Classes

Basic Tune-up Class

Learn how to tune-up your own bike in three sessions of 2.5 hours each: install and remove tubes and tires (i.e. fix a flat), install brake and shift cables, adjust brakes and gears, maintain your chain, true your wheels, etc.

Class will be hands-on, so bring a bike and get ready to get greasy. No previous bike knowledge is required or expected, but a willingness to learn and have fun is a must!

The fee for this class is sliding scale: $40-90 for Bike Kitchen members or $80-130 for non-members (although a year-long membership comes with the class). Class size is limited to eight.

Next Basic Tune-up Class will be Mondays January 5, 12, and 19, 7-9:30pm. Click here to sign up.

Wheelbuilding Class

Learn to build your own wheels from scratch in two sessions of three hours each. You will need to bring your own hub, rim, and spokes -- we can advise you or you can stop by your local shop.

The class costs $45 for Bike Kitchen members or $75 for non-members (which includes a one-year membership). Class size limited to five.

Check back for upcoming wheel-building class dates.

Other Programs

WTF Night

For women, trans/gender queer folks, femmes, or anybody else that has had gender be a barrier to learning mechanics. No one turned away! 6:30-9:30pm on the last Monday of most months (see the calendar).

Youth Programs

The Bike Kitchen has a long tradition of working with youth, either informally through open-shop hours or through partnerships with schools and after-school programs. Some of our past partnerships include fix-a-thons with the YMCA, a chopper building class with teenagers from an after school program run by Horizons in the Mission, and after school sessions with kids from the Mercy Housing After School Program in the South of Market. We have also recently forged a partnership with the June Jordan School for Equity's intersession program. Intersession at June Jordan is a three-week physical education intensive at the end of each year that allows students to build community as they camp, rock climb, cycle, and run with their teachers and peers. Students involved in the cycling course ride out to our shop from the Excelsior to learn about bike repair as well as about the Bike Kitchen's operations as a collective and a non-profit.

If you are interested in working with the Bike Kitchen on a youth program, please contact us.

Earn-a-Bike

Participants are assigned a list of tasks to complete over the course of several shifts. Once all tasks have been completed and approved by a mechanic, the participant may choose a bicycle or a frame and begin building it with parts approved by a mechanic. Once the bicycle is finished, it is checked for safety by a mechanic. This program is free of charge. Sign up with a mechanic during a shift.