Workshops

Do you have an exciting skill to share with us? Want to chat about creating safe community spaces? Want to make sure we fit a good bike ride into the weekend? Propose a workshop! Don’t worry if you’re not an expert, we want to hear about everyone’s experience within the many configurations of community shops we’re coming from.

  • A decentralized strategy - Bike Anjo Network

    6 people are interested in this workshop

    We are 5,590 volunteers scattered around 597 cities, most of them in Brazil. Our activities are all free and each local group has autonomy to operate based on their local context.

    After a brief presentation (5-10min.) we will have a group discussion concerning two major themes where we can all share our experiences. The focus will depend on the interest of the group.

    Theme 1: activities

    • Learn-to-ride workshops for all ages 
    • Bike-to-work days
    • bike-to-school programs
    • Campaigns targeting bus drivers or non-cyclists in general.

    Theme 2: organizational model

    • Becoming a Bike Anjo
    • Sharing values
    • Strengthening ties
    • Decision-making process
  • Bike Ed lessons learned in 2nd grade Physical Ed class

    19 people are interested in this workshop

    Cleveland (Ohio) Metropolitan School District is two years into implementing a pilot program in seven schools to teach bike skills to beginning cyclists, based on a model begun three years ago by the District of Columbia Public Schools.

    We will describe these programs, demonstrate techniques used, and seek input from others with experience working with this age group.

  • Bike Parts for the Rest of Us

    18 people are interested in this workshop

    We first gave this workshop at Bike!Bike! Detroit 2016 and Bike!Bike! SE in 2017. We run a small bike shop in St. Paul, MN, and had difficulty accessing wholesale suppliers of essential consumable repair parts, such as tires, tubes, grips, cables, housings, etc. The reason we were denied was that our shop didn't spend enough money. We found other non-profit bike organizations, particularly those that didn't include retail sales in their model, were also denied access to wholesale pricing. We needed a supplier, so we invested a significant chunk of our savings and founded Midway Bicycle Supply.

    Our target customers are small, community bike shops and programs that don't need all the latest and greatest parts - they need the basics to keep older bicycles running. In other words, bike parts for the rest of us. No account is too small, and our prices are competitive with the large wholesale distributors. If your program is purchasing parts and supplies from other retail bike shops, or depending on recovering enough materials from scrapped bicycles, you need this workshop.

    We will bring a selection of the items we offer, along with instructions on how to get your shop's account opened. Our business philosophy is based on cooperative economics, meaning that we cannot succeed unless you succeed. We also give 10% of all shop income to charity - notably a charity that gives away free food to those who need it, with no questions asked.

  • Bike physical shop space layout/organization, lean thinking, 6S, and other razzle-dazzle Dilbert-speak

    52 people are interested in this workshop

    The physical set up of a community bike shop is one factor of many crucial to its success. Workspace layout can change and every shop is different from bike cupboards, sports dressing rooms, garages, and animal hospital basements. Learn and share your tips and tricks about setting up for efficiency and ease of use. Spend more time hands on teaching and learning, and less time searching for tools and parts.

    Then, learn and share some methods from the Japanese manufacturing sector and thinking related to:

    1. Lean thinking/continuous improvement;
    2. 6S (5S + safety)
    3. Communication boards (chalk/white boards) also known as "Huddle Boards",

    ... and discover and discuss how these ideas could be incorporated into your shop space.

    Theme selected as mechanics although this is not a repair workshop.

    Email photos of your bike shop space, even if you're not in this workshop, to ianwassink@gmail.com for use in the workshop.

    Note that based on proposed workshop timelines I require at least 80 minutes for this workshop. 110 minutes is OK too, and also this workshop could be split into a Part 1 and Part 2 if required.

  • Bike Repair Programming in a Junior High/ High School

    19 people are interested in this workshop

    This workshop will be an opportunity for participants to share their experiences and questions about school based repair programs. Hugh John Macdonald school has had a bike shop for 8 years. Over the years we have tried programming over the lunch hour, before school, after school and as a high school credit course. Many students have gained problem solving skills and confidence through their participation. As part of the bike repair course students earn bikes they can take home. Some of the challenges we have faced include bike theft, students not being able to ride a bike, and gender imbalance.

    Other possible topics for discussion could include : how can student mechanics find employment, how to sell bikes to generate funds to keep the shop running, how to engage the community.

  • Bike shop vs. Building Code

    29 people are interested in this workshop

    OK, so the workshop title is a little over-the-top ... My name is Eric Gosselin. Janelle Delorme and I will be presenting the Coop Vélo-Cité construction site. If you're looking to renovate your bike shop we will have an interesting discussion. We will talk about architectural design, building code and eco-building best practices. This presentation will happen in French and English at Coop Vélo-Cité, 190, de la Cathédrale avenue.

