An Auckland bicycle restoration group is giving decommissioned postie bikes a new lease on life.

Bike Kitchen is restoring old New Zealand Post bicycles to benefit the wider Mt Roskill community with help from Earth Action Trust - a migrant-led environmentally conscious charity.

Bike Kitchen was allotted 150 of New Zealand Post's signature red bicycles, after the state-owned enterprise replaced them in favour of new electric delivery buggies.

Co-run by Auckland Council, Bike Kitchen is a community bike workshop based out of Roskill Youth Zone/Wesley Community Centre and is a key part of the Bikes for Refugees programme - an initiative which provides up-cycled bikes to newly settled refugees in Auckland's Mt Roskill and Puketapapa areas.

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It also offered free repair sessions every Saturday and lessons where people can learn how to fix their own bicycle.

Through a partnership with Paremoremo Prison, the bikes are restored by prisoners.

Due to the number of years in service, significant work is needed when they arrive, with all the parts being removed, then cleaned and oiled.

To avoid potential postie impersonation the bikes are stripped of their red paint and given a new coat of bright blue paint.

Bike Kitchen volunteer Steve Hodge said it would organise guided tours which would use the refurbished bikes.

"I want to get local Maori to lead guided tours because there are really none happening around here and it's a good way to get young Maori people to look at their culture," Hodge said.

The plan was to have the tours running by summer, he said.

Auckland Prison director Andy Langley said getting prisoners involved in projects like this helped offenders gain skills.

"It can also get them thinking about their own health and wellbeing, and encourage them to make positive lifestyle choices," said Langley.

Other charitable groups which had received refurbished bike included Women's Refuge, Ministry for Vulnerable Children and the Refugee Centre.

Postie bikes are decommissioned from delivering mail after five years of service.