A Class Act.

Someone has to do the hard graft

Trick parts ready for assembly

You always remember your first bike

As a the middle-aged father of an 11 year old boy, I have recently, like thousands of other proud parents, recorded for posterity the new school uniform and the first day off to senior school. I expect the requests to order for the first school class photograph to arrive at any moment.

Taking my children to school always fills me with a sort of melancholy nostalgia. Possibly as a consequence of being over 40 I have often mourned the passing of an age when the bike ride to school was normal and not something to be feared by anxious parents or, worse still, loathed by children themselves.

So, nothing could have restored my faith in how kids can still embrace riding to school like the moment my son Joseph set himself the holiday task of building a bike specifically to travel the few miles to his new school and back each day, for the grand total £25.

The requirements were quite clear: the machine had to be fast, light, accommodate him for longer than his first uniform, present him with minimal maintenance and above all be very, very 'cool'.

A trawl through Shropshire's cycle shops revealed news of Spokes, a bicycle recycling charity in Kidderminster, which turned out to be a treasure trove of new and used parts. With the exception of the tyres, which were bought new, the whole bicycle, including trick parts [which ones were they, then? - ed.] cost under the £25 price cap.

The resulting machine has blended a bit of retro chic with hassle free riding.

Look out for a full feature on Spokes soon