I am so stoked to announce the start of regular Fender Bender nights, which are a result of the awesome feedback and support we got from our first meeting in January. The next Fender Bender skill share will happen Tuesday, February 23rd from 7:00pm-9:00pm, in the Back Alley Bikes space. This month we’re starting with the basics – fixin’ flats! Expect to patch tubes, learn wheel anatomy, and get introduced to important tools all in a totally hands on learning experience.

If you already know how to fix a flat, we would love some help facilitating! Drop a line to fenderbenderdetroit@gmail.com and let us know, or just show up and we’ll make good use of your skills!

In order to make sure we are meeting as many needs of our community as possible, we have decided to begin offering regular open shop nights in addition to our recurring Fender Bender skill-share events!  The open shop time is intended for anyone (who fits within the self identified framework that Fender Bender aims to serve) who could benefit most from having access to the shop, the tools, and of course, a welcoming and safe community space in order to work on their own bikes.

The first open shop will take place Saturday, February 20th from 3:30pm-6:30pm. We will have female/gender queer mechanics on hand to help answer any questions and provide support for whatever projects you’re working on.

The format of the open shop access will mimic the regular Ally Program that the Hub offers, whereby folks can earn access to the shop’s resources after volunteering their time.  Before you can work on your own projects, you must spend at least one hour working on a volunteer project for the Hub. Basically, the open shop is three hours long so if you spend the first hour patching tubes, stripping a bike, cleaning up tools, or whatever else the Hub might need from its volunteers, you can have the next two hours all to yourself. We want to make it clear that anyone who attends Fender Bender can always attend the regularly scheduled, totally open volunteer nights at the Hub (Wednesday and Thursday nights from 6:00pm-8:00pm) to earn their Ally hours, we just wanted to make sure that there was an analogous program available for anyone who may not feel entirely comfortable in the regular shop atmosphere.

We hope to increase Fender Bender open shops to twice a month, and then possibly weekly in the near future so please check back with us if you can’t make the one on the 20th – chances are we will have added another one very soon.

If you have any questions about this event, the volunteer requirements, or the Hub in general, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We love letters. I will also point you to our Fender Bender program blog, where you can fill out a questionnaire to let us know what we can do to make these events the most useful and welcoming they can possibly be.

Hope to see you there!