Thanks to all the completed questionnaires I’ve been able to get a really good idea of which of the proposed course formats is the most popular, and also how often people hope to use the workshop facilities too. Interestingly the vast majority of people found out about us through Bespoked Bristol and well over 90% are planning to support the crowd funding attempt at the end of the summer (the other 10% just aren’t quite sure)!

I could have asked a lot of other questions too; what type of frames people wanted to build, what materials they were hoping to use etc but know that if the questionnaire had been any longer many wouldn’t have filled it out at all, so I focused on some key points instead.

What has been especially interesting though is the slight confusion over the format of the courses with regards to the bikes for Africa. A number of people were unsure whether they could build their own bikes, or if they could only build bikes that would be donated to re~cycle. To be honest I’m not surprised; having read back through the info that was originally on the website there was room for improvement, a refinement of the message I guess, a bit of clarity. So, I’ve re-written the first section of the ‘about’ page and also the tagline at the top of the website.

A place to learn how to make bikes. You keep the skills, your first bike goes to someone who really needs it.

The Bicycle Academy is a new enterprise providing people with the skills and facilities to design and make their own bikes.

Frame building will be taught by the legendary Brian Curtis as evening classes or short weekday courses. As part of the learning process each student will make a frame designed specifically for use in Africa. Once graduated students will be able to use The Bicycle Academy workshop to hone their skills and build their own frames.

Please follow us for details of how to get involved, and support our crowd funding attempt later this year…

I hope that these changes help to convey the message more clearly and avoid any confusion. I haven’t changed anything about what The Bicycle Academy will be doing, just tried to simplify the message and make it more exact.

It’s also been clear that crowd funding is not something that everyone is familiar with, so despite the incredibly positive take up (almost everyone is behind the idea) I think that a little more explanation may be helpful… so I’ll write a post on that soon… (EDIT: Have done now, it’s here).

Thanks again for all the feedback, questions and comments and please keep the completed questionnaires coming, it only takes a minute to fill out and is super helpful .

I’m compiling a FAQ section for the website based upon the feedback from these questionnaires and at the show, so hope to answer every point soon : )

Cheers