Kim Murray is one of the first apprentices to be taken on. "I've been working on bikes on an amateur basis for a long time and about half way through last year I started volunteering at CERES (Community Environment Park) bike shed with a view to making it into the industry and eventually this opportunity came up and it was pretty much exactly what I was after," he said.

Apprentices are teamed with qualified bike mechanics in a scheme that lasts 18 months, with the option to complete the apprenticeship in the bike industry, should the opportunity arise.

The organisation is working with Melbourne City Mission, job agencies, and the Youth Support and Advocacy Service – which helps young people with substance abuse problems – and to recruit trainees into the program.

Ms Curtin and her partner and co-founder Luke Wright, approached the City of Melbourne and PricewaterhouseCoopers for funding and after a successful pitch, and a donation from a wealthy philanthropist, the pair secured more than $100,000 to get the business off the ground.

Founder Loretta Curtin said the idea came from a venture she saw while living in London. “They have a bike shed in Victoria Park in Hackney and they work with long-term unemployed people who are at risk of homelessness and train them up to become bike mechanics. When we investigated the business model for Melbourne we realised that having a static site like they do in London wasn't viable for us but we thought there was a real gap in the market for mobile mechanics who can come fix your bike while you're at work."

"I'd been unemployed for more than a year and Luke and Loretta were keen to give me a chance to get back into the workforce so it was most welcome. Now instead of doing grunt work, I'm getting up in the morning to do what I love."

The 38-year-old from Footscray said he hoped the apprenticeship would lead to a career in the bike industry, with a job as a frame builder his ultimate goal.

"One of the best ways you can affect anyone's existence is to provide them with freedom and mobility, "he said. "To get something that's just rattly and squeaky and horrible and work my magic and then it purrs like a dream, that's really rewarding. The charitable aspect of Good Cycles really appealed to me too, and to know that it will help disadvantaged and unemployed folks is great."

In a city growing as fast as Melbourne, where pedal power has become the way to beat traffic congestion, Mr Wright hopes the program will expand as more people take to the saddle. They have started with two employees but hope to have 14 by the end of the first year. The organisation has also received interest from councils in Sydney and Brisbane who want to replicate the model.

"There's around 15,000 cyclists coming into the city each day and most people don't get their bikes serviced because it's too much hassle to do it during work hours, but it's a really necessary service because it can be a lot more costly in the long run, and unsafe, if you don't get it done. For our apprentices, it won't just be about training and employment but also about providing ongoing skills and they'll get support and counselling too."