Beryl's Night
Beryl's Night is our monthly session for women and all trans and non-binary folk to come and use the workshop on the first Thursday evening of the month. The aim of Beryl’s Night is to create a space for these folk to learn, fix, teach, socialise, get greasy hands, eat cake, hang out, laugh, use spanners, help each other, high five, ask for help, and make friends.
Book on our website or turn up—starting at 6:30 pm at Broken Spoke, wrapped up by 8:30 pm.
Introducing Team Beryl
Team Beryl is a group of volunteers who are passionate about the intersection of bikes and gender. We organise Beryl’s Night and other cycling events throughout the year.
Our mission is to make bike workshops, events, and activities inclusive and accessible to all by attempting to break down the barriers which prevent women, non-binary and trans people from engaging in cycling and mechanics
Our Next Beryl's Night
How true are your wheels? Why do wheels become less wheel-shaped? This month we'll be doing an introduction into when and why wheels need truing, having a go at balancing tension, and how to get your wheels round and running in a straight line again.
4th June - Brakes
In this session we will be delving into the world of brakes - how they
work and what to do when they don't! We'll cover rim brakes and disc
brakes (but not including bleeding hydraulic brakes), and maintenance
tips to keep them braking nice and sharp.
2nd July - Saddles
What is the secret to a comfortable ride? In this month's session, we’ll
explore how you can make your existing saddle more comfortable and how
to choose a saddle that might feel better. Saddles designed for men
don’t always work for people with vulvas, so we will take a look beyond
the width of our sit-bones to understand all the factors that impact
saddle comfort.
August - no Beryl's Night
Team Beryl-led
Mechanic Supported Workshops
Owing to Broken Spoke’s mechanics traineeship for women, trans and non binary folk, Team Beryl and the wider Broken Spoke community has had a boost in the number of qualified and skilled cycle mechanics who don’t identify as cis-men. For an industry with a gender diversity problem, this is a big win!
Team Beryl regularly leads Broken Spoke Mechanic Supported Workshop sessions. These are open to all - like our standard Mechanic Supported Workshop - but the session lead mechanic on the day and the volunteers supporting will all be members of Team Beryl.
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The story behind the name
Beryl Burton was an English racing cyclist and one of Britain's greatest athletes. She dominated women's cycle racing in the UK throughout the 1960’s/70’s and 80’s, winning more than 90 domestic championships and seven world titles, and setting numerous national records.
One of Burton's most famous idiosyncrasies was offering witticisms to riders she caught. Dave Taylor, press secretary at Cycling Time Trials, remembers: "The only experience I had with Beryl was being caught by her in a ‘25' in Essex. As she passed me she said ‘Eh lad, you're not trying' where upon she disappeared up the road." She inspires us and we'd like more people to know about her, and others.