  • BikeBike 2018 Host Selection and Discussion

    3 people are interested in this workshop

    Where to next?

  • Bikes not guns, walkin together, pimp my bike

    8 people are interested in this workshop

    Everyday 2000 guns cross the borders between mexico-us. In the last 15 years Mexico lives in a civil war, 150,000 people have died. At the same time, thousands of people organize themselves in many different ways: self-defenses, national armies, squattin, collectives.

    In this workshop we will explore the different ways that we cab work, share, and learn together like bike containers, mobility and exchange programs, training, customize and/or mobile workshop

    Everything to do!

  • Can a Bike Co-op Age with Grace?

    34 people are interested in this workshop

    Not to be too real here, but not all co-ops stand the test of time. We face the ongoing challenges of fostering a healthy shop culture, working with a revolving volunteer base, having different structural models of operation (each with their own strengths and flaws), and are always within ever changing cityscapes. We excel and grow. We go through ruts and shrink. But can we adapt and age with grace?

    In this workshop, I will open with an overview of the nature of my bike co-op’s current situation and then open up discussion to group troubleshoot. The types of thoughts and questions this can productively focus on are:

    • Having a revolving volunteer base means managing the selection biases that it produces. Many excellent people join and then move away. For those who stay in the city, many burn out and leave the co-op while others incorporate long term participation into their lives. Of those long term participants, there is a tendency to depend upon a core and shouldering that responsibility affects people differently. Have you ever spotted a problem on the horizon like this? Did it come to pass, were you able to advert it through intentional policy change, or something else entirely?
    • Having foundational principles when first creating a co-op is essential to surviving. But we don’t always get everything right and tradition can be a sticky thing to unpack. Does your co-op have experience making an organizational transition? Maybe you are planning something currently? For example, changing from being entirely volunteer run to paying for some positions. Another example would be going from only community decision making to having a board. What worked and what didn’t?
  • Cancelled - Decoration Station 3000

    7 people are interested in this workshop

    Let's "primp our rides" before the Bike Jam [Saturday Night] with custom cut vinyl decals, colourful spoke weaving and jewels jewels jewels!

  • Cancelled - INNERTUBES!!! or How to Patch the World

    12 people are interested in this workshop

    The wonderful uses of innertubes!

    Let's start with a mass patch where all of the attendees perfect their patching skills.

    We'll move on to the many alternative uses of innertubes...tie downs, jewelry, costuming, fundraisers, and more!

    Attendees are encouraged to share their fond memories and unique ideas related to innertubes.


  • Caring (and self-care) for the carers

    25 people are interested in this workshop

    Our work is commendable and satisfying, but also difficult. We remain patient with low wages, angry drivers and social injustice. We hold space for the vulnerable populations we strive to serve. We bike for transportation and work with our hands, which strengthens us. Yet we also suffer aches and pains, especially after a fall or collision. We enter into our activism with open hearts and enthusiasm. But maintaining that drive requires that we care for our bodies and minds.

    Caring for ourselves is itself difficult. Few of us have access to private health insurance. Public health care rarely covers mental or paramedical health. Resources like meditation or yoga classes are gentrified and expensive. Even finding the time for self-care can be difficult while leading an activist life. So how can we maintain strong bodies and calm, resilient minds?

    This workshop invites participants to share ways of doing so. This may include direct self-care or access to professional care. Self-care may include stretching routines, radical self-care, support groups, and more. Access to care may cover finding carers who will work pro-bono, on a sliding scale, or for barter. We may also discuss ways for our shops to help staff and volunteers to access care. We will be open to any other ideas folks have for keeping us strong and ready to help others.

    We will post the results on the Bike Collectives wiki as a community resource.

  • CBS Volunteer/Donation Model

    21 people are interested in this workshop

    This discussion group will explore the possibilities of using the common volunteer/donation business model utilized by Community Bike Shops for starting up other community activist centers supporting other areas of human life. This would be a great discussion group for anyone who's ever said "I wish there was a low-cost place I could go for ____" or "I've always wanted to learn _____ but where can I go for that?" We will offer up our ideas, and respectfully discuss the process one might undertake to establish an organization of that kind.

    CBS volunteers are in a position to aid other projects of this nature because of their experience running volunteer/donation organizations and creating safer spaces in which learning can take place between diverse groups. For those passionate not just about bikes and the environment, but about freeing people from the shackles of capitalism, this would be an excellent discussion group.

