In Poing, the non-profit bicycle workshop has reopened after the compulsory Corona break.
Everyone can repair their bike here, there is help for self-help here.
Poing - The radio is playing refreshing, moody summer music, it is Sunday morning in Poing, Anzinger Straße 16b.
Here, in the former scout home, neither children nor young people hold a meeting or even have a party, no: two men in a good mood repair bicycles with music.
Ulrich Bardolatzy (68) and Ralf Grabenhorst (62) work on a voluntary basis in the non-profit bicycle workshop Poing, which is now open again after the forced Corona break.
Every Sunday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Poing: No professional bike workshop
Before you get the wrong impression: It is not a classic repair shop, the goal is to help people help themselves with bicycle repairs.
At the beginning, before the corona crisis, the facility was intended exclusively for asylum seekers, who still use it today.
They repair bicycles or buy used bikes for 25 euros, which they fix together with the workshop team.
Anyone can do all of this from now on, informs the environmental office of the municipality of Poing: The non-profit and privately initiated workshop is open to all citizens.
Already helped in Pliening
Ralf Grabenhorst is from Pliening and worked there about six years ago, when the refugee crisis was and there was an air dome for asylum seekers in Pliening, and set up and organized a bike workshop for the refugees.
After the wave of refugees and after the hall had been dismantled in Pliening, he learned that a workshop was also planned in Poing.
So he moved there.
“Because I like to do handicrafts and tinker with wheels,” he says.
This is exactly the motivation for Ulrich Bardolatzy to work regularly in the Poingen workshop.
Three workplaces for self-repair
Three workstations have been set up there, and anyone who wants to repair their own bike receives space, tools and support there.
Spare parts can be recycled free of charge from existing, no longer serviceable bikes, other items can be bought at cost price.
The Catholic rectory is making the premises belonging to the church available for the workshop free of charge, the municipality of Poing has contributed the start-up capital for tools, says Jeroen Buters, organizer and director of the workshop.
Poing: S-Bahn bike for 25 euros
You can also buy used and repaired bicycles there.
The classic "S-Bahn bikes" at a flat rate of 25 euros.
The workshop receives the bicycles from donations from private individuals as well as from the construction depot and recycling center.
These are mostly found bikes that have been in the community for a long time because they have not been picked up.
Use of the workshop (under supervision) and the tools is free.
"After the work is done, we look forward to a little support from the workshop, for example sweeping, inflating tires or removing parts from scrap wheels for the spare parts pool," says Jeroen Buters.
There is always accompanying music.
The non-profit bicycle workshop is open every Sunday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. It is not necessary to make an appointment. The contact person is Jeroen Buters, Tel. (0172) 9970202.