An Taisce's special Basic Bike Maintenance Workshop

Just before Bike Week, on 7th May 2026, An Taisce ran a Basic Bike Maintenance Workshop at The Tailors' Hall in Dublin 8. The session was part of the Culture Date with Dublin 8 Festival, but the timing was perfect so that bicycle users could get their steeds in good fettle in advance of Bike Week and Biodiversity Week where there was tonnes happening on the bike events front. 

The tutor for the session was the National Cycling Coordinator for An Taisce and Irish Cycling Campaign, Damien Ó Tuama. Prior to working full time in cycling advocacy, Damien had worked with several different bicycle touring companies, and had previously run basic bike maintenance sessions in various places — so it was most enjoyable for Damien to swap the laptop and mouse for a bike stand and pump. 

The session covered the essential elements of what you need to do to keep your bike in good working order. This included the super-basics like keeping your tyres properly pumped and chain oiled — to getting a sense of what tools are needed so as to do simple maintenance of brakes and gears.

As the world becomes more unstable, and as we realise how unwise it is to run our essential systems of transport, electricity generation, heating and food production on the assumption of having a ready supply of climate damaging fossil fuels, it is somewhat reassuring to be able to fix one's own bike and make shorter essential journeys — and the non-essential ones — under one's own steam. 

Many thanks to the participants for making the session a great success, and of course to An Taisce's Narella Forte for doing the behind-the-scenes organising to ensure everything ran smoothly. 

We hope to do another similar session in the future so keep an eye on this website for details.