Workshop networks in Belgium

Belgium has a split linguistic dimension that outsiders find hard to understand. It is muted in Brussels, where both French and Dutch (Flemish) are spoken as first languages. What I had not bargained for was that this extends to bike workshop networks. The l’Heureux Cyclage network is well known as the big francophone network in Europe, with an annual coming-together that Bernardita went to in 2015. Now I discover that Wallonia (the French bit of Belgium) has its own l’Heureux Cyclage.be, which does not involve any workshops in Brussels or in the Flemish speaking part! The Flemish equivalent is not http://www.fietsenwerk.be so I wonder what it is?

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2 responses to “Workshop networks in Belgium

  1. aude

    Hi Simon, why do you say Fietsenwerk is not the equivalent of l’heureux cyclage? Because it is!

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    • HC is a network for ‘ateliers collectifs de vélos’ – in Wallonie (ie places where members of the public can do their own repairs). Fietsenwerk does many other things than bicycle workshops (it doesn’t have any shops where the public can work on their own bikes I think, but there are many cycle points at stations etc.), so its direct equivalent must be GRACQ. Then there is Fietserbond.
      I can’t find any organisation that links the Flemish ateliers in Gent and other Flemish cities-most of them are not connected to Fietsenwerk or Fietserbond. And in Brussels, workshops are not really linked together either.

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