February 2026 - TheThinkTank - lists.bikecollectives.org

Teaching mechanics to kids (elementary school)
by martin_labrosse.gabriel＠courrier.uqam.ca 14 Feb '26

14 Feb '26

Hello think thank community! There is a very motivated mom from a parents' committee in a nearby elementary school that has reached out to our CBS to participate to a program they are conceptualizing and have received fund for (3K$). They wanna make a small bike workshop for kids' bikes. The first objective is to inspire confidence and autonomy through manual skills/labor in bike mecanic and maintenance. I wanna know what kind of things you are teaching to kids. We're talking elementary age (here in Québec it's 6-12 years old). Of course parents in the committee will be present throughout. For the cursus, I am thinking about the cleaning and maintenance of the transmission, the tube repair and maybe the installation of a few parts, which more be a way to make a better understanding of the bike in genereal. I am thinking there should be an initial crash course with the parents in our workshop, then we could go to their school with our mobile workshop. Let me know what you guys think! Cheers BTW pardon my english!

4 3

Pigeon River Bikes in Haywood County, North Carolina, USA
by weogo＠liveedge.net 10 Feb '26

10 Feb '26

Hi Folks, PigeonRiverBikes.org is open, Saturdays noon~4! (Our website is a work in progress.) We got our 501c3 status a couple weeks ago, have people, a building, tools and parts. 112 Virginia Avenue Waynesville, NC 28716 The shop is in the Folkmoot building, around back. info(a)pigeonriverbikes.org 828-476-8148 How do I enter this information in the Wiki list? The last bike shop in the County closed in 2022. Thanks and good health, Weogo Reed, executive director

2 2

Volunteer Retention
by Geoff Smart 02 Feb '26

02 Feb '26

Hi All, In some but not all of our sessions we have an issue with volunteer retention. After surveying our volunteers and people who left after 3-4 sessions the consensus is that our 1 hour induction is not enough and that we need a more structured training and onboarding over multiple sessions for the cohort that for various reasons need more training and more interaction with staff and volunteers. Has anyone had any luck with increasing retention using a more structured approach. If you have, we would appreciate any content or information you can share with us, and any other tips you may have to increase retention Regards *Geoff Smart* Chair Back2Bikes M : 0419 345 440 525 Williamstown Rd Port Melbourne 3207 back2bikes.org.au

12 13