Despite the school vacation period, the Jean-Sarrailh school in Saint-Gratien was lively this Saturday morning. It is here, in the courtyard of the elementary school, that the Véloservices de Cergy integration workshop offered, in partnership with the city, an ephemeral workshop for the sale and repair of bicycles. This is the first time that he has placed his barnum and his tools in the Raguenets district. And the event was likely expected by many locals. Even before the opening at 10:30 am, some were already waiting in front of the gates. Health crisis obliges, access to repairers as to exposed cycles is done only by small groups but the queue is hardly empty. Newcomers almost immediately replacing the starters.
On the one hand, those hoping to get a good deal. Like Sushmita who is looking for a new bike for her 7 year old daughter. "His has become too small so I come to see because the prices are interesting", estimates this thirty-something. “From 20 to 50 € for a child's bike and from 50 € for adults,” explains the poster plastered a few meters away. Same hope for Adéola, who came for her two children but not only. “I'll watch for myself as well. Because it is true that before, we only cycled during the holidays, far from home. But since the confinement, we say to ourselves that it is a good occupation for the weekends especially since there is not much else to do ”.
The queue to access the bicycle sales and repair workshop offered by Véloservices in the courtyard of Jean Sarrailh elementary school was formed as soon as it opened.
LP / Anne Collin Anne COLLIN
The period has indeed given rise to cycling vocations.
Sometimes late.
“I have never ridden a bicycle in my life but I intend to learn well,” says a 50-year-old Tibetan refugee who came to buy her first bicycle.
“With confinement, we move less so we get thicker.
I have already started running, and now I want to try cycling.
And then, it's time or never, ”she smiles, encouraged by her children.
Others, already equipped, came to have their little queen overhauled.
Still a relatively new exercise for Othmane.
It was indeed the first confinement that decided him to invest in an electric.
“I was afraid to take public transport to work and cycling seemed a good alternative to me.
»Explains this professor.
Convinced since, it is therefore on his two-wheeler that he now travels the twenty kilometers that separate him from his educational establishment.
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Stéphane was already an amateur before the arrival of the virus.
“I have been doing it regularly for years as a hobby because my work is too far away.
But with the new enthusiasm and government aid, it is not easy now to find a place to have your bike repaired or overhauled, ”he notes.
The local Decathlon workshop was thus, like many others, taken by storm.
"There was a line at the opening a priori so I ended up giving up."
In fact, the opportunity offered by the association was all the more interesting because the labor is free, only spare parts are paid.
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“We have been doing workshops like this in Saint-Gratien for five years and each time, there are people. But, of course, we can feel an increasingly strong enthusiasm for cycling since last year, ”explains Benoît Sauvé in charge of the Véloservices integration workshop-site of the Vélosolidaire association. Demand is thus growing both for sales and for rental and repair.
Their Cergy site has thus recorded more than 1,200 requests for Coup de Pouce, the name of the operation offering € 50 per revision, since May 2020. “Overall, the bicycle market is very tight. To the point that the sector lacks spare parts and especially mechanics ”, explains this connoisseur. It is moreover to compensate for this lack that the association has just launched its own training workshop to train the repairers of tomorrow. "Already eight people aged 18 to 25" rejoices Benoît Sauvé.
