Veloheads was officially opened on Saturday morning by Andrew Jones MP and Rebecca Burnett, Harrogate Borough Council’s Cycling Champion.
Veloheads can be found at Starbeck’s old laundry at Provincial Works, The Avenue, just at the start of the Greenway cycle track that takes you to Ripley. From its 1200 foot square premises, the business offers cyclists of all ages and experience a comprehensive range of bike servicing and repair packages. The fully equipped workshop has the tooling to cater for all types of bikes from city to road to mountain bike to BMX – all bikes and cyclists are welcomed.
Carl Nelson owns and manages Veloheads. As an advanced Cytech bike mechanic he runs the workshop but as a Bikeability Instructor and Mountain Bike Leader he’s also keen to promote the benefits of people getting on bikes. With that in mind he’s created a welcoming and spacious area where cyclists can sit and relax whilst having a brew and meeting other cyclists and watching the workshop staff fix their bike.
Carl said: Veloheads is more than just a bike business, it’s about people and bikes. It would be great if people came here to meet other cyclists to talk not just about bikes but about what things can be done to improve the lot of people on bikes and what we can all do to get more people on bikes.
It’s all about getting people involved and removing the mystique around bikes
That philosophy extends throughout the whole business with 10% of its business supporting not for profit cycling schemes in the Harrogate area meaning that through the Veloheads Cycle Academy, students from Harrogate High are already training in the workshop with a view to them refurbishing unwanted bikes in the future to put back into the local community.
Carl said: Veloheads has the largest bike workshop in the area and we want to use that space to get as many people involved in our training courses as possible so in the new year we’re launching a range of courses teaching skills in home mechanics, wheel building, suspension maintenance as well as women only bike maintenance courses.
Local MP Andrew Jones said: It’s great to see new businesses starting particularly when they show such innovation. Veloheads whole rationale is about creating a cycling community and putting something back into cycling infrastructure in our area. This coupled with the Council’s news that it is bidding to be part of the Government’s ten-year Cycling Delivery Plan means cycling looks set to grow as part of our local life.”
And of course there’s plenty of opportunity for riding bikes at Veloheads so if you want to use the place as a base for your bike club or to hire one of their mountain bikes or tandems to take out down The Greenway, drop in and have a brew whilst you’re there.
If you’re interested in visiting Veloheads or you have a community project that you think they may be able to support you in call 819564 or go to veloheads.co.uk. Follow them on Facebook or Twitter and get 10% off of labour charges.
