bike mechanics

Community Bicycle Network (CBN), the non-profit organization dedicated to improving communities through cycling and recycling is need of a new place to spin its wheels. The church on Queen Street West where Community Bicycle Network has been tucked away for the last number of years has been purchased by a developer and all tenants are required to leave as of December 31, 2012.

So far, the group has a few potential locations on the table but, with the clock ticking, CBN is now calling on the people it has served for almost 20 years, and its supporters, to help it find just the right place to set up shop. CBN needs about 1000 sq ft with a store front, preferably in an underserved community / priority neighbourhood in Toronto, accessible by walking, cycling, public transit and driving.

Board member Eric Tchao noted that a free, subsidized or below market rent would be a valuable asset to the organization.

Since 1993, both CBN staff mechanics and DIYers have repaired thousands of bicycles and diverted salvageable frames and parts from the landfill for reuse or recycling. As a social enterprise CBN has played an important role over two decades in making cycling accessible to Torontonians and a new location will enable us to continue serving the community.

The organization is asking anyone who knows of an available space that could suit CBN’s needs to contact Board Chair Adrian Currie by phone on 416-504-2918 or email via info@communitybicyclenetwork.org.

You can drop by the shop currently located at 761 Queen Street West, lower level.

Central Commerce, a school in downtown Toronto, has launched an innovative course for students to learn the basics of bike mechanics. Last week I met with the period one class and teacher Ravi Mohan-Sukhai to learn how the course is coming along.

I met Ravi in the otherwise unused basement of Central Commerce where he was happily moving from student to student, helping them with their bike project. Twelve students in each of three daily classes meet in the basement of Central Commerce Collegiate Institute in Toronto, learning the basics on donated bicycles and parts. During the course they will fix up not only a bicycle for themselves but up to five other bikes that will be sold off to support the program.

There is a waiting list and the students clearly love the change of pace from the usual sitting in their desks, listening to teachers talk. One eager girl, Fahmeda tells me she also likes the hands-on aspect of the elective class and that she'll get a bike out of it at the end of the course. Omar signed up for the course soon after starting at the school, eager to learn the basics of bike mechanics.

Ravi is supported by two assistants, Matt Draimin and Eugene Chao, both Curbside Bicycles mechanics, who both come almost daily to help students with their bike education.

The bicycles are stored in empty classrooms in the basement and in the empty swimming pool. The bikes were provided by the Cabbagetown Youth Centre (CYC) to Central Commerce, which in turn were donated by the government to CYC as a settlement in prolific bike thief Igor Kenk's court case. Many of his thousands of stolen bikes that he bizarrely stored in garages around the city were unclaimed and were eventually given to CYC so they could be refurbished for youth. The bikes are finally being put to a good use.

Ravi, Matt and Eugene have sorted the bikes into those which are more easily refurbished, the bikes to be used for parts in the appropriately named "Boneyard", and those to be dealt with at a later date. Despite the large numbers of bikes donated, there are still a lot of supplies to be purchased. For this Ravi's approach has been to sell some of the refurbished bikes back to the community (there will be a spring sale coming up) and to offer bike repair to school staff. Ravi registers each bike with the Toronto Police so they're aware that these bikes that were once stolen now have a legitimate life.

Each semester Kristen Schwartz from Culturelink teaches bike safety to the students, gives them a helmet and a bell. Many of the students might not have been aware of road rules. They will follow it with a ride.

The class got quickly organized last fall as the thousands of bikes were sent to be stored. Instead of just letting the bikes sit, the school principal, Iwona Kurman, quickly organized for Ravi to be hired and gave him space in the basement to teach the elective. Given that the focus of Central Commerce is commerce, the class will eventually have a broader focus that will also incorporate an interdisciplinary study of environmental issues, physical activity, business and science.

The class, the first of its kind in the Toronto District School Board, started last fall with just two students but quickly grew as word got around. Ravi has been designing his own curriculum to meet the particular learning needs of high school students and to keep the students on top of the quirky needs of bicycles in need of various levels of work. All the bikes will require overhauling the bearings, brakes and gears but some will have more serious issues with the frame, broken drivetrain or other issues. The students - with the help of Matt and Eugene - are taught to identify such issues.

The object is not to produce bike mechanics; some students may end up working in the bike industry, but some will use the hands-on mechanical concepts as a foundation for other technical trades. And others may find that they are using their new bike to go to school or run errands and be able to repair their own bicycles. The course can help student become more mobile, more self-reliant and give them an understanding of mechanical systems like the common bicycle.

