As Lauren Pyrah said towards the end of the film, "We've got the lovely girls on the lovely bikes, now all we need are the lovely cycle paths". Short of a midnight raid on the streets of Darlington to start a road-space-reallocation-guerrilla-campaign, the cycle paths are only developing in fits and starts in the town. So meanwhile, faced with the end of filming, the women from Beauty and the Bike decided to formalise their dutch bike hire scheme, and make them more widely available to the people of Darlington.
The new bike hire scheme takes over where Beauty and the Bike left off, expanding the dozen or so bikes used in the film to over 30, with plans for further expansion as demand develops. Darlovelo has been constituted as a social enterprise, run by its members. To hire a bike, you need to join (£5 per year (£3 concessions)). Members then pay a deposit of £25. Bikes can be hired for anything from a week to a year. The scheme has bought some beautiful Pashley, Bobbins and Gazelle bikes to add to the Beauty and the Bike Excelsiors, Dutchie and Strike Bikes. More details are available on the Darlovelo website.
Funding for Darlovelo is based on a grant from Bike Hub, the industry’s fund for innovative new ideas. The project is also supported by Darlington Cycling Campaign and our local Sustrans workers, who help maintain and repair the fleet. If you are interested in joining Darlovelo, and trying one of their Dutch bikes, email or phone:
cool@darlovelo.org 0751 9741734
