We’re having a great time sharing bike skills and knowledge at our Spring Workshop series.  Join us on Saturdays this spring to do a deep dive into bike component concepts and repair and maintenance tasks.

Check out our Facebook event listings for details on how to sign up!  Workshops are open to the public and offered at no charge, but an optional donation of $10 would be appreciated!

In just a few months, FCCB volunteer Everett Lancaster has gone from first-timer to shop regular, and has made a lot of friends and learned a lot of bike skills in the process.  Everett breezed through his eight volunteer hours to earn a Sweat Equity Membership, and then kept coming back to give more of his time to our community.  He’s found a new bike (A Norco cruiser) for himself and fixed a few dozen bikes for others.  Everett has confidence in the bike shop and eagerly picks up new and more challenging repair tasks each time he visits the shop.  We’re glad to have him as a part of our community!

For all these reasons, FCCB recognizes Everett Lancaster as an Extraordinary Volunteer for February 2019.  Thank you, Everett!

Here’s a short interview with Everett, so our members and readers can get to know him better:

FCCB: What’s the best part about volunteering at FCCB?
Everett: This is the best thing that ever happened to me in life. I have good teachers like Nate (Pinney) and Russ (Hisle), and Alan (Tucker) – you’ve taught me things I never thought I could learn. I’m glad to be working with the community members here.

FCCB: Why do you ride? What’s your favorite ride/route?
Everett: My favorite route? – from home to Fall City, it’s simple and easy. Riding bikes is a miracle thing I’ve always done, I’ve always been riding bikes.

FCCB: What’s the most interesting skill you’ve learned while volunteering with FCCB?
Everett: Rebuilding axles, cranks, and how to properly use a workstand – where to clamp the bike on the seatpost.

FCCB: Tell us about your bike – do you have a favorite bike now, or perhaps one from your past?
Everett: The bike I have now is a ‘69 classic beach cruiser – black and white and blue. I’m also a ‘69. I recently got the bike for Valentine’s Day.

FCCB: What can FCCB do better to serve you and others?
Everett: We’re already improving, we’re doing really well and I’ve seen a lot of bikes go out the door and back out onto the street with new rider.

FCCB: Anything else you’d like to add?
Everett: Bikes are a great thing to have, but you have to take care of them. If you take care of your bike, your bike can help take care of you. It can be frustrating to work on your bike sometimes, but the people at FCCB are there to help me learn how to solve new bike problems.

Shane Dolleris has been a regular presence at the FCCB Logan Street shop for many months (years?) and has been a devoted volunteer who’s always willing to pitch in with shop tasks large and small. Shane is good at identifying and tackling tasks that have gone overlooked, and often suggests new ideas for improvements and then executes them! He recently volunteered himself to take down a pile of scrap bikes and salvage parts from them.

Shane built his aluminum road bike from a bare frame using parts and supplies from FCCB, and we’ve all learned a lot about parts compatibility while working to get Shane’s bike completed.  It’s something of a right-of-passage among our volunteer mechanics to struggle with seemingly-similar but ultimately incompatible bottom bracket standards (e.g. Shimano’s Hollowtech II vs. FSA MegaExo – see images), and Shane has patiently worked his way through the puzzle of assembling, testing, disassembling, swapping, reassembling, and then doing it all over again while trying to put a bike together from salvaged parts.

We asked Shane to answer a few questions so our readers can get to know him better:

FCCB: What’s the best part about volunteering at FCCB?
Shane: Being a part of a community that is passionate about cycling; that’s the best part!

FCCB: Why do you ride? What’s your favorite ride/route?
Shane: Fitness, freedom; and money (note: Shane rides his bike as part of his job!). The whole stretch of River Road; it never gets old.

FCCB: What’s the most interesting skill you’ve learned while volunteering with FCCB?
Shane: Paying attention to the fine adjustments, it makes a mile of difference.

FCCB: Tell us about your bike – do you have a favorite bike now, or perhaps one from your past?
Shane: My bike is a Schwinn Fastback 9 speed road bike, with a super light double butted frame and a carbon fiber fork. I bought it from FCCB for my birthday; got it for a steal. Thanks, John (FCCB Co-Founder John Krueger).

FCCB: What can FCCB do better to serve you and others?
Shane: FCCB is a great service to the community already. Letting the whole city know about this great shop would only be better!

If you’ve spent more than a few moments at FCCB over the past few years, you’ve likely received some help from Alan Tucker, FCCB’s volunteer mechanic extraordinaire! Alan has volunteered countless hours in the service of our shop community, and has restored dozens of bicycles for sale or re-donation.  He puts special attention into each restoration, and goes above and beyond when carefully detailing vintage road bikes, especially. Alan is always willing to offer a helping hand when FCCB needs help outside the shop too – he’s been a regular presence at our mobile-workstation events around the city, including Cyclouvia, Hal and Ben’s Bike-In, and at Churchill Downs’ Backside Learning Center. Alan has volunteered hundreds of hours at FCCB, far more than any other volunteer, and has become an intrinsic part of our shop membership. Alan – we are truly thankful for your contributions to the FCCB community!

