Bike Mechanics
One afternoon a week, participants have the opportunity to gain hands-on mechanical skills training by restoring donated bicycles. Guided by expert staff and more experienced helpers, students work through a step-by-step curriculum that takes them through the basic process of correctly rebuilding a bicycle.
Upon completion, students must then assist a less experienced youth in learning each of those tasks. At this point, the student can choose a donated bicycle to fix up and keep, putting their skills into practice while earning their own sustainable transportation (and free helmet).
Every mechanic day becomes vibrant with activity, with staff teaching basic skills to small groups of beginners, older students helping younger ones, community members bringing in broken bicycles and assisting youth, and hard-working regulars taking on challenging projects and tuning up bikes they earned.
This is a drop in program offered to the general public at no charge, and over the past five years over 800 youth have participated (an average attendance of 30 per week), learning valuable skills, gaining self-confidence, and putting teamwork into practice while converting over 600 discarded bicycles into community resources.
