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BiciCentro Article

Second BiciCentro Bike Repair event cements success!



Sunday the 15th at La Casa De La Raza a second bike repair/ work party helped thirty people fix ailing bicycles and get a taste of bicycle culture. This community service of La Casa and the BiciCentro group helped connect donated bikes to those in need, used parts to otherwise broken bikes, and repair/maintenance skills to the people who rely on bicycling for transportation. After two events, word is starting to spread, and old bicycles long left in garages and backyards are getting dusted off for a second life of use. More than ten mechanically-skilled volunteers, or 'wrenches' are now regularly donating their time to help others fix their means of mobility, while numerous groups, such as Café De Velo, Echelon Cycling club, Hazards Bicycle Shop, and Open Air have all contributed necessary resources to stock the events with replacement parts.

La Casa De La Raza, the primary sponsor of these events, deserves tremendous thanks for their work in helping add this service to the extensive list of resources it offers its primarily Latino constituency. Eddie Gonzalez, Facility Manager of La Casa, immediately took action when first presented with the concept of community free bicycle repair events. "Let's set a date, put together the resources, and make this happen" was his directive and the commitment of La Casa put this idea into motion. By using this superb facility and using the extensive La Casa network in outreach, the collaboration of BiciCentro has been able to effectively put together cyclists who rely on bikes for work commutes and volunteer bicycle enthusiasts/mechanics to create a special opportunity for the community.

Our next event is Mother's Day Sunday, May 13th from noon to 4pm, but there is much more in store than just another repair/work party. Our wrenches and enthusiasts are putting together plans for a permanent space for 'biciCentro,' a bicycle kitchen of sorts, where students and community members can come and fix donated bicycles, take mechanical skill lessons, repair their own bikes, and increasingly foster bicycle culture here in Santa Barbara. We hope to continue to build on our successes and ramp up the services our group can offer. We meet every Wednesday at 7pm at La Casa De La Raza. Contributions of any nature; event volunteers, organizers, networking, and financial sponsorship are all needed as we build a space for the self-determination of the bicycle to flourish.

Building to a Third Community Event: May 13th

The Collaboration between La Casa De La Raza and the BiciCentro Collective is proud to offer a third Community Bike Repair and Skill Share event, tentatively planned for May 13th at noon to 5pm at the lovely Casa De La Raza facility on 601 E. Montecito. Our Wednesday meeting will see us confirm this date and prepare to improve this free service we offer to the community at large.

Come join us to fix an old bike, maintain your bike, build up a used bike of old parts. Bring a friend and share the joy and skill of bike repair. Or simply come to connect with some of the key players in the youth bicycle community here in Santa Barbara. Food, spare parts, and comradarie is provided. Donations are never solicited but always accepted.

If you would like to volunteer to help us strengthen and expand the bicicentro effort, please join us on one of our wednesday meetings or contact us at bicicentro@googlegroups.com

Next Bike Event: April 15th!

Announcing our Next Free Bike Repair event: April 15th from 10:30am to 6pm at La Casa De La Raza ( Montecito & Calle Cesar Chavez in Santa Barbara ). Our last free bike work day was amazingly successful with over fifty bike repairs, and not to mention, one hell of a good time. The core crew just met up to set the date: check us out.

Photos Photos!

Do check out the photos that Dave's Wife, Christine, took of our event on Saturday:
http://cbarreb.smugmug.com/gallery/2622043#138370319

Also we had a great celebration Bike BBQ on Sunday- rock it out wrenches!!!

Bike-alicious Free Bike Repair Event a Huge Success!

The spare tubes, chains, patch kits, and spare parts were all laid out. Three full bike stands and workstations we're set up. Coffee, breakfast food, all set out on the table. Seven of us mechanics were there, set, ready, wondering if anyone would come...
A half hour passed. We had decided to start at 8:30 in the morning in order to catch the bike commuters who work labor jobs during the day on Saturday. But, so far no one had come. There were some donated bike frames and parts, which some of us had started to build up. As soon as we all looked down on the work we had picked up for ourselves, somewhere, far off in the distance, the floodgates opened. Just those simple flats and adjusting derailers? No way Somehow, by divine intervention we, the rag tag team of 'wrenches,' were being tested to our limit. Headset repair, freewheel complications, front and rear shifter cable replacement on old bikes that used a cable so antiquated that we had to file down the bead at the end of the cable to make a square peg fit in a round hole. We restored a 1940's cruiser- with an antique hub otherwise siezed that had to be open up-ed and reassembled. Did I mention any and every kind of bottom bracket issues addressed? We did it. Our humble assortment of tools was stretched to its limit, but we somehow managed to have everyone who came leave happily, with bikes healthy and ready to transport them as they wished.
This was really the event that many of us were waiting to happen- to prove that there was the will and the commitment to make a free community bike effort happen. La Casa De La Raza provided an exceptional space and event volunteers. Team Echelon and Hazards provided a large grouping of needed chains, tubes and patch kits. Baron @ Cafe De Velo outdid himself by providing bike locks, tires, chainrings, forks, frames, and numerous last minute 'needs.' Fairview Gardens and DP Café donated food. Most inspiring however, Our 'wrenches' all of us, aside from volunteering numerous hours, - without any promise of compensation or any push to do so- paid out of pocket for carafes of coffee, juice, danishes, enough burritos for everyone, tubes, cabling, even wheels and other parts that would be needed. Many of our tools were bought specifically for this event- not to own but to share. The display of community goodwill was there in force. Bici Centro is here, taken root here in downtown Santa Barbara. Free bike repair, bike recycling, and youth/community bike skill share is happening.
Chatting as we cleaned up after the event, we couldn't be happier. A Saturday spent working with new friends, doing good, making daily transportation a more pleasant experience. For How Many? Well, today, around 50 people came in to get help in repairing their bikes. And Today was just the first of what's to come. In our view, There is nothing that this community needs more right now. So we're doing something about it. Join Us: www.bicicentro.blogspot.com

Big Event Today- Saturday!

Free Bike repair: 8:30am to 3:00pm @ La Casa De La Raza. Salsipuedes & Montecito streets. Pictures and story to follow shortly.