamachari, drop us a line. We can either post one out or you can pick one up at our workshop/showroom in Island Bay, gratis of-course.

Although it is still in a state of refurbishment we thought we’d show you all the new workshop down on the beachfront at Island Bay.

Here is where you’ll be able to come down and see where we get the bikes ready and where we’ll be displaying some of our bikes for sale.

I love the feel of this new place, it has all the character we could only dream of. You can stand in the entrance and watch the waves crash around the island and the fishing boats anchored in the harbour.

It seems like the perfect place to sit with a small turkish coffee plotting the next stage of the bicycle revolution as we gaze out to sea…