Ever since the day it was founded, Ride-On Cycling for All’s mission has been to get more people cycling more often.
Ride-On has always focused on people who want to ride more but aren’t able to either because they don’t have a safe and reliable bike or because they lack confidence to get back in the saddle.
Our mission goes back to 2011 when Martyn Laxton, a Devon Bikeability instructor, was moved to set up Ride On after realising that more than half of the primary school children he was teaching couldn’t access the free course because they didn’t have a bike. So, together with Adam Golding, another Bikeability instructor and qualified bicycle mechanic, he set about correcting this. And so, Ride On was born.
The idea was simple. People donated their unwanted bicycles, volunteers refurbished them, and then they were sold at affordable prices.
But it took a lot of hard work!
They recruited a team of volunteers and, together with generous bicycle donations from the public, the charity started to grow.
In 2014, Ride On moved into our workshop at Exeter Quay and since then has gone from strength to strength. In 2013, we put 83 bikes back into use. By 2021 this had increased tenfold to 830!
Since those early days, Ride On has gone on to develop new opportunities to help people who wish to cycle but just need a helping hand to do so.
In addition to selling fully refurbished bikes, serviced by a qualified mechanic, we now offer a range of services such as Bring Your Own Bike – a bike kitchen when people can service their bikes with the support a qualified mechanic – and our Rickshaw Project – giving people who as a result of age or disability are unable to ride themselves.
Our passion to support people to cycle more is also driven by our awareness of the fact that cycling has so many benefits for the rider and the wider community, as well as our environment. These include improved physical and mental health, a lower carbon footprint, reducing pollution, and getting people talking.
We are still a volunteer-based organisation aiming to create a place where the local community can visit and talk bikes, exercise, road safety, cycle training for all ages, learning to ride, bike maintenance, route planning and all things bike-related with “can do” people.