Looking for parts in the Boneyard

Ravi's office

Working bikes

The parts of the wheel

Matt providing tips on front brake

The bike mechanics class

How to assess for damage

Working on brakes

Eugene teaching Omar

For those out there who are interested in learning and working on their bike in a community environment, you might consider attending CBN's annual membership meeting coming up next week Monday. It's not too late!

The Community Bicycle Network would like to announce our Annual General Meeting. It will
be held on Monday February 13th, 2012 at 6:30 pm. The meeting will be held in the CBN shop at 761 Queen St. W. All CBN members are invited to attend and vote on the next board of directors. CBN will be open from 4:30-6:30 pm on February 13th for anyone interested in joining to purchase a membership. The suggested donation is $5.

CBN has a lot of important planning to do in 2012. Our lease is up in December and we'll be
looking for a new space. We continue to expand our workshop programs (teaching bike mechanic skills as well as safe cycling) and divert hundreds of bikes and bike parts from landfill. There will be spaces on the board opening up, and lots of other volunteer opportunities such as outreach at community events, updating the website and other media, designing a t-shirt, stripping bike donations and much, much more.

We are requesting that you share this press release with your community contacts including
posting it on your website, calendar, list serve, bulletin board etc. Please consider attending yourself or recommending it to someone you know. If there are any questions please contact
board@communitybicyclenetwork.org.

Thank you,

My new chaincase came from Hoopdriver Bicycles and made by Velo Orange. Not cheap but good quality.

Us North Americans tend to underestimate the lowly chainguard (and fenders for that matter) on the bicycle. I'm a firm believer in clean pants and figure it can't be all that hard to produce a good chainguard that's going to keep them clean. Instead we've now got plenty of "city bikes" on the market (commendable for sure) that still lack a good chainguard. For example, Linus and Public bikes are two popular city bikes being seen all over Toronto. They've got fenders, racks, upright handlebars and simple, rational gearing. Yet they still lack a proper chainguard. Instead all they do is protect pant legs for just a small part of the turn. If your pants can still get oily or get jammed in the gears why bother at all?

I had previously blogged about my first attempt at clean pants using auto loom to cover the chain. It wasn't a failure though it might require occasional replacement of the loom as you can see how mine cracked (though it still worked), or find more flexible loom.

I wasn't sure how it would stand up in winter so I decided to splurge for the chaincase.

My homemade chain cover

I'm always tweaking my bikes. For some time I've been looking for a good chain cover; something to protect my pants while riding my trusty city/beater bike, which was born as a 80s Norco yellow mountain bike and which I overhauled. Somehow I ended up going to an auto shop to whip up what you see in the photo above; a chain hugged by some wire conduit.

My current chain guard came from CBN's DIY tool rental where I installed it a couple years ago. It sort of works but I still get oil on my pants when the wind picks up and blows the fabric into the chain at the bottom. Or worse, the fabric gets caught between the chain and the chain guard. So I've wanted something better for some time, and I thought I was finally onto something better but cheap.

By the Bicycle Commons

Parts Unknown is closing after 18 years in Kensington Market to make way for a condo development. Martin Reis took some great photos.

People taking a look around at the deals (including Mike the Bike, another "back alley" bike mechanic in Kensington Market).

Stepping into the shop, surrounded by frames and parts.

George.

Jane's Dad: Jane's dad poses with donated tools

Jane Tooley is well-known among the cycling community. Her bright smile, her energetic personality and her all around nice attitude has won her many friends.

Friends of Jane also know that she is a person who likes to help out with causes, lots of them. This summer Jane went to Namibia in southern Africa to volunteer in a bicycle store with an organization called D.E.E.P., Disability Economic Empowerment Project. Here is how Jane explains it.

"The project was stared with a shipping container sent over from Canada full of bikes, tools and a work bench. basically, they emptied out the container and turned it into a successful bike store in just three years. The catch is that they didn't have the best tools to start out with and after three years of wrenching, the tools they do have are extremely worn down.

It is honestly a wonder how everyone continues to stay positive and fix bicycles. Where wrenches are concerned, all they have is a barely functioning 15 wrench, an 8 a 10 an 111 and a socket 9 and 15. One Phillips screw driver. The freewheel remover, chainbreaker pin, cone wrenches and allen keys are essentially useless. No pedal wrench, vice grips, cable cutters, truing stands or headset wrenches. I gave them my two spoke wrenches since they only had the multi-size kind. In short DEEP is in dire need of tools."