So Anyone In Dublin Can Borrow This Funky Bicycle Whenever They Like

Dublin2020 has teamed up with Rothar Cycles to create the Dublin2020 bike which is available for anyone in the city to borrow.

The collaboration took place to create a special bicycle in order to generate awareness about Dublin’s campaign for European Capital of Culture, which this month enters its final stage.

To promote the project, director Wissame Cherifi made a short film about it (which you can watch above), focusing on the cycling community in Dublin and the importance of recycling and reusing.

This film features conversations with Dublin cyclists and footage of the bike being collected from the scrapyard, dismantled, re-imagined and cycled across the city by the Dublin2020 team.

The bike was refurbished to raise awareness of cycling in the city as it emerged as a key concern in a series of workshops that included over 3,000 citizens, which were themed around ideas to transform the city.

Anne Bedos, founder and director of Rothar said:

We are delighted to partner with the team at Dublin2020, who share our community ethos and place Dublin people at the core of everything we do [...] The bike that we have created, like Dublin, is a mix of the old and the new – the bike looks brand new because we’ve refurbished it but it actually has a lot of history.

The Dublin2020 bike was sourced from Ballyogan Recycling Centre in Stepaside and then taken apart, painted and refurbished in Rothar’s Dun Laoghaire workshop.

As part of the ongoing Dublin2020 campaign to host the European Capital of Culture in 2020, Dubliners are invited to hop on the Dublin2020 bike and take a spin around the capital and show their support for #TeamDublin.

Securing the coveted title highlights the diversity, richness and integration of cultures in Europe and the chosen city. For 2020, Ireland and Croatia have been announced as Europe’s chosen countries. Four cities are now competing to be named cultural capital of Ireland.

Awareness amongst Dubliners is at the core of the Dublin2020 campaign. Between now and the shortlisting process in October, the team must generate awareness and engagement, to encourage communities to become active in formulating their own ideas for projects that will reach fruition by the end of the decade.

To take the bike for a ride, it can be collected and returned to Dublin2020 office, located on Bachelor's Walk. It can be booked by following @Dublin2020bid on Twitter and sending a tweet of DM with #OnYerBike or by messaging Dublin2020 on Facebook.

For more on the project click here.