I’m sure like a lot of people around Gifford Park right now, we here at the Community Bike Project are gearing up for spring—which can’t come soon enough, as far as we’re are concerned! We’ve been busy renovating the shop on 33rd and are also active around town, planning and running a variety of programs. Soon, we’ll even be back on our regular schedule, with our “winter hours” behind us!

We’ve spent a lot of time cleaning up and organizing our shop at 525 North 33rd Street, getting ready for the busy season with the tremendous help of our terrific volunteers, old and new. Bike parts are sorted, piles are put away, lights have been added, some new energy-efficient windows have been installed, and a set of refurbished bikes are ready to get out the door. On top of all that, our generous landlords have allowed us to expand our operations to include half of the 2nd floor of the building, which we are quickly converting into a classroom/conference room and even an office. One of the things we’ll use the upstairs for is to hold adult classes on bike safety and urban riding—which we’re organizing through Metropolitan Community College, and in cooperation with Omaha Bikes. There’ll be more details soon: check out the next MCC mailer when you get it! We’re also continuing our bike repair and mechanics classes at the shop, held every other Tuesday, where you can learn everything from changing a flat tire to rebuilding a bottom bracket. Check out the CBPO website for details.

Outside the shop, we’ve started teaching kids about bike safety, too, in a pilot project at Western Hills magnet school, in cooperation with Omaha Bikes. We’ve got 10 students from grades 4-6, and after 2 classes, I can say they seem to be enjoying it! We hope to expand this program in the future, so that more kids can learn about bike safety—whether they can come to classes at our shop or we go to them in the schools. And of course, we’ll make sure that they all have access to bikes and helmets, too.

Lots more is in the works, too, but for now, I’ll just finish by inviting you to our Spring Open House, Sunday, April 17th, from 11am-3pm. We hope you’ll stop by, see what we’ve been doing with our shop, check out our fancy upstairs expansion, enjoy some refreshments, and hopefully a beautiful spring day, too!

Matt Martin
Executive Director
Community Bicycle Project

Happy 2011! Neither wind, nor rain, nor cold, nor snow will stop the Community Bike Project. We’ve been busy giving away bikes, teaching classes, and helping out kids and adults in the shop. We’re also planning for lots of activities in the upcoming months.

At the end of 2010, CBPO worked with the Omaha City Planning Department to coordinate getting bicycles to kids from families in need. A group of volunteers fixed up 8 bikes to donate and helped distribute them to the families. We’ve already seen some pictures of the kids with bikes and there’s nothing better than to see the smiles on their faces.

Also, as part of CBPO’s effort to help our local colleges and universities become more bike-friendly, we have prepared 15 adult bikes for use in Metro Community College’s new “yellow bike” program, set to start this spring at their north Omaha campus. In this “yellow bike” program, bicycles are distributed around the campus and left unlocked for people to use, with the understanding that when they’re done, they in turn will leave the bikes for others to use. We hope this will encourage bicycle use in north Omaha and raise the visibility of bicycling on the MCC campus. As an added bonus, MCC is having their auto body students paint the bicycle frames, which will give them additional practice honing their skills. As we have stripped the bikes of components to help with the painting, we’re hoping that MCC will be able to send some people to the shop to help reassemble the bikes, so that they also gain some important bike repair skills.

Our mechanics classes are going well, with a new class offered every other week on Tuesday nights. The next class will be on February 1st and will cover “Trail Shooting.” It’s good to know how to fix all those different things you want to work on when you’re at home and you can leisurely work on your bike, but what about when you’re out on the road and disaster strikes? We’ll teach you the tricks to get out of most situations and keep you rolling down the trail. This class will cover everything from basic things, like fixing a flat tire, to fancier fixes, like what to do if you break a spoke during your ride. As always, classes are 6-8pm, and we ask for a $10 donation so we can support the classes. RSVP to: info@communitybikeproject.org.

Finally, our Open Shop hours continue on Saturdays noon- 4pm, so stop in if your bike needs a little TLC, if you’re looking for a new bike for 2011, or if you want to help out or just hang out. We’re already looking a little ahead to April, when we’ll resume our regular Open Shop hours. As always, we’re always looking for volunteers, so if you have a little time and want to help us out, just let us know! In the coming months, look for more announcements from CBPO. We’ve got some exciting things percolating that we’re not quite ready to unveil but hope to soon. Until then, stay warm and ride safely!

Matt Martin, Executive Director

The Community Bike Project is starting up a series of 12 classes on bicycle mechanics and repair, designed to give you hands-on instruction and experience in understanding and fixing your bike.

For $10/class, you will receive expert instruction in a 2-hour class by bike mechanics from bike stores all over Omaha. If you want to take all 12 classes, we’ll cut you a break and only charge $100 for all 12.

Classes start on Tuesday, October 12 and will continue every other Tuesday evening.

Please RSVP to Matt Martin: matt@communitybikeproject.org. If you have any questions, email or call Matt at 402-957-2454.

Here’s a schedule of upcoming classes:

2010

10/10 Pedals, Saddles, Seatposts, Handlebars, and Stems

10/26 Brakes

11/9 Derailleurs

11/23 Chains & Chainwheels

12/7 Hubs and Quick-Releases

12/21 TBD

2011

1/4 Headsets

1/18 Cranks, Bottom Brackets

2/15 Wheelbuilding

3/1 Wheels—Truing & Dishing

3/15 Frames

TBD: Tires & Tubes

Omaha rises to the top regarding the number of businesses that have earned the League of American Bicyclists (LAB) recognition as bicycle-friendly. The program is designed to help businesses provide support and encouragement for employees who commute by bike.

Activate Omaha and RDG Planning & Design are hosting a workshop on LAB’s Bicycle Friendly Business program on Wednesday June 9 from 5:30-6:30pm. A brief presentation of the program and Q&A session will be held at the offices of RDG, 900 Farnam (north entrance). Contact Stuart at sshell@rdgusa.com for more information