// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did the bicycle say to the cooperative? You're geared to help.

"Bicycle Kitchen" redirects here. For the educational non-profit bicycle workspace, see Bicycle Kitchen (Los Angeles).

Assisted-service bicycle repair at the Sopo Bicycle Cooperative in Atlanta, Georgia

A bicycle cooperative ("bike co-op") refers to a cooperative that service bicycles and/or provide tools, training, equipment or space for the maintenance of bicycles or that transport goods or services with bicycles. Many bike co-ops have taken the form of community bike shops or cooperatives organized to give the local bike shop national scale and buying power with some operating as delivery cooperatives.

In terms of governance structure, bike co-ops can take the many forms of the cooperative model. For example, bicycle co-ops owned by the cyclists that use their services (consumers' co-operative), co-ops composed of businesses to achieve economies of scale (retailers' cooperative), or co-ops owned and managed by those who work at the business (worker cooperative).

Bike cooperatives owned by consumers

As a consumers' co-operative, community bike cooperatives are organized and owned by the cyclists who use them. Members often receive exclusive access and benefits to service and sales.

Shop time

Shop time is considered to be the use of the bike co-op's space and tools. Some bike co-ops charge users a fee per hour, for example Hub City Cycles (Nanaimo, CA) charges members $20 an hour. Needing hands-on assistance can come with an extra cost or the requirement to become a member.

Many of these co-ops also use a pay what you can model and/or pay it forward model, for example Bike Pirates (Toronto, CA) and Squeaky Wheel Bike Co-op (London, CA).

Parts

The cost of new or used parts is usually paid in addition to shop time. Some bike shops stock new items such as brake pads, inner tubes, cables and housing, and bearings, for example.

Parts may be sourced from public donations. Children's bikes could be donated when they are outgrown, and abandoned bikes are sometimes obtained through partnerships with police departments (evidence control), street cleaning firms, or from large institutions such as schools and universities. Donated bikes that need repairs can be fixed by the co-op and resold for revenue, for example as done at CoMo Bike Co-op.

Bike cooperatives owned by retailers

When a bicycle cooperative takes the form of a retailer cooperative, multiple businesses within the industry come together to achieve economies of scale to compete with big-box brands, department stores and direct-to-consumer bike sales.  

In order to lower costs, retailers' cooperatives establish central buying locations, providing them with the opportunity to purchase in bulk. Retailers' cooperatives also engage in group advertising and promotion, uniform stock merchandising, and private branding.

A retailers' cooperative for American independent bicycle dealers was established in 2003 called The Bike Cooperative, which now has 300+ members across the country. Some retailers' cooperatives such as REI Co-op (who also offer bike shop services to members) and E.Leclerc sell bikes as well, however they wouldn’t be called a bike cooperative owned by retailers.

Bike cooperatives owned by workers

Bike cooperatives can be worker-owned in a bike shop that offers servicing of bicycling and/or selling whole bicycles, parts, tools, or accessories. Coop Roue-Libre in Quebec City is a unique example of a non-profit solidarity cooperative and multi-stakeholder cooperative. They not only offer the typical bike shop services, including training and workshops, but they are also involved in advocacy.

Bike cooperatives can also be worker-owned in courier, messenger, or delivery services. In these co-ops, worker-owners are riding specialized bicycles in order to bring documents, parcels or even catering orders between people and businesses within a localized area. Delivery co-operatives are being researched and identified as a viable an alternative model to corporate-driven platforms such as Uber to provide more favourable workplace environments.      

A rare example of a worker-owned bicycle tire producer cooperative is Trademh, which operated in Mexico between 1995 and 2002.

Bike cooperatives and digital transformation

CoopCycle is a federation for bike delivery or messenger cooperatives that is an example of technological innovation and digital transformation within the bike co-operative industry. Their approach is an example of democratizing both work and technology.  

History

Bicycle co-ops have existed for decades. Cooperative bicycle clubs in the 1930-40s played an important role in the economic development of eastern Nigeria, demonstrating both the social and economic benefits of the model.

