I’m writing this on a sunny Saturday afternoon and I just returned from Our Community Bikes (OCB), which is located on Main Street in the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood of Vancouver. As part of the PEDAL Collective, OCB provides an inclusive space for people who use non-gas-powered transportation to get places. Here’s PEDAL’s mission:
The purpose of the PEDAL collective is to develop and promote the use of pedal powered technology, as an ecologically sustainable and self-sufficient energy and transportation source for the community as a whole. We accomplish this through educational programs, hands-on learning facilities and redistribution of recycled/refurbished bikes.
In about 15 minutes I removed my back wheel, carved out some space next to a very nice Aussie gent/bloke/dude, pulled off my tire (the bloke let me borrow the stuff he was using and then worked on something else while I plugged away at my tire), put the new one back on, tightened my brakes, said “thanks” to the bloke, paid a very reasonable price, re-attached my wheel, and was off for a nice ride around the Mount Pleasant ‘hood.
The customer service couldn’t have been better (or a more wonderful fusion of hipster-ironism-meets-open-source-hippie-love) and you need only read the description below to realize how fun and educational your next bicycle repair will be if you visit OCB:
Our Community Bikes (OCB) is the best known project of PEDAL. It is a full service repair shop, bicycle recycling depot and an educational workspace for people who wish to repair their own bikes or learn how to do so. We encourage people to come in to work with us on everything from fixing a flat time to bleeding hydraulic disc brakes. We have nearly all of the tools, parts and accessories you might need to tweak or complete your dream bike. Our shelves and bins are stocked with new and used parts, and our mechanics do their best to help you figure out with that weird sound is, or why your 10 speed has been acting like a single speed.
This experience combined some of my most favourite things: learning, talking to strangers, getting dirty, and doing things for oneself. And I’ll give a shout-out to the Bike Kitchen at UBC, too, because the good folks at this DIY repair shop subscribe to many of the same principles as Our Community Bikes.
Courtesy of the reviewers at Yelp.ca
Speaking of principles, when you visit OCB – and you totally should – be sure to check out their Ten Commandments. The reflect many tenets of any high-functioning and inclusive community. Even the most unsavvy cyclist should not be intimidated by visiting this DIY-style shop; the community is there to help you.
And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to ride my bike!