we at yellow bike in austin have seen an increasing number of folks using our shops, and have found it very useful to have two or more people work together on a bike.  it's most effective when one of them knows a little something about fixing bikes, but even when none of them knows much, they tend to be more willing/able to figure things out without lots of step-by-step instruction from our shop coordinators.

we also have a nice supply of repair manuals available for people to consult - sutherland manuals to the DIY Chainbreaker book published by some nice New Orleans folks that I hope to meet some day.

shop coordinators move about the shop, checking in on people, but rarely spend more than a few minutes at a time with an individual.  if someone comes in who really needs lots of one-on-one help, we recommend they take a more formal, enrollment only class.  we plan to teach these ourselves when we get our new shop up and running, but in the meantime, there's informal classes held each semester at the university in town.

in this way, we have been able to effectively handle shops with up to 35 people and three shop coordinators.  we have had shops with more people in attendance than that (i think 52 was our record in a given night), and it does get very hectic at some point.  our solution in our new shop will be to have a (yet to be determined) shop capacity, and a waiting area with good reading material, coffee, etc. and have people wait for their turn at a workstand.  we haven't really tested this idea out yet, since we have not yet built our new shop . . .

hope this helps -

jennifer
austin yellow bike project.

On Mon, Feb 9, 2009 at 5:46 PM, Clifford McCarten <director@communitybikeshop.org> wrote:
Two semi-related questions:

How do you folks deal with it when it gets crazy busy? i.e., the times when there are more 2 people per volunteer mechanic, tools all over the place, and all (or most) of the people need step-by-step, hands-on assistance?
Do you have a set capacity? Do you turn people down?

At B!KE, I've been starting to put together some exploded parts displays, along with basic steps, clear dos and don'ts, and examples of good or bad parts (i.e., severely pitted bottom bracket axles). Has anyone done this and found this helpful to your members (allowing people doing more self-guided learning)? Any useful discoveries made while building this kind of display?

Thanks!

Clifford McCarten
Co-Director, B!KE: The Peterborough Community Bike Shop
400 Wolfe St
Peterborough, Ontario
(705) 745-2103


_______________________________________________
Thethinktank mailing list
Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org
To unsubscribe, send a blank email to TheThinkTank-leave@bikecollectives.org
To manage your subscription, plase visit:
http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.org




--
Web Servant
Austin's Yellow Bike | www.austinyellowbike.org

"Be the change you would like to see in the world." - Gandhi
"Keep Cycling: it is Undoubtedly the Best form of Activism there is."