    Examples to be discussed: a clothing/learn-to-sew shop where patrons bring their sewing projects to get advice; a computer/learn-to-nerd shop where the important issues of net neutrality, internet security, website building, using the internet as a tool of activism, and general computer savvy are taught; home repair, auto repair, or even health care spaces, like massage, where registered massage therapists not only provide therapeutic massage, but teach patrons their trade so they can give back and massage others seeking treatments; or physiotherapy/personal training, where you can be supervised and receive advice during exercise and stretching. All run by volunteers and supported by donations!

  • Community Bike Shop Coalition Building

    10 people are interested in this workshop

    In cities / regions with more than one community bike shop, efficiently managing local resources between different shops can allow them to better reach their goals. Learn from the beginnings of the Vancouver Community Bike Shop Network (VCBN) and help shape what this process looks like in the future!

    If you're interested in co-facilitating this workshop with us and talking about your experience with coalition building, please let us know!

  • Creating a Sacred Space

    7 people are interested in this workshop

    What community bike shops can teach the Church and the Church and can teach community bike shops. Last spring I took a class at Westmont College called "Globalization and Mission" and my final project focused on the structure of community bike shops, specifically Bici Centro in Santa Barbara, CA, and direct feedback from volunteers through a questionnaire. My findings revealed the depth a community bike shop offers to the individual. And what the church can learn from it's structure. This presentation will also focus on what the Church can teach community bike shops. Focusing on certain themes from the Bible such as mission and community. There will be time for questions and comments at the end.

  • Cycle Touring

    14 people are interested in this workshop

    In this workshop my brother and I would like to share and hear about some things we learned on the different bicycle tours we have been on. We hope to cover some of the most frequently asked questions and dispel common misconceptions about cycle touring. Safety is one of the most important aspects of any outing you take cycle touring is no different. Planning or at the vary least being prepared for the unexpected makes these time less stressful and also not as unexpected. Having said that you wont be able to foresee every event along the way. Accepting that you may have to get crafty in your problem solving will be less stressful that makes a trip more enjoyable it is an adventure after all.

    There are many types of tours make it your own whether that ultra ultra light and fast or slow relaxed see the sights. Don’t feel you need the most expensive hi-tech equipment to have an incredible tour.

    The Essentials

    • A bike (2 wheels, 3 wheels, 1 wheel)
    • As much or as little gear as you want/
    • LIGHTS AND REFLETVE GEAR!!! I don’t care how much you say you wont ride at night it will happen and just because you can see the car doesn’t mean they see you.
    • A date you plan to depart.

    I will tell some stories from past tours and I hope that the adeance shares some also and has questions 

  • Cyclo-feminism: then and now

    35 people are interested in this workshop

    Who knew that women owe so much to the bicycle? To learn about the origins of this special bond, one must go back to the beginnings of feminism, in the late 1800s. Picture a time when women wore long dresses and corsets and when bicycles had a gigantic front wheel. How could they ever go together? Still, suffragettes came to love the bicycle, which gave them freedom of movement, and, well, pants. What else? The first half of this presentation will explore the great love story of bikes and feminism and see how it evolved through the decades.

    What about today? Empowering women is still a serious side effect of the two-wheeled machine, as is demonstrated by the Montreal-based cyclo-feminist collective Les dérailleuses. With build-a-bike workshops, conferences (vELLE-oh!), zines (Londonderry vol. 1 and vol. 2) and more, Les dérailleuses want to challenge the sexism which permeates most aspects of the cycling world. Through the experiences of Les dérailleuses, we'll discuss how cyclo-feminism is still as relevant as ever.

  • Decolonization and the Community Bike Shop Movement

    11 people are interested in this workshop

    As a movement dedicated to social justice, breaking down barriers, and building inclusive communities full of empowered folks who work together to achieve shared goals, it's important that our work acknowledges, bolsters, and contributes to broader global movements dedicated to decolonization.

    From Standing Rock to Burnaby Mountain to Palestine and all over the globe, indigenous communities are coming together with settler allies to demand different systems, power-structures, and ways of life that honour and uphold age-old traditions and customs and connection to the land that have been obscured for far too long.

    How can we, as facilitators of spaces in the community bike shop movement, leverage the tools, spaces, and relationships we have and continue to build to contribute to this global decolonization movement? How can we ensure that we are continually decolonizing our spaces, relationships, and practices? How are we ensuring that we are including, honouring, and lifting up indigenous voice in our communities and our work?

    This conversation will be facilitated by Sarah Duby FioRito (ie. Sarah Duby Flow), a white jewish settler living in East Vancouver on Unceded Coast Salish Territories. What Sarah brings to the conversation is a commitment to decolonization, constant learning, and experience facilitating group conversations and community bike shops.



  • Does size really matter?

