Keep the free work free
Give us your email and you'll hear from us once a month (at most!) with musings on life in the shop, invitation to rides, and pictures we think you'll like.
Hey Everyone,
TL;DR: in this newsletter we're going to ask for money (new member types!) so we can keep doing our version of bike communism.
We want to run a shop that has the part, knows how to use it, pays skilled mechanics decently, teaches you to fix your own bike, and helps even when you show up with eleven bucks and a shredded cable. A bike shop that listens to you patter on about rolling resistance (jk – we love hearing about rolling resistance).
The ask: We're starting a Sustaining Member level – $25 to $1,000 a month – that exists to do exactly one job: keep the free work free for the people who need it. That means the free classes, the group rides, and the repairs we do at a steep discount or no charge for community members who can't afford to get their bike running on their own. And some friends of the shop have offered to match every new sustaining membership dollar for dollar. Every $25 you put in becomes $50 toward keeping this thing what it is.
Here's the fuller picture, if you want it.
This is not a sad story about a dying bike shop. The bike shop is doing great! More and more people are coming by and every year sales are up. But there's a constant gap that we try to fill, that is decidedly on the "Community" side of our Community Bike Shop.
This year so far we've given away about $18,000 in free or heavily discounted work across more than 100 repairs and bikes – for folks who otherwise couldn't afford to get their bike up and running safely. Someone comes in with a schralped cable and their last eleven bucks, we fix the bike. When folks don't have money we've repaired bikes in trade for kale – and, more than once – for the best walnut grandma cookies imaginable (those cookies meant the world). We give 30-minute pep talks and home repair lessons on the fly. We help people avoid buying garbage on Craigslist. We do ersatz bike fits. We teach classes and lead group rides.
We could solve the cash situation by stocking less, helping less, paying people less, teaching people less, and maximizing profit.
We're not doing that.
If you include the free classes that teachers get paid for and the group rides that leaders get paid to lead, there's a gap between $20,000 to $30,000 a year. Sustaining Members close that gap. That's the whole idea.
One pretty good question: Why aren't you a nonprofit?
We get asked this a lot, usually right after we say the shop loses money on purpose. Honest answer: nonprofits kind of suck, man. There are great ones – some of our favorite bike shops in the country are nonprofits – but the whole system mostly seems like a machine for turning rich people's money into rich people's priorities, with a board meeting in between. Every dollar comes with a grant report and a funder who'd like the free classes to be a little less free and a little more measurable. B Corps are, if anything, worse: a certificate you buy that says you're one of the good ones. Nespresso is a B Corp. Gimme a fucking break. So we're just a business – a regular, taxpaying, San Francisco bike shop – that repairs bikes for free for people who can't afford to ride otherwise. A shop that teaches classes, leads rides, and does it all without a tax deduction, a gala, or any strings attached. Also our accountant says going nonprofit is a terrible idea, and we trust her the way we trust our therapist. She is our money therapist.
If you're already a regular member, you can add a sustaining membership. And if you don't have a regular membership yet, you can sign up for one of those too, with all the benefits that come with it.
If you'd like to contribute but can't do a monthly payment, we'd happily take whatever you can spare. Or if you have more money than you know what to do with, we'd take that too.
If $25 a month isn't comfortable, please don't stretch. Come by. Bring us your bike. Join a ride. Tell somebody we exist. Those things matter too.
A lot of people right now have wobbly futures – don't we know it. If you're on that side of the ticket, let us know and we'll help make your bike repair cheaper. Please don't be afraid to ask. Even if you only have eleven dollars and some kale. We love kale.
Thanks for listening,
Jay
September at the shop
Tonight: Flat Fix Class — Thursday, September 3, 7:00–9:00pm
It's tonight, and registration is still open. We'll hold your hand through removing your tire, patching your tube, troubleshooting the repair, and getting your wheel back into a rideable state. All supplies are included, but feel free to bring your own flat tire.
Night Moves — Thursday, September 10, 7:00–9:00pm
Cookies, tea, and the beach. Meet at the shop; we'll roll at 7:30. Slow, social, and no-drop.
Rotating Mechanics Class — Thursday, September 17, 7:00–9:00pm
Our monthly hands-on mechanics class. The topic rotates; if we haven't announced it yet, text the shop and tell us what you want to learn.
Community Night — Thursday, September 24, 7:00–8:00pm
The whole crew, no agenda. We keep the doors open late, turn up the music, pull the beer and LaCroix out of the fridge, and hang out.
Day Grooves — Sunday, September 27, meet at 10:45am
A ride for the girls, the gays, and the theys, plus allies who know their place. Slow pace, pop music, almost definitely coffee. Meet at 521 Balboa Street and roll at 11:00.
