Open Shop
Five complete workbenches are available for use during our Open Shop hours. Our volunteers will help you learn how to make repairs on your own bike – we just ask for what you deem to be a fair donation in exchange for any supplies you use.
Earn-a-Bike
*Youth Earn-a-Bike and Kids’ Bike Club are on hiatus from December 12, 2015 until March 1, 2016*
We offer Earn-a-Bike programs for children (5-9), youth (10-15) and adults (16+).
Kids’ Bike Club runs every Saturday from 11AM-12PM. Students attend 4 classes that introduce bike maintenance and safe riding concepts. After completing 4 classes, students earn a free bike and helmet.
Youth Earn-a-Bike classes run every Wednesday and Thursday from 5-7PM. Students attend any 6 classes. Each class includes instruction on basic bike maintenance and safe riding skills and guided time fixing up a bike. After 6 classes, students take home the bike they fixed up along with a free lock, helmet and a lot of new skills!
Adult Earn-a-Bike runs concurrently with Open Shop. In exchange for volunteering at the shop for 5-10 hours and paying a small fee to cover supplies (financial assistance available), individuals can choose out a bike and refurbish it with the help of a volunteer mechanic. After overhauling the bike, participants get both a bike and the know-how to keep it rolling smoothly.
Stop by the shop during Open Shop hours to register.
Bicycle Maintenance and Repair Classes
The Community Bike Project has teamed up with Metro Community College to offer classes in bicycle maintenance and repair.
Learning to fix your bicycle—from patching a flat to building a new bike from its component parts—can be very gratifying and liberating. It can save you money and may even land you a job at a local bike store. The Community Bike Project is pleased to offer a set of 10 2-hours classes Tuesday nights at our Community Bike Shop in Gifford Park that will include both instruction time and hands-on practice in every lesson. Bring your own bike or we’ll have parts to work on.
Tires & Tubes
Learn how to fix a flat and how to avoid getting one in the first place. Identify and understand the difference between the large variety of tires and tubes that go on bicycles and how to choose the best combination for your situation.
Pedals, Saddles, Seatposts, Handlebars, and Stems
The human body normally only contacts the bicycle at three places: the handlebars, the pedals, and the seat. Knowing the right components at these critical points, how to adjust them, and how to make the bicycle fit, is t he key between comfort and pain, or even injury.
Brakes
Squealing, rubbing, ineffective brakes are a common problem and can be dangerous. Learn how to set up and adjust your brakes properly, whether they’re rim or drum, side-pull, center-pull, cantilever, or v-brake.
Freewheels and Cassettes
Whether you have a freewheel or cassette, that hunk of cogs on your rear wheel allows you to shift gears and coast. Like many things in life, they need attention, some care, and eventually replacement. Learn how to tell the difference and how to fix them appropriately.
Derailleurs
Shifting is usually one of the more mysterious aspects of a bicycle: Why doesn’t my bike shift right? What’s all that noise? Why does my chain keep falling off? Never fear! All your questions about shifting and derailleurs will be answered in this 2-hour class.
Chains and Chainrings
How do you take care of your bike’s chain? Should it be wet or dry? Greasy? How do you know when your chain is worn out and needs replacing? And what is a chainring anyways? With few exceptions, all of our bikes have chains and chainrings that make them go and without them, we’re pretty much stuck to going downhill. Come learn how to take care of these vital components, how to tell when they need replacing, and what to do when the time has come.
Hubs and Quick-Releases
Hubs are more than just the center part of your bicycle wheels: they’re how your bike rolls and without them, you’re not going anywhere. Learn how to maintain and fix your hubs, the proper adjustment of quick releases, and why it’s all so important.
Headsets
Don’t be soft in the headset. Loose, worn, or improperly adjusted headsets can affect steering, cause unnecessary wear and tear on your bike, and be downright dangerous. We’ll teach you about the different kinds of headsets, how they work, how to know when they need some loving care, and how to fix them.
Cranks, Bottom Brackets
Cranky cranks and busted bottom brackets making pedaling difficult, if not impossible, and cause unnecessary wear and tear on your bicycle. Learn the tell-tale signs that your cranks and bottom brackets need some attention and how to fixed them, whether your bottom brackets are sealed or cups & bearings, and whether your cranks are splined or cottered.
Wheelbuilding
Wheels wobble, even if they don’t often fall down. Learn how to straighten your wheels, the importance of dishing and proper spoke tension, and even how to build a new bicycle wheel and why you’d want to. Learn how to build a 3-cross, 2-cross, or radial spoke wheel and the advantages/disadvantages of each.