    34 people are interested in this workshop

    This workshop celebrates Worcester Earn A Bike's 16+ year history as a successful organization which has not only been able to thrive, successfully, but also managed to remain small. We have always been volunteer-based and relied entirely on ourselves for funding. Does size really matter? Can you survive... better yet, prosper, while also remaining tiny, with a small budget, and continuing to be volunteer-only based? Yes! We are here to offer our stories of struggle and success to this end. Better yet, it would be great to hear other stories of success regardless of size. One size does not fit all!

  • Dr. Phil's Exploration of Winnipeg Tour

    14 people are interested in this workshop

    This group ride will explore significant areas of Winnipeg`s history, including St. Boniface, the Forks, and the Legislative Buildings, while taking routes that are part of the city`s developing bike infrastructure.

    We can make occasional stops for commentary but I think this route covers several popular Winnipeg sites as well as a look at some of our cycling infrastructure.


  • Exchange Program Workshop

    We had the conversation last year in Detroit about an exchange program between shops. Let's continue by taking organizing the insights from last years discussion then pulling out what will work and break it down into how it will work. We'll begin to flesh it out into something that will work best for the community utilizing Design Thinking and Service Design processes.

  • First aid for cyclists and bike mechanics

    8 people are interested in this workshop

    Bad things happen sometimes, both on the road and in the shop. This practical, hands on workshop covers how to deal with everything from minor cuts to full on head injuries, as well as what to put in a first aid kit and provide some basic emotional support to people with significant injuries and how to deal with first responders.

     

  • Fuck the boys' club! Gendered exclusion at community bike shops

    7 people are interested in this workshop

    In this workshop I will present a summary of my findings from a formal research project in which I interviewed 11 women, trans, and gender non-binary bike mechanics from across Canada.

  • Hands-Off Teaching

    12 people are interested in this workshop

    In educational DIY spaces, participants learn best when they work through repairs and problems themselves, with their own hands. But because mechanical knowledge is so hands-on, it can be really difficult to impart without being hands-on yourself. How do we help participants fix their bikes, without ending up doing the work ourselves? How do we talk participants through repairs when our own knowledge of those repairs is so based on touch and muscle memory?

    This workshop will go through hands-off teaching methods. We'll discuss why they're important, and helpful strategies for effective communication and learning. The workshop will end with a fun hands-on activity to practice our new hands-off teaching skills!

  • Involving the community and the organizations in defence of cycling infrastructure

    24 people are interested in this workshop

    Recently, a referendum was held in Guadalajara in order to demolish a bike path.

    The Bicicleta Blanca collective, that represents the 214 ciclists killed in the roads since 2009, took upon itself to coordinate the community, universities and cycling collectives so that we could defend it together.

    We won by a landslide, 17,500 votes in favor of the cyclepath and only 4000 against, and this in a city that has always been completely auto-centric.

    We will talk about:

    • how we managed to involve the community, students and cycling geoups.
    • how we empowered the neighborhood to organize and defend their rights
    • what we learned
    • how did this referendum affected us and the cycling movement as a whole.


  • Making Multi-Year Bike Education part of School Curriculum

    32 people are interested in this workshop

    Starting in the fall of 2016, Green Action Centre, Manitoba Public Insurance, Bike Winnipeg, and the WRENCH collaborated to pilot the first multi-year Bike Education (named BEST-Bike Education and Skills Training) program that is part of school physical ed curriculum. This is a first of it's kind program for Canada, and is far more than the "playground and pylon" approach that is widely employed in other school bike education programs. This program has students ride in real world conditions on roadways with traffic present, learning proper lane positioning and signalling, eventually graduating to riding multi lane roadways in the upper grades. We will talk about the success and challenges of this program after year 1, the incredible demand for expansion from other divisions and provinces in Canada, and will share our experiences as well as learn from others who have lead similar programs.

  • Mitihcikêw, We Follow Trails: Indigenous Led Mountain Biking on Turtle Island

    8 people are interested in this workshop

    Indigenous people have always built trails on the land. When the first settlers came they were amazed by the extensive network of trails that wove through agriculture, communities, and territories. Justin L’Arrivee, a Cree, French, and Scottish Metis cyclist from Winnipeg, explores how indigenous people have used mountain biking to revitalize their traditions of trail building, while also revitalizing their own communities. This workshop will explore the rides Justin has hosted with The WRENCH over the summer and other indigenous programs in Manitoba and across Canada. Come learn about how youth in the Yukon built one of Canada’s best mountain biking destinations on their First Nation, how low-riding can confront colonial borders, and how mountain biking is indigenous sovereignty.

    Facilitated by Justin Larrivee

  • Oral history of Argentinian shops: the Suipacha case.