Fahrrad.Selbsthilfe.Werkstatt dates back to 1983 in Vienna, Austria. Edinburgh Bicycle Co-operative is the longest-standing registered bike cooperative worldwide and one of the oldest worker cooperatives in Scotland, established in 1977. Another example is “P'tit vélo dans la tête" founded in Grenoble, France, in 1994.

Bike co-ops started to arise in Canada and the United States of America around the year 2000, for instance AMS Bike Co-op in 1998 and San Francisco's ‘The Bike Kitchen’ in 2003.

Bike co-ops can be found worldwide. The Bike Collective Network includes a regionally sorted list of community bicycle organizations, with many of them identified as cooperatives. Another reference for looking for bike co-operatives around the world can be found by searching the International Co-operative Alliance’s “.coop world map”.

List of active bike co-operatives worldwide

Australia

• BikeWise Australia Co-operative Limited (Sydney, NSW)
• Cycle Re-cycle (Sydney, NSW)
• Bicycle Garden (Sydney, NSW)
• Hotline Couriers Co-op (Sydney, NSW)

Canada

• Hub City Cycles Community Co-operative (Nanaimo, BC)

• AMS Bike Co-op – The Bike Kitchen (Vancouver, BC)

• Shift Delivery Co-op (Vancouver, BC)

• FreeHub Co-operative (Victoria, BC)

• FreeRiders E-Bike Co-operative (Victoria, BC)

• Coop Vélo-Cité (Winnipeg, MB)

• Fietser Bikeshare Cooperative (Winnipeg, MB)

• La Bikery Co-operative Ltd. (Moncton, NB)

• New Hope Bike Co-op (Hamilton, ON)

• Squeaky Wheel Bike Co-op (London, ON)

• Veloz Courier (Ottawa, ON)

• Bike Pirates Co-op (Toronto, ON)

• Send It Courier (Toronto, ON)

• Urbane Cyclist (Toronto, ON)

• Bike Friendly Communities Co-operative Limited (Charlottetown, PE)

• Lurlu Coop (Montréal, QC)

• Cycle 7 Bike Cooperative (Montréal, QC)

• Chasseurs Courrier (Montreal, QC)

• Coop roue libre (Quebec City, QC)

• Bridge City Bicycle Co-op (Saskatoon, SK)

France

• uN p'Tit véLo dAnS La Tête (Grenoble)

Philippines

• Malay Motorbike Service Cooperative (Malay, Aklan)

United States of America

• Big Beach Bicycle Cooperative (Seward, AK)

• Huntsville Urban Bike Share Coop - HUBS Coop (Huntsville, AL)

• Recycles Bike Co-op (Little Rock, AR)

• Box Dog Bikes Co-op (San Francisco, CA)

• Cricket Courier (San Francisco, CA)

• Fort Collins Bike Coop (Fort Collins, CO)

• Bradley Street Bicycle Co-op (New Haven, CT)

• St. Petersburg Bike Co-op (St. Petersburg, FL)

• Tampa Bay Bicycle Co-op (Tampa, FL)

• Lake Worth Bike Coop (West Palm Beach, FL)

• Sopo Bike Coop (Atlanta, GA)

• Savannah Bike Coop (Savannah, GA)

• WBRP Bike Co-op (Bloomington, IL)

• Bike Peoria Coop (Peoria, IL)

• Columbus Bicycle Cooperative (Columbus, IN)

• West Lafayette Bike Cooporative (West Lafayette, IN)

• Lawrence Unchained Bicycle Co-op (Lawrence, KS)

• CommonWheels Bicycle Co-Op (Allston, MA)

• Mount Rainier Bicycle Cooperative (Mount Rainier, MD)

• East Quad Bike Co-op (Ann Arbor, MI)

• Golden Gate Bike Co-op (Detroit, MI)

• Lansing Bike Coop (Lansing, MI)

• Mount Pleasant Bike Cooperative (Mount Pleasant, MI)

• Broke Spoke Bike Coop (Traverse City, MI)

• Kirksville Bike Co-op (Kirksville, MO)

• CoMo Bike Co-op (Columbia, MO)

• Durham Bike Co-op (Durham, NC)

• Cheshire County Bicycle Collective / Keene Bicycle Co-op (Keene, NH)

