by Leslie Muñoz
Photo: Leslie Muñoz
The Leveller burnt rubber this summer by travelling to the edges of Ottawa to meet up with Adam Wang at his Shanghai-inspired garage-based bicycle workshop. Snooping through the workspace, the Leveller found affordable bikes and an enthusiastic recycler armed with wrenches and a critique of consumer society.
Wang had a lot to say about recycling bicycles and about the importance of cyclists having basic tune-up skills. He uses special tricks and techniques he learned growing up in Shanghai to salvage bicycles that even bike shops would prefer to scrap.
“When I was kid I was extremely interested in seeing people fixing bicycles. At that time, there were bicycle stands in almost every corner [in China]. This interest stayed with me,” he said. “It’s amazing in Canada, [it’s] something I really cannot get used to, people just want more, they don’t bring [bicycles] to the bicycle shops to fix them. They just get a new one.”
Wang continued, “in China, everything is not wasted, you know. If you have a problem and you cannot deal with it you find a way to deal with it. That’s the mentality there. […] What you need to fit people’s needs is not necessarily the expensive new stuff and that’s why I try to fix things for cheap.”
Though China is popularly understood by Canadians to be a source of cheap and disposable goods, this is only due to the demand for these goods in the West. China, India, and other countries in Asia have excelled in waste reduction through reusing items and parts that would surely end up in a dump in Canada.
In Canada’s consumption-driven society, people are encouraged to buy more rather than recycle and reuse. This emphasis on unending consumption is not sustainable in a world with finite resources. Investing in a used bicycle is a responsible way to commute as well as an environmentally friendly way to access cheaper transportation.
“Everything is getting more expensive,” Wang told the Leveller.
“I think the bicycle is probably the best transportation invention ever invented. Think about it! There’s nothing wrong with it! Its good for your health, it’s good for the environment, it gets you places very easily, and you don’t have to feed it. Everything is good. Why charge people a lot to prevent them from getting it?”
The City of Ottawa more visibly began to work towards increasing cycling in the city in 2011 when it opened the Laurier bike lane downtown. The Ottawa Citizen reported on city council’s decision to make the bike lane permanent in July of this year. Despite efforts in making the streets of Ottawa friendlier for cyclists, and in the face of evidence that proves bicycles are better for health as well as the environment, the feds have decided that bike prices are going up.
According to the Vancouver Courier, “all Canadians will be paying more for their bikes due to the Conservative government’s [… 2013] federal budget.”
“The regular eight per cent duty on imported bicycles is rising to 13 per cent,” said Tom Babin of the Calgary Herald. “Because virtually every bike sold at a retail level in Canada is imported, the price change [will] strike widely.”
Luckily for those in Ottawa, individuals like Wang, and various other used bicycle outlets throughout the city, are there to provide quality products for cyclists at cheaper rates. Instead of spending on new and increasingly expensive bicycles, locals have the option of purchasing tax-free goods that have been recycled. These used bicycles are sold in fully functioning condition and benefit cyclists in the city instead of ending up in landfills. They exist as crucial alternatives to owning a car or depending on OC Transpo’s excessive $98.75- $122.00 monthly pass fare price for individuals older than 19.
The workshop Wang runs out of his garage is filled with extra parts and bicycles of all shapes and sizes. Children’s bicycles are sold for an average of around $30 and adult-sized bikes sell for around $60. Tune up prices and do-it-yourself lessons are cheap and their price is negotiable. To make his work even more accessible to cyclists in the city, Wang even delivers downtown.
“I think bicycles should be promoted more and more,” Wang said. “I encourage people to not turn away from used [bicycles], they may have a few problems but if I can help fix them, I’d be more than happy to do that.”
To purchase a used bicycle or to donate to his workshop email Adam Wang at adam_china@gmail.com.
This article first appeared in Vol. 6, No. 1 (Sept/Oct 2013) of the Leveller.