    26 people are interested in this workshop

    Oral history is the way people from all over the world get the news, the myths and the fabulous unwritten rumours you will never know if there are real. There is a place in the world, in South America, called Argentina where the ‘talleres populares de ciclomecánica’ are becoming more and more, growing under the lights and the shadows of the big cities. Like a third world fairy tale, suddenly an old railway neighborhood in Córdoba is the perfect ground for making grow Suipacha, a place where people of all ages, genders and bicycles are becoming devotional about how bicycle spirit can change lifes.

    Actually Suipacha is reborning. After being kicked up of the space, the construction of a new space in the hood is getting real with positive actions and magic. Know more about this crazyness!

  • Organizing Community Bicycle Rides as Vehicles for Social Justice & Equity

    41 people are interested in this workshop

    Olatunji Oboi Reed is the Co-Founder of the Slow Roll Chicago bicycle movement. He will present an interactive presentation entitled "Organizing Community Bicycle Rides as Vehicles for Social Justice & Equity". The presentation will explore the role of community bicycle rides as vehicles to improve lives, transform neighborhoods and shift local policy. The presentation will explore a direct connection between community bicycle rides and the advancement of a bicycle advocacy agenda centered on bicycle equity and social justice in low-income communities of color.

    The presentation will define bicycle equity as the equitable distribution of bicycle resources to people who need them the most and to people who stand to benefit the most from increased bike mode share. The presentation will make the case for local, national and international policies prioritizing bicycle equity as a vehicle for social justice. The presentation will share the role of bicycles and the activity of cycling in making neighborhoods and cities safer, healthier, more economically vibrant and ultimately more livable.The presentation will utilize as a case study Slow Roll Chicago's ride series and advocacy work in Chicago, Illinois, USA.

  • Our experience creating safe, exclusive spaces for women in Guadalajara, MX

    22 people are interested in this workshop

    One thing led to another and a project made by and for women exploded: Rila Libre Fem. We want to share our experience creating this exclusive space, that has gone beyond the workshop and mechanics. We will talk about the challenges we’ve faced, the achievements we’ve accomplished, the networks and projects that are being created and the unbelievable response from the women of Guadalajara. We will also discuss the problems and bad experiences we’ve come across, generated by the predominant macho culture in a traditional Mexican city, and we’ll debate the possible solutions that can be applied to these issues in this or any safe space.

  • Outreach and Promotion Strategies and Hand Drawn Media!

    5 people are interested in this workshop

    When we are making rad stuff happen, we want to make sure that folks in the community around us know about it, otherwise...what's the point?!

    If you want to learn some fun and creative outreach and promotion strategies and how to create media in a low-tech and fun way then this workshop is for you!

    After covering some general strategies that we've employed in Vancouver for doing outreach such as on street outreach with a cargo-bike, creating a mock bike lane and street treatments at street festivals, building email lists, tabling at events, and strategies for putting up posters and disseminating handbills, stickers, etc, we will then talk about how to create our own hand-drawn media using simple tools such as pens, coloured pencils, scissors, scanners, and photo copiers!

    A component of this workshop will be interactive and will include time to draw our own media that can be used as a basis for later communications tools. WOO!

    DISCLAIMER: Even if you don't identify as artistic or think you like drawing, you CAN make dope media! FOR REAL! We'll talk about how!


  • Pop-up Workshop 1

    One person is interested in this workshop

    Last Minute or Emergent Workshops

  • Putting the Profit back in Not-For-Profit (or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Start Using Money As A Tool)

    32 people are interested in this workshop

    Let's glean the best practices of "for profit" business models to help ensure a reliable cash flow for our Alternative Bike Shops (Non-profit, Charity, Collectively run, Worker owned, etc).

    In this workshop I hope to share some of my almost 20 years experience in both the "non-profit" and "for-profit" bike Bike shop models and discuss what works and what doesn't work very well in regards to making an Alternative Bike Shop more financially successful.

    We will discuss goals, planning, strategy, and business financial basics and how to apply whats best for our own type of Alternative Bike Shop

    The workshop will start off with me sharing what I know about the above topic, followed by a round table discussion so that others can briefly share what they found has worked or not worked in regards to financial stability at their own Alternative Bike shop

  • Resourcfullness with SWAG (Stuff We've All Got)

    29 people are interested in this workshop

    Many of us came to this work for environmental reasons -- to keep bikes out of the waste stream, get folks out of cars, etc. -- but how much do we take time to do in our day-to-day work to be truly "sustainable"?

    Share tips and tricks for repurposing bike parts on scales from large (temporary parking racks for 500 bikes) to modest (a couple of no-weld bike trailer designs will be built) to small (renounce zip ties!). Bring and demonstrate or explain examples of your best practices for re-use of bike parts; case studies of waste-reduction (e.g. what do you do with scrap tires?!); and use of Appropriate Technology (pedal-powered) tools.

