Orbea roja en Alcolea de Cinca
Rafael
bike mechanic.
History Workshop Rafael is one of those stories that have been linked to the cycling and the loss of population in Puebla de Hijar.
began in 1984 with a workshop on Main Street and since then has seen his workshop many bicycles and motorcycles and agricultural machinery, motor vehicle because Rafael is a technician in petrol and a great lover of classic bikes.
With the loss of business people no longer enough to live, but he maintained his workshop at home because the mechanics is his passion as well as bicycles.
In summer and on weekends using bicycles as a sport, Rafael continues to make all kinds of repairs but can not keep a stock of materials that today requires sport. Today people want to wear the latest model of brakes or changes and it is impossible to keep so much material in a workshop of people.
of the material I teach, has parts for me are hard to find jewelry and many of the classic bike enthusiasts we are crazy to find, for example a paddle shifters Zeus, which had been in the bar box, but now people no longer want old bikes and put them modern changes losing its charm.
bikes also shows me the shop is still among one of them a special BH. A bike with rod brakes and dual pinion, one fixed and one free.
Another bike that I have the pleasure of seeing is an old woman who uses her bike to get around town, for me a charming bike converted to a useful baskets, a great example of adaptation to the environment and economy something that in other countries is very normal but for people linked to consumerism and car culture is incapable of appreciating.
I really enjoyed this visit, meet a mechanic able to fit a late model bike or restore an old, a person who despite the difficulties do not stop to service the people.
His son is a technical sport and organizes excursions in the area by bike, but faces the same problem as his father, the lack of population, the lack of people who intended to kill people who believe in self-employment and return life peoples.
If someday you travel by Puebla de Hijar and it will break the bike or the bike, do not hesitate to visit this great mechanic, Rafael Rodriguez.