Madison Bike Week is almost upon us! This year’s event runs from September 12-18; it’s coordinated by our dear friends at Madison Bikes and features bike-focused community events all around Madison.
For a full list of Bike Week events, check the Madison Bike Week website. Here’s news about our Bike Week open house and volunteer event, a bike-centered film festival benefiting the Wisconsin Bike Fed, and our Build-a-Bike classes…
Open House at the Madison Bike Center
Have you seen our new facility yet? We’d love to show you around — and on Tuesday, September 14th, from 3 PM to 6:30 PM, we’re ready to do it in style. You’ll get to meet your fellow Freewheelies, tour our facility, enjoy some bumpin’ tunes — and take advantage of the volunteer opportunities that introduce you to us, the space, and the basics of wrenching. Put one of our donated bikes on a stand and take it apart to learn how it’s put together, or learn how to tell a good part from a bad one by sorting through our used parts bin. If you’ve got the expertise and the confidence, try your hand at fixing up one of our donated bikes!
We’re planning other exciting things for our open house, too. A member of our community may run a ride that day, and Willy Street Co-op is generously donating beverages to us for the event. Please RSVP for our event on social media to stay updated about what we’ll be up to!
A Bike Film Festival!
Bicycle Film Festival Wisconsin from Bicycle Film Festival on Vimeo.
Our friends at Wisconsin Bike Fed are partnering with the Bicycle Film Festival! Films range from narratives to documentaries, by emerging directors and international award-winning film-makers alike.
Topics of this curated 90-minute showcase include the first BMX crew in Nigeria, a bird’s-eye view of a BLM bicycle protest ride from New York to DC, and the struggle of a young woman cyclist in Iran. This festival is all-virtual, and a portion of all ticket sales (sliding scale: $10 to $20) benefits the Wisconsin Bike Fed. Order your tickets and watch the festival at your leisure — you have between the 10th and the 19th to view this year’s short films!
An Update on Build-a-Bike
For years, our flagship class has been Build-a-Bike. In it, we teach all comers — even total novices — how to build their own bicycle from the frame up. After five or six hours of work, they roll out of our shop on a fully-functional single-speed bicycle. (If you’re truly building a bike from the frame up, rather than just repairing a donation that came into our shop, then gears typically take a second session.)
We used to run Build-a-Bike every other weekend, for huge groups. But during the early phases of the pandemic, we realized that our original class model wasn’t safe. We temporarily moved all Build-a-Bike instruction to weekdays, during normal business hours.
Last week, we decided to finally move back to our original Build-a-Bike schedule. For the foreseeable future, we will be teaching regular Build-a-Bike classes every other Sunday afternoon, starting at 10 AM, at the Madison Bike Center. We are continuing to honor all existing Build-a-Bike appointments, and we are still booking all non- Build-a-Bike mechanical instruction during normal business hours.
For the safety of our visitors, customers, students, and staff, we ask that Build-a-Bike students and instructors (as well as all other visitors to the MBC space) wear a mask, adhere to social distancing requirements, and stay home if they’re sick, covid-positive, or recently exposed to covid.
To participate in a Build-a-Bike class, please drop us an email. Please move quickly: interest is high, slots are limited, and classes are filling up very quickly. If you need to cancel, please contact us ASAP so we can free up your slot for another student.
As of this post, our next class with open slots is October 17th — a little over a month away. We’re excited for plenty of Build-a-Bikes in the weeks to come!