Late, but for what it's worth I've been around maintenance most of my life and here's my $.02 Take a look at the bike wiki where I've posted the basic maintenance class I use. IMHO it is a real disservice to not start with the basics and then move to overhaul. So the order is important start with stuff the students can use right away. My class is also based on classes I've taken including from independent instructors. Can't ride if the tires are flat. "A" Air Now it had better stop. "B" Brakes Pedals/crankarms and chain so it;s not a push bike "C" And a derailleur so it's not a single speed. "D" Then teach hub overhaul, headset and bottom bracket. Last is frame inspection and repairs if you have the tools.

So you can use the Park Manual for all of this, plus their videos and others on YouTube you find helpful. I can teach flat repair hands on and the rest as "Show and tell" in 3 hours, two, a max of 3 students per instructor/assistant.

The ABCD can be taught in sessions, and out of order, but do your students a favor and start with stuff they can use with basic tools.

We have what's become two fractions at our coop and the people who work with new volunteers refuse to consider requiring a class, or that the volunteers must put in a commitment. Every volunteer I've ever had take my class has said "Gee, I wish I'd had this first." rather than just stripping bikes for a few weeks,boredom sets in, and they leave. I tell potential volunteers I will give the 3 hr. class for free, if they give back 9 ours. That's 3 sessions of open shop helping patrons or refurbishing bikes. If we never see them again, they got a good basic education and we got some help. IMHO if they can't commit to that, then sorry but we have others to help. So far I see a good 80% turn over in volunteers, in part I believe because we don't set them up to succeed.

Like I said, my $.02

Ron

On Thu, Dec 12, 2019 at 1:36 PM Robert Christiansen < robert@sacbikekitchen.org> wrote:

Hello all,

The Sacramento Bike Kitchen would like to ramp up our educational offerings. The programs needs to be flexible yet structured and flexible to accommodate potential volunteer scheduling/availability fluctuations.

I have been looking into the Park Tool Schools program as outlined in their BB-4TG Instructor Guide. I am impressed with their offering and feel it might fit our needs perfectly. We are thinking to first establish an in-house mechanic training course which could be mandatory for new volunteers and optional for current volunteer staff. We are 100% Volunteer run. We would then open it up to the public. Tuition if any has yet to be discussed.

We would greatly appreciate any feed back from all of you if you have any experience with Park Tool School or similar curriculum.

Secondly have any of you instituted a mandatory training for new volunteers? If so, any observations and reflections would be welcomed.

Your time and efforts are greatly appreciated and we give many thanks to you all. Keep up the the great work.

For The Sacramento Bike Kitchen, Robert Christiansen Http://sacbikekitchen.org

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Might depend on the plan for the Volunteers, Basic Boot Camp bring them in, like cattle, and run then thru the maze see what is interesting about them, and weed them out, kind of like basic training for military, freshman classes in various subjects, engineering, medicine, etc

An individualized approach? A mentor for each student? open lab time?

see if the have the initiative to develop new programs? what are their interest? current skills? tabla rosa?

do you have a volunteer coordinator?

Wbat are the organizations needs? fill volunteer slots for open shop? train kids in basics? underpriviledged kids? overpriviledged kids? adults? kid and adult pairs/ teams/ small groups?? Boy Scouts? Girl Scouts? Church Groups? HalfWay Houses? Probation and Parole? Detention? Gifted and Talented? What ages? What languages/

If investing $16-50/ student in giving them a Park Manual are you teaching them more than just how to use the tools and do standard procedures? Basic skills? What of the females/ males that had dads/uncles/moms/ shop class instructors that made it a living hell and have some emotional issues with holding tools, as always told they did it wrong? LGBTQEtc? Mixed Groups?

Or all are the same and run them thru basic, see if they come back for advanced?

are they just fulfilling their community service requirements? Earn A Bike? Gift A Bike? etc

So teaching the tools isn't terrible, but maybe more than that, as most may not want their own home shop and knowing which tools to buy, learning Park systems,

Some may be interested in how much is this tool? Can i have this (3way tool?) are they available for sale in your shop/coop? at reduced cost? bring it back the next time, and we will teach you how to use it?

But i went through 8 classes in welding earned a paper certificate (might not pass AWS exams, yet, here are my coupons, etc) and want to build my own frames, is that an option here? Why? Why not?

Language barriers, cultural barriers, political/ SES barriers, etc may exist, is the Park Manual available in Spanish, French, Chinese, Korean, etc? How about Autistics? Behavioral challenges? Works great alone, but can't be in groups, somehow might have some skills, but not what we want here, type of stuff, a one size fits al approach may not fit anyone, in the long run, if the teaching is the source of income, seeing a master mechanic perform their skills, can turn people on to the hobby/ sport/ profession and/or turn them off all mechanical stuff AVOs, Coops, schools, etcl

In small groups with lab partners, maybe fill in the gaps with the others and be more social, than mechicial, and demonstrate other skills that help the organization

On Thu, Dec 12, 2019 at 1:36 PM Robert Christiansen < robert@sacbikekitchen.org> wrote:

Hello all,

The Sacramento Bike Kitchen would like to ramp up our educational offerings. The programs needs to be flexible yet structured and flexible to accommodate potential volunteer scheduling/availability fluctuations.

I have been looking into the Park Tool Schools program as outlined in their BB-4TG Instructor Guide. I am impressed with their offering and feel it might fit our needs perfectly. We are thinking to first establish an in-house mechanic training course which could be mandatory for new volunteers and optional for current volunteer staff. We are 100% Volunteer run. We would then open it up to the public. Tuition if any has yet to be discussed.

We would greatly appreciate any feed back from all of you if you have any experience with Park Tool School or similar curriculum.

Secondly have any of you instituted a mandatory training for new volunteers? If so, any observations and reflections would be welcomed.

Your time and efforts are greatly appreciated and we give many thanks to you all. Keep up the the great work.

For The Sacramento Bike Kitchen, Robert Christiansen Http://sacbikekitchen.org

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Unsubscribe from this list here: http://lists.bikecollectives.org/options.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.or...