Reuse superstar Simon is a man of many talents. You might know him as that loud Aussie with the infectious laugh, or the bloke on the bike with his trusty sidekick Mac, perched proudly in her custom bike seat, directing Simon which way to turn. One thing’s for sure: the man’s mad about bikes (and cricket too, if you ask him).
A former bike courier, Simon knows a thing or two about bike maintenance. Fixing bikes and tinkering comes naturally to him, which is why he’s such a valuable member of our awesome front yard team.
Bikes are a popular donation here at Wasties, and we’re lucky enough to receive all sorts, from mountain bikes and roadies to e-bikes, tricycles, unicycles, and the occasional fixed gear. But this month, we received something rather peculiar: a Nexus Auto-D. Also known as an automatic transmission bike, it changes gears all by itself.
Simon did some digging and discovered it was made in 1997 and only produced for a year, making it a pretty rare find. After giving it a test ride, he noticed it wasn’t working properly, so he took it upon himself to give the bike a bit of TLC.
He stripped it down completely, cleaned every connection, and managed to track down a replacement battery from a shop in Auckland. Once it arrived, he rebuilt the bike piece by piece, fine-tuning it along the way.
“It works great now! It really does make you giggle every time you ride it—it’s just so fun!” our resident bike wizard said.
And if you’re wondering what makes an automatic transmission bike different from an electric bike, Simon explains:
“It’s all human-powered, it just senses when you’re speeding up or slowing down and changes gears in response.”
After receiving some much-needed repair therapy from Simon, the bike lives on, ready to explore new trails! Epic mahi, Simon!
