FCCB’s Bill Carey traveled to Lexington, KY to the campus of Transylvania University on Friday, where we were quite pleased to be included in a panel discussion in this year’s KY Bike Walk Summit. The purpose of the panel was described well here:

THE ROLE OF COMMUNITY BIKE SHOPS AND HOW TO GET ONE STARTED

Panelists:

• Brad Flowers, Broke Spoke Community Bike Shop
• Bill Carey, Falls City Community Bike Shop
• Todd Young, Ashland Transportation Station
• Michael Flueckiger, Spin Doctor Bike Clinic

Community bike shops provide a unique service in providing communities with resources to help people of all ages and backgrounds acquire and maintain bikes for transit and recreation at low cost or through opportunities to earn bikes through volunteer hours. This session will focus on the vital role these organizations play in the community and the various ways to create and get a community bike shop started.

An audience of about 25 asked questions which demonstrated that most in the room had thought about a similar venture, or were presently considering it. The panelists offered what insight they could and directed them to some resources they had come across in their years of operation.

The entire event was very well run and full of people doing pretty amazing things. We highly recommend it if you ever have a chance to go.

Speaking of which…..

I hope you will all have a chance to go to CycLOUvia: Three Points on Sunday, August 19, 2018, from 2 to 6 pm. Regular FCCB Open Shop hours are cancelled. We will be closed but we will be at Cyclouvia all afternoon.

Thanks, hope to see you there!

As we approach the end of summer, there are some exciting events taking place in our neighborhood. Both events were a hit last year and we’d love to have a big FCCB presence at each event this year! These events are a great way to earn some sweat-equity volunteer hours while enjoying a change of scenery from the shop.

Hal & Ben’s Bike-In – Saturday, August 11 from 5PM-11PM.

Join us in neaby Shelby Park for Hal & Ben’s Bike-In 2018: Shelby Park. Like a drive-in movie, but for bikes! FCCB will have a tent to share info, sell some t-shirts, and make new friends. We’ll be set up from the beginning until the movie begins at around 8:45. If you’d like to help out, please sign up HERE.

CycLOUvia Three Points – Sunday, August 19th from 2PM-6PM.

CycLOUvia is a celebration of bikes and community in our neighborhood! Goss Ave. and Logan St. will be closed to cars and open to skateboards, rollerblades, strollers, and, of course, bikes from Texas to Kentucky streets. FCCB will be closed for normal shop operations that day but we’ll be out front to greet participants, recruit new FCCB members, and do basic repair tasks like inflate tires and adjust saddles.Please sign up to help HERE.

Nancy Owens visited our shop tonight and kindly donated several excellent bicycles and a few boxes of bike parts. We are happy for the opportunity to get these bikes back on the road again, and will be able to use the parts to refurbish other bikes.

Nancy’s comment: “My husband was a bicycle mechanic when I met him at Highland Cycle in 1983. When I entered your shop on Logan Street, I was overcome with emotion. My husband passed away in 2015. I hope you are able to use his things. I think it’s great what you all are doing.”

FCCB is honored to accept your donation, Nancy! Thank you for stopping in. And please visit again with any bike repair questions – we’ll be glad to help.

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Pete Peters also stopped in at our shop tonight and donated a few nice vintage French bikes and a modern frame. (Unfortunately the Lance-era carbon Trek frame has a big crack in the downtube – but we can still use the fork, headset, and other bits).

We appreciate your donation, Pete! (and thanks for the heads-up about the crack)

If you are interested to help FCCB refurbish these bikes and others, please offer your time as a Volunteer!  We can teach you the skills you’ll need to do repairs ranging from a basic tuneup to a complete frame-up rebuild of a vintage bike.  Stop by for a shop tour, or send us a message via email or Facebook!