Life Cycle and Cytech to provide training in Bristol and Leicester

Cycle charity Life Cycle has partnered with bicycle technician trainers Cytech to provide training courses to Bristol and Leicester in bike maintenance. The courses will be available to both the local community and prisons.

HMP Bristol and HMP Fosse Way will be the recipients of this opportunity. From October courses to teach skills and aid rehabilitation through hands-on training to enable prisoners to have a future once they leave incarceration.

Volunteers and experienced tutors will support the program. Life Cycle will give prisoners the chance to earn qualifications and give back to the community whilst inside. Donated bikes can be refurbished by the prison-based participants rather than letting them go to landfill. The bikes are returned to people fixed and ready for use.

Acquiring skills and qualifications gives prisoners a better chance of employment upon release but also gives them a sense of purpose and accomplishment.

Ed Norton, Life Cycle’s CEO, said: “We are thrilled to partner with Cytech to bring these transformative courses to local prisons. Cytech courses are highly valued by the cycle industry, so we’re delighted to offer prisoners an opportunity to give back to the community, while achieving a qualification that can set them on a different path after release. We believe that everyone deserves a second chance, and providing practical skills is a vital part of that process.”

Public courses will also be expanded by Life Cycle in the coming months, based out of its Bristol hub. These courses will help learners progress from beginners to advanced cycle technicians, part of the company’s wider commitment to strengthening the cycling sector.

Cytech has an industry-recognised high standard for training along with a comprehensive curriculum.

Jonathan Harrison, on behalf of the Association of Cycle Traders (ACT) said “Our new partnership with Life Cycle will allow us to offer Cytech training to more people in the UK than ever. Making high-quality industry training more accessible and also increasing the pool of trained, dedicated technicians available to bike workshops up and down the country is important to Cytech and we feel Life Cycle are a great fit in sharing and achieving this goal.”

Harrison added: “Life Cycle’s work with rehabilitation and vocational training offered to prisoners and ex-offenders is also a great example of the ethos of the business, that we will continue to support and help grow here in the UK.”

Harrison said: “Life Cycle join our strong network of high-quality training providing partners delivering Cytech courses and raising the standards of bicycle mechanics worldwide, providing the best way to attain cycle mechanics qualifications within the industry.”

In CIN issue #6 2023, we looked at a similar initiative – XO Bikes – which aimed to help rehabilitate ex-offenders.