Welcome back students,
Please allow me to introduce to you B!KE: The Peterborough Community Cycling Hub. B!KE is a registered non-profit organization, a Trent levy group, and resource we hope you will take advantage of.
Whether you have been biking back and forth to Trent for years or have never before ridden a bicycle, we want to help you. A lofty goal, we know. But as an organization that is advocating for improved bicycle infrastructure, doing the grassroots work of getting people on bikes, and teaching maintenance and repair, we believe that we can achieve it.
B!KE started in 2005 as a drop-in space where people could learn to repair their own bicycles. Today, we continue to provide our community with access to the tools, parts, and guidance needed to repair and maintain bikes.
B!KE’s headquarters, our downtown workshop at 336 Rubidge St., hosts Open Shop four nights a week. During Open Shop you can drop-in to complete basic and advanced bicycle maintenance and repair under the guidance of friendly staff and volunteers.
In 2011 B!KE was voted in as a Trent Levy group and started advocating for cycling on campus. In 2012 we opened our three-season sister shop, B!KE @ TRENT in the garage of Alumni House. On campus we host Open Shop two nights a week (our unheated space forces us to close for winter, but the downtown shop keeps rocking!).
In 2013 we, in partnership with the City of Peterborough, installed a Fixit Station outside of the Athletics Complex. This stand-alone repair station provides 24/7 access to basic tools and a pump year round. By providing access to bike repair on campus we hope that you feel supported in choosing to bike to school.
B!KE is all about helping people discover the freedom and joy of cycling. If you don’t have a bicycle the first thing we can do to help you do that is get you on one! We can do that in several different ways. If you want a bike of your own the quickest way to get you one is to sell you one which has been refurbished by our awesome team of volunteers. If you want the experience or lower cost of refurbishing one yourself, you can drop into Open Shop and rebuild one of the many bikes that have been donated to us.
If it’s not practical for you to have your own bike, like if you live in rez, or are an international student, we can connect you with our B!KE Share program. The B!KE Share offers week, month, and semester long loans at very accessible prices, or in some cases in exchange for volunteer work.
B!KE is offering up a jam-packed fall program and we really hope you drop in to check some of it out.
Here is a partial list of fall events you might join us for:
“Lets Ride Bikes: A Tour of Trails that Lead to Trent.” For those of you new to Trent, or unsure if you have a great cycling route, use this group ride to explore with other cyclists. Meet us on September 10 at 4 pm on the Bata Podium. Presented in collaboration with GreenUP and the TCSA. Free to drop in.
“Bike Maintenance Made Easy”. This six-week mini-workshop series will work through simple bicycle maintenance techniques anyone can use. These 30 minute workshops will run at 4 pm on Monday afternoons from September 16 to October 26 at B!KE @ TRENT. Free to drop in.
“Fixie Build”. Taught by master mechanic Eric Freeman-Roth this in-depth workshop series will walk participants through every step of building their own fixed gear bicycle. Workshops will take place Friday October 20, November 4, and November 10 from 12-4 pm. Pre-registration required.
We want to help you. We also know that some of you want to help us. We have a well established volunteer program that can always use the help of dedicated people.
Whether or not you come with previous wrenching experience, drop in to talk to our staff and volunteers about how you can connect.
B!KE believes that cycling is something which ought to be accessible to everyone. We hope we can make the joy of bike riding more accessible to you.
Have an excellent school year and keep the rubber side down.