Education
OCN-accredited courses at Level 1 and Level 2 — proper qualifications, earned with tools in hand.
Back the mission
A qualification earned at the bench.
Most people leave prison with nothing to show for it. Our Makers finish an accredited build — skills that go home even when the bike can't. Funded by the bikes we sell, and by people like you.
The problem we work on
Most prison education is a worksheet. Ours is a workbench. We teach fabrication with hand tools, and every course finishes with something you can hold.
£40,000+ what a year in prison costs the public — MoJ published figures
One build. Three things change.
Every programme runs on the same spine: a real bike, built by hand, start to finish.
Employment
Skills the labour market is short of — fabrication, finishing, tolerances — plus peer instructors trained from within the programme.
Rehabilitation
Build to Bond Makers build a balance bike for their own child — family contact is one of the strongest factors in staying out, and the bike is the bridge.
Our numbers
90%+
of Makers complete the courseacross every cohort to date
3
prison sites runningmore sites onboarding with HMPPS — we count only what's live
Figures from our own programme records, July 2026. We publish how we count.
One Maker's story
“The bike was the first thing I ever made with my own hands. When my daughter rode it on family visit day, I felt like a dad again.”
We never name our Makers alongside the prisons they're in. Their stories are theirs.
Where the money goes
Bamboo Bicycle Club Ltd
The commercial side — kits, workshops and team-building days.
10% of profits
Bamboo Mobility Project CIC
The social side — accredited skills programmes in prisons and schools. Community interest company no. 16257348, asset-locked.
Why a CIC and not a charity?
Because the workshops pay for most of it. The CIC is asset-locked — money in stays in — but it lets us run like the business we are, with kits and workshops funding the mission instead of a fundraising department.
What does grant funding pay for that sales don't?
Scale and start-up. A new prison workshop needs benches, jigs and tools before the first cohort starts — that's what backers fund. Once running, sites are sustained by earned income and prison education budgets.
Can we see the accounts?
Yes — both companies file at Companies House: Bamboo Bicycle Club Ltd (10809302) and Bamboo Mobility Project CIC (16257348). Ask and we'll walk you through them.
Fund the work
Each option is costed from live programme budgets. Pick a size and we'll show you what it runs.
One kit
Puts a frame kit and tools on one Maker's bench for a full build.
Fund a kitA full cohort
Six Makers through a complete accredited programme — instructor, coordinator, kits, materials, and the assessment at the end.
Fund a cohortA workshop, kitted out
Benches, jigs and tools for a new site — one-off capital that stays with the prison permanently, whatever happens next.
Fund a workshopA site, for a year
Four cohorts, twenty-four Makers, one prison workshop running all year.
Talk to JamesLarger grants are scoped with you — every proposal comes itemised, and you get outcome reporting each quarter.
Backing and coverage
“Innovative projects, such as Build to Bond, support rehabilitation and help people leave prison as better citizens, boosting the economy and keeping our streets safe.”
- InvestecBeyond Business 2025 — £24,000, chosen from 148 applicants
- London South Bank University£70,000 equipment partnership
- Financial Times"How Bamboo Bicycle Club is helping to break the prison cycle" — Sept 2025
Start a conversation
No pitch deck needed. Tell us who you are and what you'd like to back, and James will come back to you within two working days.