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 One of the most common reasons people stop bicycling is because their bicycle breaks. Maybe it’s a flat tire or maybe it’s something more serious like a bent wheel. No matter the severity of the problem, if the bike owner doesn’t know how or have the time to fix their bike, or there is no bike shop within walking distance, they will park the bike, sometimes for years.
People who do not own a bike also hit this issue because, while bikes are easy to find at big multipurpose stores and thrift stores, most will have heard terrible stories about such bikes. Bikes bought from stores that do not specialize in them are most often badly assembled and usually dangerous to ride.
The solution to these barriers to increasing bicycling points to neighborhood bike shops. At One Street, we see neighborhood bikes shops as primary to increasing bicycling. Helping bike shops reach sustainability is one of our favorite ways to serve. We also value bike shop associations for their service to their member shops:
- United States: National Bicycle Dealers Association www.nbda.com
ONE STREET'S SOCIAL BIKE BUSINESS PROGRAM
Through this important program we will establish social bike shops, suppliers and factories around the world in areas in the greatest need of:
- affordable transportation bicycles
- easy access to trusted bike repair
- business opportunities for those in need.
These social bike businesses will follow the sustainable for-profit structure, but instead of profits going to owners, they will go to serving social needs. Potential owners, ready to move themselves out of poverty, will be trained in our comprehensive bike business training programs and offered micro loans and initial capital to ensure a successful launch. Read more....
COMMUNITY BIKE PROGRAMS
There is a growing effort to establish a different type of neighborhood bike shop, sometimes called community bike programs. These non-profit, charity bike shops come in all different shapes and sizes, not all of them beneficial to increasing bicycling. Some common mistakes made by these well-intentioned efforts:
- opening a bike shop with the main purpose of getting access to wholesale bikes and parts
- trying to run the shop with volunteers without a comprehensive and well-respected volunteer management system in place
- forgetting to work with other bike shops in the community to ensure the community bike shop is not compromising these other shops
Interestingly, all of these concerns can be addressed through ethics. Please visit our Ethics page (link to the left). Leaders of community bike programs who adhere to ethical practices are usually the ones who succeed. Some excellent examples of non-profit community bikes shops:
Some good efforts to connect these popular programs have blossomed recently including:
We look forward to helping all types of bike shops flourish in the neighborhoods they serve and offering many more resources on this page.
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