Help for cyclists on bike trail

A NEW bicycle repair station has been setup on the Ballarat to Skipton Rail Trail in Scarsdale.

The stand, available to pump up tyres and mend or make adjustments to a bike while on the trail, is due to the vision and drive of Scarsdale Community Coordinator, Dianne Moylan and funding from the Golden Plains Shire.

Ms Moylan was on holiday in Albany, Western Australia, when she came across an ‘unusual apparatus’ which turned out to be a bike repair station.

“I had never seen anything like this before,” Ms Moylan said. “I knew then that this was what we needed on our rail trail.”

There are two arms to lift a bike to a comfortable level to work on, saving any bending or squatting.

It has a foot operated pump, valve connection and gauge to be used for inflating tyres.

On both sides of the stand there are six tools attached by vandal-proof cables which could be used to straighten a pair of handlebars or tighten a screw under the seat or make minor adjustments to a bike.

Ms Moylan successfully applied for a $500 Healthy Eating Active Living grant from the council in order to help cover the cost of the repair station.

The balance, needed to complete the project, came from $8250 of seed funding the Shire had previously contributed.

“I knew this piece of equipment would enhance the reconstructed platform area of the Scarsdale Railway Station,” Ms Moylan said. “When I was there recently on a working bee, a lady went past riding in a cart being pulled by a Shetland pony with a dog on a lead.

“I thought to myself, if she’d had a flat tyre, she could have possibly used our pump on the repair station.”