As a small token of FCCB’s gratitude, Alan received a new USB-rechargeable LED headlight and taillight for his wintertime after-dark rides along the waterfront and to Indiana over the Big Four Bridge.

(Note that FCCB has “made it official” and contracted Alan to serve as Bike Restoration Specialist as of January 2019 to help refurbish our backlog of vintage road bikes)

We asked Alan to answer a few questions so our readers can get to know him better:

FCCB: What’s the best part about volunteering at FCCB?
Alan: Meeting new people who want to learn and sharing time.

FCCB: Why do you ride? What’s your favorite ride/route?
Alan: For fun and health. I love to ride and explore.

FCCB: What’s the most interesting skill you’ve learned while volunteering with FCCB?
Alan: Talking to strangers and having something to share with them

FCCB: Tell us about your bike – do you have a favorite bike now, or perhaps one from your past?
Alan: I have several good bikes. My Schwinn aluminum 564 has 100,000 thousand miles on the frame.  I have used up a lot of tires, chains, and cassettes.

FCCB: What can FCCB do better to serve you and others?
Alan: Listen to my ideas.

(Alan gets straight to the point!)

Falls City Community BikeWorks is fortunate to have friendly and resourceful volunteers.  We’d like to recognize Lydia Stephens as an Extraordinary Volunteer for her commitment to our bike shop and community – she’s been a regular presence at the shop for several months, and has continued to volunteer long after earning her Sweat Equity Membership!  In addition to our thanks and appreciation, Lydia will receive an FCCB T-shirt and $20 shop credit that can be used for new bar tape, a new chain, cables, etc.

We asked Lydia to answer a few questions so our readers can get to know her better:

FCCB: What’s the best part about volunteering at FCCB?
Lydia: My favorite thing about volunteering at FCCB has been growing in my knowledge and skills with bike repair! I’ve learned a lot from all the other volunteers as well and it’s been pretty fascinating to learn hands on how to identify and fix things on a bike that I can apply at home or on the road with my own set of wheels.

FCCB: Why do you ride? What’s your favorite ride/route?
I ride mainly for exercise and personal enjoyment! I was part of a tandem bike racing team for 4 years at school and that’s had me hooked ever since!
My favorite route is the Heritage Trail that snakes through the neighborhoods of Terre Haute, IN! It’s a great way to see beauty of the community in a simple way.

FCCB: What’s the most interesting skill you’ve learned while volunteering with FCCB?
How to fix a flat tire! I used to take my bike into a shop every time, but now that I’ve learned the skill myself, it’s so much easier for me to do it on my own.

FCCB: Tell us about your bike – do you have a favorite bike now, or perhaps one from your past?
I currently ride a Dolce Elite road bike, but my favorite bike that I’ve ridden was a Giant, my very first road bike.

FCCB: What can FCCB do better to serve you and others?
We definitely could use more space to work with at FCCB! There are so many good things happening there for the benefit of its members and the surrounding community, but the impact could be even greater given more resources and room to serve well!

Lydia is right about needing more space! During Open Shop days in Fall 2018, FCCB regularly saw 30 visitors or more, with 8 or more bike workstations in progress at any given time!  Below is a panoramic photo of a busy shop day – it’s a crowded shop, but everyone is friendly and we’re always willing to make room for new community members!

FCCB is always interested in making new connections and partnerships in the community to help us expand our mission of helping others learn bike repair skills, and connecting people in need of a bike with a safe and affordable ride.

Last Sunday (12/9/2018) we were happy to meet Mildred, the Community Liaison at La Casita Center, and her husband, Greg, and volunteers. FCCB offered a tour of our shop, and explained to our visitors from La Casita how we assist our community with bike-skills education, and by providing low-cost transportation. We donated a refurbished commuter-style mountain bike to La Casita, who accepted it on behalf of Juan, an individual within the La Casita community network.

La Casita is a local non-profit dedicated to enhancing the well being of the Latino community within Louisville. Founded in 2005, La Casita has been able to create community spaces dedicated to support, education and empowerment as well as providing programming services. La Casita has been able to offer accompaniment and support to up to 300 families per year!

Jesús and Juan from La Casita receiving a donation. Juan stated that he will be now be able to commute to work much more easily!

Thanks for stopping by, La Casita!  Best luck with your mission, and keep in touch!

Members of the Clydesdale Athletics Club stopped in to our shop last Wednesday to donate several bikes and a large box stuffed full of much needed helmets. These cycling helmets will be given to members of the community to promote safety while riding. We were happy to have received this donation and we will look forward to offering these bikes to the public at a low cost in support of our mission to serve the public by funneling bikes to those in need of reliable transportation.

The aptly named Clydesdales were able to enjoy a tour of our facilities and spend time talking to our lead volunteer mechanics, Alan and Kenneth. The President of the club, Greg, even offered assistance to one of our regular customers during their visit. At FCCB, we are always enthused to have new visitors to the shop and we wish the Clydesdales the best in their endeavors.

Visit the Clydesdale Athletics Club website here: http://www.clydesdaleac.org/

We are grateful to the Clydesdales and look forward to seeing more of them in the future!