Discover Our Mission and Vision for Second Spoke

Second Spoke started with a skip.

A few years ago, while sorting through scrap metal at a local recycling point in Croydon, our founder noticed something that didn’t sit right: perfectly usable bikes, thrown out alongside broken washing machines and old radiators. Bikes with a bit of life left in them. Bikes someone had once loved, ridden to work, taught their kid on.

So he started pulling them out. Fixing them up in spare hours. Giving them a second life.

At the time, cycling wasn’t just a hobby — it was how he got around. No car, no licence, just two wheels and a lot of miles. During a stretch of unemployment, that pile of rescued bikes became something to pour energy into. A project that mattered. It gave shape to the days, and it turned into something bigger than either of us expected.

What began as one person rescuing bikes from a skip grew into Recycle Croydon — and has since grown further into Second Spoke: a community enterprise built on the simple idea that a bike thrown away is a bike wasted.

Where we are now

We’re now based in Ebbsfleet Valley, Kent, having grown out from our roots in Croydon. In 2023, we received £5,000 in funding from Veolia, which we used to build a proper workshop and get 20 donated bikes back on the road. That workshop is where the real work happens — bikes coming in broken, going out ready to ride.

We’re a family business in more ways than one. Our founder became a father not long ago, and like a lot of small businesses, Second Spoke gets built in the gaps — early mornings, evenings, whatever time can be found around the rest of life. That’s part of the story too: this isn’t a big, polished operation. It’s people who care, doing the work because it’s worth doing.

What drives us

We believe:

• A bike that still works shouldn’t end up as scrap. Every bike we rescue is one less bike in landfill and one more person with an affordable way to get around.
• Cycling should be accessible. Our refurbished bikes are sold for under £100 — because a second-hand bike shouldn’t cost what a new one does.
• Communities are stronger with more people on bikes. Fewer cars, more independence, better health, lower cost of getting around — a bike can be all of those things for someone who needs it.
• Repair is a skill worth keeping alive. We fix bikes properly, not just enough to get by.

Where we’re headed

We’re building towards something bigger: a team of skilled people doing this work full-time, not just one person in a workshop. Over the coming years, we want Second Spoke to grow into a proper employer — bringing on mechanics, collection and logistics staff, and people who care about bikes as much as we do — while still keeping the same mission at the centre of it all: rescue, repair, and get people riding.

If you’ve got a bike gathering dust in the shed, a business looking to support your local community, or you just want to get involved — we’d love to hear from you.