• The Bike Co-operative (Manchester, NH)

• New York Mechanical Gardens Bike Coop (Brooklyn, NY)

• Brookhaven Bicycle Co-op (Manorville, NY)

• Time's Up! Bike Co-op (New York City, NY)

• Brookhaven Bicycle Co-op (St. James, NY)

• Athens Bicycle Co-operative (Athens, OH)

• Mobo Bicycle Co-op (Cincinnati, OH)

• Ohio City Bicycle Co-op (Cleveland, OH)

• Third Hand Bicycle Cooperative (Columbus, OH)

• Oberlin Bike Co-op (Oberlin, OH)

• Toledo City Bicycle Co-op (Toledo, OH)

• CityBikes (Portland, OR)

• Bethlehem Bicycle Cooperative is a project of Car Free CAT-Coalition for Appropriate Transportation (Bethlehem, PA)

• Keystone Bicycle Co-op (Philadelphia, PA)

• Pin Up Posters Courier Collective (Pittsburgh, PA)

• Holy City Bike Co-op (Charleston, SC)

• Blackbird Bicycle Co-op (Columbia, SC)

• Spearfish Bicycle Cooperative (Spearfish, SD)

• White Oak Bicycle Coop (Red Bank, TN)

• San Antonio Bicycle Co-op (San Antonio, TX)

• UVM Bike Coop (Burlington, VT)

• Vélocity Bicycle Cooperative (Alexandria, VA)

• Bicycle Co-Op of Williamsburg (Williamsburg, VA)

• Community Bike Cooperative (Bellingham, WA)

• Seattle Messenger Co-operative (Seattle, WA)

• The Bicycle Tree (Santa Ana, CA)

United Kingdom

• Bristol Bike Project (Bristol, England)

• Broken Spoke Bike Co-op (Oxford, England)

• Birmingham Bike Foundry (Stirchley, Birmingham, England)

• Chorlton Bike Deliveries Cooperative (Manchester, England)

• Leeds Bike Mill (Leeds, England)

• Platt Fields Bike Hub Ltd. (Manchester, England)

• Sussex Cycling - The Bike Shack (Falmer, England)

• Feral Express (Sheffield, England)

• Edinburgh Bike Co-operative (Edinburgh, Scotland)

• Roam Scotland Bikepacking Society (Edinburgh, Scotland)

Jersey (British Crown Dependency)

• Coop Bikes

See also

• Bicycle § Maintenance and repair: discusses self-service, full-service, and roadside assistance
• Bicycle library: a facility for lending bicycles and accessories to riders for trial or use
• Cycling
• Local bike shop
• Makerspace
• Repair café
• Tool library

Further reading

• Duregger, Michelle (30 April 2010). "The Anti-Shop". Bicycling. Retrieved 9 June 2015. The Recyclery is Oklahoma City's first bike co-op, open three days a week. Everything is free--tools, advice from bicycle-savvy volunteers, workshops, parts and frames. It's stocked by donations from community members and a couple of bike-shop employees, and is run by volunteers.
• Forbes, Rob (28 April 2009). "Bike Kitchens: Building Community, Bikes". Yes! Magazine. Archived from the original on 15 August 2016. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
• Cross, Kim (20 February 2015). "The Fixer". Bicycling. Retrieved 9 June 2015. The popular connotation is that co-ops are for urban twenty-somethings who want a fixed-gear bike. But they're more for people who don't know anything about bikes, want a community to connect with, or want a cheap and super-easy mode of transportation.
• Narciso, Dean. "Bicycle co-op helps local enthusiasts learn to do repairs". The Columbus Dispatch. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 1 November 2015.

External links

• Bike Collective Network: an umbrella association of bike co-ops and other organizations
• Bike Workshops Research: research into bike workshops led by Simon Batterbury, University of Melbourne

• Community Bicycle Organizations: a list of bike co-ops worldwide, sorted by country and province/state
• International Bicycle Fund community bike programs directory. Many of the groups in this directory, though not all of them, are co-ops.
• Bike recyclers in Australia (map and listing, 2022)
• Ateliers in France (https://www.heureux-cyclage.org/les-ateliers-en-france.html Heureux Cyclage map)