    Note: other sessions have been proposed for shop infrastructure eco-friendliness, and everything you can do with used innertubes; so the scope of this workshop will focus on things to make & do with scrap bike parts.

    If you have stuff to make please request to co-facilitate and submit a quick description of what you would like to demonstrate in the "Notes" section. We may need to select some to present, and compile the rest online in print, pictures, video, etc. If you don't want to present, but do have resources to share, (Instructables page, videos, plans, How-to guides, etc.) please add links to them in the comments section here. Thank you!

  • Role of Formal Research in CBS

    6 people are interested in this workshop

    The purpose of the presentation/group discussion would be to explore the role of research in the promotion and improvement of community bike shops. I want to present and generate discussion on how the development, implementation, and evaluation of strategies that encourage and educate individuals to take up cycling can be used to promote community bike shops and help fulfill their mission. I would mostly stick to these points but would also touch on how a partnership with a research institution, such as a university, can be an asset that helps further and improve the actions of local community bike shops.

  • Sexism & allyship

    8 people are interested in this workshop

    This workshop will break down uncomfortable examples of sexism in bike co-ops, and will provide tools and examples of how to provide support as an ally. The workshop will end by giving space for a discussion to share and develop further tools to creating supportive spaces for women in bike shops.

    Krysta Cowling is the Executive Director of La Bikery, a bilingual (english/french), bicycle co-op in Moncton, NB. She will be sharing her personal experiences faced as a leader, a mechanic, and a women in a community bike space.


  • Shortcuts in Wheel Repair / Managing Wheel Inventory in a CBS

    13 people are interested in this workshop

    Wheels complete the bicycle. This workshop is an intermediate mechanical hands-on presentation and roundtable.

    1. Participants will practice shortcuts in axle replacement, spoke replacement, truing, and wheel building. Everyone is encouraged to share their own tips with wheel repair and instructing basic wheel fixes.
    2. The roundtable will begin with a tour of the WRENCH and its wheel storage attempts. The participants will be invited to discuss their storage successes and challenges at their home shop.
  • So you want to powder coat?

    12 people are interested in this workshop

    In many ways, powder coating is the ideal finish for a bicycle, but the cost to have it done is often quite high, and the specialized equipment can make it unfeasible for the do-it-yourselfer.

    But that doesn't mean that it's impossible to powder coat at home.

    This workshop will touch on the advantages and pitfalls in setting up a home-based powder coating operation.

  • The Bike Dump: Our journey to a safer space

    28 people are interested in this workshop

    The Bike Dump is one of the oldest (if not, the oldest!) community bike shops in Winnipeg. Founded on radical ideals, we have always strived to be a safer space that is welcoming and accessible to all.

    This is a workshop detailing our story, struggles, and eventually opening the floor for feedback and discussion on how we, and other shops, can seek to continue to be a safer space.

  • The community workshop walks!, with the construction of Bamboo Bikes.

    9 people are interested in this workshop

    Autonomy is not a place to go is a way that is shared, grown and enjoyed.

    We invite you to know the decision of Rila Libre Guadalajra to continue learning, sharing, continue to drive changes from within the workshop with the construction of Bamboo Bikes.

    The Bamboo as raw material brings us to the possibility of creating a personalized bike, to our measure.

    I know, it's romantic, but when you build your own bike materialize what you imagined, keep sharing, continue to generate community.

    Why build a bamboo bike in community?

    1st It is a shared desire.

    2nd. The options available to learn, build or buy a bamboo bike are commercial and very expensive, our proposal is a community workshop to build bamboo bikes at low costs and / or used parts.

    3rd Continue to grow the autonomy capacities of our Community Workshop


    How to build bamboo bikes in the Community workshop?


    The myth of the queen ant.

    On the street.

    Find Patterns.

    Listen to feedback.

    Artists of the control.

    Telepathy.

  • The day everybody biked instead

    2 people are interested in this workshop

    This will be a workshop about spreading the sheer joy of a mature mainstream bicycle culture that includes storytelling and a group brainstorming/action planning session on how to make the future happen faster. We'll start with the Coles Notes' story of the Plain Bicycle project (how two Winnipeggers and a Vancouverite and colleagues from the major cities brought a 40' shipping container full of abandoned Omafiets (grandma bikes) to Winnipeg and why). Together, we'll talk about what setting up a community bike shop looks like in a country with 1.3 bicycles per person, how priorities and mindsets differ and conspire to do all we can to bring a little bit of Holland home. 

