Pride of NZ: 'Bike dude' has community spirit

Gary Sarten has everything he needs to restore bikes in his Waitara workshop. Photo / Stratford Press

Taranaki children in need given chance to get active.

Gary Sarten
Community Spirt
Locally known as "the bike dude," Gary Sarten has fixed, reconditioned and serviced bikes for two generations of youngsters growing up around Waitara and Lepperton, and has no plans of stopping any time soon.

"He's just a big hearted man who will always give all he can," says his wife, Charmaine, who isn't at all surprised her husband has been nominated in the community spirit category for the Pride of New Zealand Awards.

I like seeing the kids outside, on their bikes, doing stuff, not just staring at a tv or computer screen.

Garry Sarten, Pride of New Zealand nominee

Gary adds he always gets a thrill seeing a child riding around the community on a bike he has given them.

Gary's workshop is crammed full of bike parts and tools while a pot-bellied stove belts out heat from the corner, and a beautiful Maine Coon cat called Pearl stalks around the collection of bikes filling every corner of the workshop, not to mention the garage, the other shed, and anywhere else Gary can store a bike or two.

"Children need to be active, and a lot of families can't afford to go and buy a new bike, so they come to me, and I set them up with one. It won't be new, and it won't be the flashiest style or colour, but it will be safe and ready to ride."

Gary gets the bikes from op shops around the area, as well as the New Plymouth and Waitara Transfer Stations and Just Rubbish Waitara. "They all put them aside for me, so I go around in my van, collect them in whatever state they are in and bring them back to fix and get them ready for another child."

Gary has been fixing bikes for as long as he can remember, "we weren't brought up rich, so my first bike, it was green with black mud guards, and it was a girl's bike. I was gutted, I wanted something cooler. I rode it to the local dump, found a frame, and turned it into a boys bike, that was the start of all this I guess".

From that first bike, Gary has lost count of how many he must have fixed and serviced, but he is on the second generation of families now. "Some of them come in, and I remember getting them started with a bike, now they are back, wanting to give their kids the freedom and fun they know a bike can bring."

Charmaine rings a bell to let Gary know when it is time for lunch, as he is in the shed daily, from breakfast through to dinner at 6 or 7 each night making sure he always has a bike for anyone who needs. "Most bikes I can fix without leaving the shed now," he says, as he keeps every spare part, every bolt, in a system he calls 'organised clutter'. "We get bikes that have been run over, the tyres on them are normally good, but the frame is ruined, then we have old bikes that need a lot of work or become a parts donor. No bike gets thrown out, that's certain."

While Gary calls his bike project a hobby "others play golf, I fix bikes," for the children and families he has helped the project has made a huge difference. "He went out of his way to replace a bike that was stolen," says his nominee, "he has a big heart".

"I'm not an academic man, but this is something I can do," he says.

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Nominations for the 2015 awards have now closed.
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