Free Ride Bike Recycling Cooperative
Free Ride is a collective dedicated to recycling bicycles, mechanical education, and promoting
bicycling by helping people of all ages to obtain, maintain, and repair bicycles. It is also a goal that Free Ride should be supported and operated by the community of people who use it. All participants should benefit from, and in return, give back in some way to the organization. Free Ride aims to operate without a hierarchy and to be respectful of all people. It is very important that people who come to the shop are respected and encouraged to learn, regardless of their experience level or background.
Organizational Structure
Non-member:- $2 fee per visit per bike to use open shop
- Pay standard fee (cash or volunteer equivalent) for new parts and classes.
Benefits / Responsibilities per quarter
Member /
- Free use of open shop
- Discount for new parts
- Discount for classes
- Work or pay, combination equivalent to 4 hours at $8 / hour
- Complete the Earn-a-bike process
Collective Council /
- Vote in council meetings
- Free use of general used parts
- Wholesale prices for new parts
- Eligible for key access
- Membership
- Work 12 additional hours
- Participate at 2 council or subcommittee meetings
People can take part in Free Ride at three levels of involvement: non-members, members and council members. This is intended to encourage people to take ownership in Free Ride, by providing an accessible way to give back in return for concrete benefits. As an individual contributes more, more benefits become open to them.
Members commit to volunteer four hours every three months (quarter). Many hands will make light work of keeping Free Ride rolling smoothly, and build a larger, stronger Free Ride community.
How to join: come to Open Shop and ask the Greeter at the entrance to become a member. You are immediately given access to the benefits of membership. To keep your membership, you must complete your volunteer hours within one month of joining.
Each member is also responsible to maintain a log of their volunteer or monetary contributions. Credit earned through volunteering or cash donation may be redeemed for used parts, class entry fees, Earn-a-bike, or other benefits. When a new quarter starts (three months after you join), you again have one month to meet the membership requirement in order to keep your membership current. If a membership lapses, it is immediately renewed upon completion of the membership requirement.
The Collective Council is the group of members that makes Free Ride’s major decisions. It is made up of members who demonstrate a significant commitment to the organization. Decisions are made through a consensus process. Council Meetings (or “General Meetings”) are held once each month, usually on the first Sunday at 1 pm. Location and agenda are posted in the shop and on the wiki. Please come to learn more and offer your ideas; all are welcome.
How to join: Any member who volunteers 16 hours per quarter and comes to two meetings earns membership in the collective council.
Committees – several smaller groups work on specific aspects of keeping Free Ride rolling. These committees are:
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Each committee has regular meetings to discuss its work. Meeting dates and agendas should be posted in the shop and on our wiki, If they are not, contact the people listed above to learn how to get involved.
What does it mean to “give back?”
We hope to encourage most members to meet the contribution requirement by volunteering rather than paying cash. However, recognizing that people’s lives and interests vary, we also provide the option to pay for all or part of the membership requirement.
Volunteering is intended to fun and educational, and to help build community around meeting a common need and enthusiasm, bicycle transportation. People at all levels of different skills can contribute in valuable ways; we hope to build a collaborative, neighbor-helping-neighbor environment in all Free Ride’s activities. There are many ways to volunteer:
- Come to volunteer night – this time is for people to work together to keep the shop maintained, keep the recycling systems running, and pursue special projects such as bike donations to community groups. We encourage new volunteers to come at this time to get oriented. Activities can include organizing parts, stripping bikes, building bikes for donations or sale, fixing used parts, maintaining shop records, cleaning, and construction projects in the shop. We build opportunities for mechanical education into volunteering wherever possible.
- Help others in open shop. Whatever your skill level, you probably have something to share. Helping others to find needed tools and parts, or helping them get started with volunteer tasks, is as valuable as mechanical help.
- Self-directed volunteering in open shop – people may do other volunteer tasks during open shop if they feel comfortable pursuing these tasks without “staff” assistance.
- Be a teaching assistant in classes – members who have already taken a class topic or have mechanical expertise can help during drop in classes. You can also train to become a lead instructor, either for individual topics or for the entire course.
- Staff open shop or volunteer nights – although we have reduced staffing needs, we still need two people per open shop shift, and one person per volunteer night, to be responsible for opening, closing, and orienting new people to the shop. People can arrange to staff half-shifts. Enquire in the shop or email if you’d like to be trained.
- Offer your non-bike skills – Free Ride needs a variety of skills beyond bike mechanics to keep running. We need people to help with accounting, community outreach, publicity, social events, construction or electrical projects, and every once and a while we need legal advice. The best way to let us know if you have these skills or interests is to fill out the member questionnaire.
2. How can I learn more and stay in touch?
Our web site has a lot of information about Free Ride's programs and how to get involved.
Email list: join this list to participate in discussions and receive announcements. Notices of when we need open shop staffers are sent on this list. Email Stuart () to join.
Crabgrass Wiki: To organize, Free Ride uses a networking and wiki Web site called Crabgrass. (A wiki is a Web page that many people can edit.) Go to the web site and ask for an invite, saying that you are a Free Ride member.
Come to General Council Meetings. Those are held once a month, usually on the first Sunday at 1 pm. Location and agenda are posted in the shop and on the wiki ( All are welcome. Come to learn more and offer your ideas.
Join a committee – see contacts in list above.