  • The forgotten "ism": ageism

    23 people are interested in this workshop

    Aka, bike shop age dynamics. Our little shop has always gotten along and the shop managers have usually ranged in age from 20 to 70+. We've been asked what's our secret because other shops have had difficulties between the older and younger staff/volunteers. This workshop would be for those who would like to discuss those issues and hopefully we could provide suggestions how we've managed to succeed where others have failed.

  • The Role of Community Bike Shops as Advocates

    20 people are interested in this workshop

    As someone who works for a community bike shop (New Hope Community Bikes in Hamilton, ON) and does bike advocacy on the side, I'd be interested in sharing my experience and hearing from others about how they integrate advocacy, especially for better cycling infrastructure, into their CBS. Is providing affordable bikes/parts and a space for folks to take ownership of their repairs enough if they don't feel comfortable riding on the roads? Group rides and cycle safety education can help grow a cycling population, but can also highlight the lack of places where newer or less confident cyclists of all ages can comfortably ride. Infrastructure can also be inequitably distributed or seen as a marker of gentrification--what can we do to keep the advocacy process accountable and equitable? I'd like for this workshop to be an open discussion so we can learn from each other's experiences, but I'm happy to start things off/facilitate/take notes if needed.

  • The Role of Community Bike Shops in a Gentrifying City.

    23 people are interested in this workshop

    This workshop seeks to examine the role that CBS's can play in both perpetuating and fighting against gentrification within the cities that they operate. As an employee of a Hamilton based community bike shop gentrification has become a major concern when considering programming and advocacy. This workshop will be a more informal discussion where we can learn from each other's experiences in anti-gentrification action through cycling and bike shops. I will introduce myself, and rapidly gentrifying city to get things going and then we can split into groups to discuss questions such as: How does the volunteer model which many community bike shops run on favour gentrified neighbourhoods? How can community bike shops ensure they continue to serve marginalized populations within their city in the face of gentrification. etc 

  • The Urban Cycling Experience through Expressive Arts Therapy

    8 people are interested in this workshop

    Anchored in the mind-body connection, Expressive Arts Therapies allows for a new perspective on issues and our lived experiences. Come get creative with fellow cyclists through experiential movement and visual interventions to reflect on the impact of the urban cycling experience on our mental health, expand our view of other's cycling challenges and brainstorm ideal scenarios for increasing/integrating cycling routes to the urban grid.

  • Toolkit for Trans/Femme/Women Open Shop, Rides & Events

    5 people are interested in this workshop

    This workshop will explore how to support Trans/Femme/Women (FTW) programs, rides, & events via de-centralized organizing & community collaborations in order to share resources, create awareness, & cultivate inclusive policies at your local bike shops (LBS) & community partners.

    The group will determine/prioritize the following topics: safer spaces, access to space, tools, & mechanics; running open shops; skill shares, events, & rides; volunteer & facilitator training; conflict resolution; respecting gender pronouns; cultivating cultures of consent; & TFW bike tours and camping.

    All are welcome to attend with the understanding that we will center TFW voices, experiences, comments, & questions. Open dialogue, questions, & resource sharing between individuals & organizations, are encouraged.

  • Un-Sticking Seized Parts

    15 people are interested in this workshop

    This is a hands-on mechanical workshop focused on freeing frozen parts.

    The instructor will demonstrate techniques used for removing seatposts, stems, pedals, and bottom brackets. Use of chemicals, heat, and power tools will be discussed and demonstrated. Participants will practice with examples of each scenario. Preventative measures will be covered as well.

    Input from participants is encouraged.

  • Uncle Funkle's tragical history tour : The Métis and the foundation of Manitoba, a story of resistance.

    22 people are interested in this workshop

    Join Colin (Uncle Funkle) on a bike tour of Winnipeg`s downtown as he tells the tale of the creation of the Métis nation, a mixed-race people, native to the Canadian prairies, who stood up to colonial oppression and, in the process, brought about the creation of the province of Manitoba. Their struggle to defend their homeland is only part of the story. Later, the Métis nation will need to fight for its very existence.

    The tour will visit several key locations of the Métis and manitoban history and will tell a version of the story often left out of history class.

  • Web Development Onboarding

    7 people are interested in this workshop

    A hands-on workshop where we will be setting up the development environment on bikebike.org and bikecollectives.org on your computer. If you are a web developer or aspire to start learning web development you are welcome to attend. By attending you won't be committing to helping out but if you do, you are welcome to do so at your own pace. Please bring a computer.

    We will be going through the process of installing dependencies and downloading and setting up the repositories that we own. We will also talk about ways that the environment can be improved and plans that are already in place to improve our ability to collaborate.

