Family run Community focussed Porirua business takes out 'Most Cycle Friendly Business in Wellington' award

A community easter egg hunt involving 500 chocolate kiwis donated by Whittakers Chocolate, Bicycle Fix Up days, art exhibitions, mum’s n bubs sessions – these are just some of the great events the Porirua/Tawa community have flocked to enjoy at Porirua’s Get Fixed Bicycle Café situated on the new Harbours Edge site. The family business also took out the award for ‘Most Cycle Friendly Business in Wellington’ at the recent ‘Love Cycling Wellington Region Awards’ held in March.

In January this year a big dream came to fruition in the form of Get Fixed Bicycle Café. It was over a year since Simon and Angela Bendall had originally propositioned Porirua City Council with a proposal to place a shipping container business at the base of Rangituhi, Colonial Knob. With all of the work Mana Cycle Group had been doing to create MTB trails, the proposal to open a bicycle hire and repair service seemed fitting to the couple. Unfortunately, at the time there were a few challenges to overcome and also a shift in focus from council towards green lighting the large MTB park development and so the plan to put their business at the base of Rangituhi was put on the backburner.

When Clair Nolan from PCC got back in touch just over a year later in around November 2017 to ask if they were still interested in following through with their proposal – except in a different location, the couple jumped at the opportunity.

‘As much as the MTB trails on Colonial Knob are gaining popularity, we knew that mountain bikers only make up one component of the total cycling community. As well as road cyclists, commuters and children there is also a growing number of electric bike enthusiasts and as a key area of our business is offering a service that converts standard bikes to electric, we knew it wouldn’t necessarily matter where we were located. I mean, Simon had been operating out of our garage at home since 2011 and business had seen significant growth even there so having any sort of street presence was most definitely the most logical next step’ said Angela.

It was only around 2 months from the time they got the go ahead from council to being open for business.

‘The easiest part was buying the shipping containers’ says Simon who single handedly converted a 40 foot shipping container in to a self-contained shop with doors, windows, insulation, a front and back deck and interior fitout. Not an easy feat over a Christmas holiday period with 7 children and a holiday planned. But he did it.

The Get Fixed business had humble beginnings and operated for the first 6 years out of the family garage. Simon, previously a Fuji Xerox Engineer had always had a passion for 2 wheels.

‘they say necessity is the mother of invention and when I came off my factory Aprilia motorbike up the Rimutaka hill, the knock on effect was to reconsider the kind of two wheels to ride’. Says Simon ‘And it was ironic. I had my Aprilia as well as a vintage Ducati I’d spent months restoring after buying it as scrap. On the same day as I sold the Ducati and dropped it off at the Picton ferry, I wrote off my Aprilia going for a Saturday afternoon blat over the Rimutaka’s’.

And that was that. A serendipitous end to motorcycling. ‘I figured when you lose 2 bikes in one day, the universe is trying to tell you something’ says Simon and after months of recuperation after the accident, he decided to turn his attention to pedal power. And not just to ride but to fix, service, convert to electric, build and restore. Armed with his engineering background, Simon upskilled to extend his expertise to bicycle mechanics through Shimano and the business was born.

The couple see their business as a real destination point for cyclists and the community as a whole and say the feedback has been incredible.

‘People are just so full of praise and so appreciative of having us here and of what we are offering’ says Simon ‘it’s actually really heart-warming’.

Being nominated for and going on to win the ‘Most Bicycle Friendly Business in Wellington’ award earlier this year at the ‘Love Cycling’ Awards confirmed to them that their business model that offers, in their words ‘great coffee and an artisan approach to bicycle maintenance’ is just what the community needed.

‘We are hugely grateful to Porirua City Council and in particular Abbie McCoy (PCC City Centre & Strategic Property Manager) for giving us the opportunity to have our business on their new Harbours Edge pop up site. Abbie’s enthusiasm, support and encouragement has enabled us to, not only get set up, but get some incredibly valuable exposure and we are very appreciative of everything Abbie, Mike Tana and PCC as a whole, have done for us’. Said Angela

The Get Fixed Bicycle Café offers bicycle servicing & repairs, electric bike conversions, custom wheel building and bicycle & ebike sales. They also sell coffee and light refreshments have a small art gallery for local artist exhibitions. The business is cyclist, child and dog friendly offering bike racks and free air for the riders, free bikes and trikes for little ones to play on as well as dog bowls filled with water for the canine clientele.

Come and meet the Get Fixed family as well as the Grilla and Bluebell families (other businesses located at Porirua’s Harbours Edge site) on June 16 from 4pm-7pm for a Mini Winter Fiesta. There will be great art, good food, live music and wine and beer available for purchase.

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