FREE Baby Biking – in Hackney!

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UPDATE: it’s on-going! As of Spring 2024, we’re keeping this as a rolling scheme for the time being.

Want to go cycling with your little one(s) and try things out ahead of the Spring? Are you a Hackney resident? Look no further – Baby Biking is here!

We’re running an unfunded period of the Family Cycling Library in HACKNEY as of December 2023. “Baby Biking” allows you to borrow child seats front or rear, a trailer, or another gadget that makes carrying your little ones easy – all for FREE!

You can keep it for a few weeks, then return to us for another family to borrow, or perhaps buy the item from us, or perhaps buy an equivalent new item from us with a project discount just for you.

You will (normally) need to already have your own safe, working bicycle in order to take part. But we can advise you on the best kind of bike to buy in order to safely carry child(ren). We have a very small number of bicycles that potentially could be loaned out – talk to us about your needs.

Open this time to Hackney residents only, the way to take part is:

  1. Contact us by phone or email or Whatsapp to introduce yourself and your family and how old the kid(s) are that you’re looking to carry by bike.
  2. Send us a photo of you holding up your photo ID (e.g. passport).
  3. Send us a photo of your proof of address (e.g. council tax bill from the London Borough of Hackney).
  4. Make an appointment to come over to our premises during our opening hours. Ideally you’d bring your kids and your bike but we of course realise that the nature of this project means you probably can’t do this…until you’ve actually borrowed the item from us! So if you can’t bring both, come first with your bike so we can check out what might work the best with it.
  5. Leave your bike with us for a day or two max (also leave us with a very good lock and the keys), we’ll fit an item for you, and then you come back with your little one to try it before taking it away (in case it doesn’t work for some reason!).
  6. We’ll need to take all your details so that we can contact you to return the items in February next year.
  7. That’s it!

By the way, it’s unfunded because we don’t have grant funding to run specific events or buy any more equipment. We’re working on this, but we did feel that it was time that Hackney residents had another bite of the cherry! Please bear with us because we may reach a point where we cannot make any more appointments or we run out of equipment.

So get in touch and we’ll get you rolling!