    If you're more interested in helping out with copy, translations, design, or any other related aspect, you are welcome to join but time will be prioritized for developers. We need your help too so I'll do my best to answer any questions if time can be made.

    Background

    Since Bike!Bike! started in 2003 until 2012, each host organization re-built bikebike.org from scratch, all work and data was lost from year to year. In 2013 we decided to build a permanent site that would retain this information, lessen the load on host organizations, and provide additional tools for both hosts and attendees.

    The process has not been without issue, we have re-built the site three times in two different languages, had usability issues, some really bad bugs, etc. However we have also been able to translate the site into Spanish (2015) and French (2017) and given some more powerful tools to administrators to help smooth out some of the common problems scheduling workshops, arranging housing, etc.

    Back in 2013 we also re-built bikecollectives.org as a read-only one-page site, but there has been a lot of ideas on how we could make it more useful for our community. Over the next year the plan is to re-develop the site so that it uses much of the same code-base and database as bikebike.org which will allow us to add up-to-date organization information, translations, and more member specific tools such as the ability to create and view job postings.

    Although I've gotten a lot of help from testers, translators, designers and copywriters along the way, almost all development has been done by me to date. I've struggled to get everything done from year-to-year and it is also really risky being the only one doing this, eventually I won't be able to commit the amount of time I currently am to these projects. My greatest struggle yet has been to actually get developers, or aspiring developers involved for any length of time.

    Agenda

    I plan to start with a very brief overview of the languages, architecture, and repositories involved. From there I'll help attendees go through the steps of downloading and installing dependencies. While we're working I'll go into more detail on the systems and respond to questions. We'll get as far as we can with the time given. There is likely a lot to be improved in the way that we currently do things so please feel free to speak up and make suggestions as we go.

    Applications and Libraries

    We will go over these in more detail during the workshop, but here is a brief overview of the repositories that we work with:

    BikeBike: github.com/bikebike/BikeBike

    This is the repo for the site that you're on right now.

    bikecollectives_workbench: github.com/bikebike/bikecollectives_workbench

    The workbench is the tool that we use for editing copy, translations, and previewing screenshots of bikebike.org. We will also eventually use it for bikecollectives.org and include tools for deploying code, viewing error rates and statistics, and any other development related features we dream up. It is accessible at workbench.bikecollectives.org.

    bikecollectives: github.com/bikebike/bikecollectives

    This will be the repository we will use for bikecollectives.org, it currently has the iteration that I started working on last year but I intend to start again from scratch.

    bikecollectives_core: github.com/bikebike/bikecollectives_core

    This gem contains models and any other common code that will be shared between bikebike.org, the workbench, and bikecollectives.org.

    lingua_franca: github.com/lingua-franca/lingua_franca

    This is our custom i18n library, it is mainly used so that during integration testing we will collect data on what translations are used and where. This data is then provided to the workbench so that translators and copy-writers can understand the context of each translation and provide meaningful copy.

    bumbleberry: github.com/bumbleberry/bumbleberry

    This is our common front-end library, it is designed to reduce the load on browsers by analyzing the user agent and collecting data from caniuse.com to deliver the minimal amount of CSS and compatible HTML. The idea was experimental when I began work on Bike!Bike! and I'm now worried that it is too complex moving forward, we may need to strip it out but we are also very dependent on it.

  • Welcoming people into your space

    9 people are interested in this workshop

    How do you greet folks coming into your space? This workshop will be a discussion on how best to do that: everything from layout to training greeters to what *not* to say. I'll share how bikeSauce in Toronto does it and why I think it's important.

  • Youth Bike Programs - Drop-In vs. Classes

    21 people are interested in this workshop

    Do you run a youth bike program? Do you want to run a youth program?

    This workshop will be a discussion led by members of Charlie's FreeWheels, a Toronto based organization, on the benefits and challenges of hosting Build-a-Bike/Earn-a-Bike programs for youth.

    We've learned a lot about hosting youth-focused programs out of our shop since 2011 but still face challenges like attendance and best practices for registration and retention.

    We'll lead the conversation with examples of what we've had success with and open it up for others to share their successes and challenges as well!

  • ¡BICI!¡BICI! The impact of B!B! and solidarity across borders.

    9 people are interested in this workshop

    Every year, the B!B! community has showed great love and solidarity towards those of us who face bigger financial and legal challenges in order to attend. We want to talk about how this has impacted us as individuals and collectives. We want to talk about some topics:

    • All the projects that started or changed as a result of ideas/seeds we found at B!B!
    • The ways in which the work in latin america differs from the US/CA
    • How much we have got, how did we get them and what the funds where spent on
    • How can we be more deeply involved in funding efforts
    • How can we better distribute the funding

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