More than 50 repurposed bikes made their way back into the community at the “Love Your Bike” day.

The Community Resources Whakatāne and Cycling Without Age collaboration encourages cycling in the community, provides access to bikes, parts and repairing tutorials, and raises funds for the two not-for-profit organisations.

CReW business manager Gerard McCormack said the debut Love Your Bike day was “very successful”.

An electric bike was auctioned for $525, and 52 repurposed adults’ bikes, childrens’ bikes, unicycles and go-carts were sold for $15 to $45 a bike.

“A big thank you to the community for supporting CReW and Cycling Without Age Eastern Bay with this initiative: Those who dropped in bikes, our CReW team for fixing them up and the support from those who purchased them have all helped to contribute to bringing these bikes back into use.”

30 people attended the day, and bikes were sold from throughout the week.

“A highlight was seeing the smiles on the kids' faces as they received their new bikes and receiving films and photographs from parents of them riding their bikes,” Mr McCormack said.

“Less than three weeks ago we had close to 70 bikes leaning up against our boundary fence following the holiday period. The team have repaired some and stripped others to support the repairs of other bikes and broken up bikes for scrap metal.

“It’s been brilliant to showcase to the community, council and others the positive impact CReW has on reducing unnecessary waste going to the landfill.”

He said CReW will be looking into further targeted repurposing projects throughout the year following the success of this event.