Blog Archives

Hello everyone, Monday MAY 20th is a very important day for two reasons: 1) You know that Progressive Dinner by Bicycle event I keep talking about? Well you have until 8am on Monday, May 20th to buy a ticket. Biking + Food + Fundraising = Good Times. 2) You know that Mechanic-in-Training program that we just got funding for? Wait, I didn’t tell you? Girl, we just got a bunch of funding from City Connect Detroit’s Grow Detroit’s Young Talent program to pay our MIT’s this year. It is pretty sweet. Anyway, the applications are due by the end...

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Hey all,So the most common questions we have been getting are. “How long is the ride?” and “What are we going to eat?” Well, I have answers for those questions! The ride will be 15 miles total with those five stops along the way. If you can ride at least 4 miles at a time, you will be fine during this ride. For the second question, I do not have the menu 100% done, but it is almost there. This is what I can tell you about the food. Stop #1: Green Dot Stables – Mystery Meat or Black...

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So you might know about our widely popular Adult Mechanic Classes yeah? We offer them year round on Sundays rotating through different subjects going all around the basics of bike maintenance over 5 weeks. It really is pretty great, we ask for a $10 donation, but if you ain’t got $10, don’t worry about it – as long as you are there to learn, you are in the right spot. Well, recently over at our facebook page, Heather has been posting that 12 folks have been showing up each week. And really, 12 is as many people as we...

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Yes, it is that time of year. The time you have been waiting for. Well, if you are a high school student in the Detroit area that wants to become a bicycle mechanic, educator and coordinator that is. MECHANIC-IN-TRAINING APPLICATIONS ARE NOW AVAILABLE!!! What does that even mean? Well, the Mechanic-in-Training (MIT) program is for high school youth aged 14-17. We take applications in the month of May, interview those that make the cut at the end of the month and then in the beginning of June, we hire a select few to work for Back Alley Bikes for...

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Hey ya’ll, So we have this Open House event coming up on Saturday, April 27th at 3:30pm. Why would we do this? Why have an Open House? Well, let me tell you why you might want to come. 1) You’ve never been in Back Alley Bikes or it has been a few years since you’ve been up here. We are pretty proud of the compliments we get from folks saying we are one of the better organized bike projects they have seen. You’ve probably been in The Hub of Detroit, but if you haven’t ever seen Back Alley Bikes...

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YES, IT IS TRUE, REGISTRATION FOR THE MAY 26TH PROGRESSIVE DINNER BY BICYCLE RIDE IS OPEN. Our successful fundraiser is back and ya’ll really should get in on this. We will be doing three rides this year – May 26th, July 14th and Sept 15th. As mentioned above you can register now for the May ride in a few ways. 1) Sign up just for the May ride as an Omnivore or Vegan ($30/ticket). Make sure to purchase the correct ticket depending on your dietary concerns. If you have any questions, get in contact with us. 2) Buy a...

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Hey everybody! Spring is definitely here and people everywhere are dusting their bikes off to get riding again. Well, we are looking for all those youth aged 10-17 to get riding with us. Like last year, we will be having a ride every week throughout the summer. This year though, we are changing our ride program to a club. Yeah, a club. You are probably thinking: what do you mean a club? Well, youth need to join this club instead of just showing up for the ride. This is really easy, contact jason (at) thehubofdetroit (dot) org to let...

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Editor’s note: Olivia has been volunteering at Back Alley Bikes for years and also worked at the Osborn Earn-a-Bike program last summer. She is pretty awesome and we think she is worth a vote as she pursues her dream job. Hey Everybody: It’s not very often that we do posts on this site that are totally not about bikes, but I think this one is worth it. My name is Olivia Dobbs and I’ve been at the Hub/Back Alley Bikes as a volunteer and Collective member for about two years. Maybe cliche to say, but they’ve been some of...

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by Joey Steinberger (Semester In Detroit Intern) Hey bikers of Detroit! A new bike shop is springing up in Southwest Detroit! Southwest Rides is a summer bike club that teaches youth in Southwest Detroit how to repair bikes and safely ride. Southwest Rides started five years ago out of a garage attached to the All Saints Neighborhood Center. The organization is a part of Urban Neighborhood Initiatives, a non-profit that works to improve life in Southwest Detroit. Their story sounds suspiciously like ours, we were once a part of Detroit Summer before we grew our own legs and opened...

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Hey everyone, If you are interested in one day having a dumb picture of you working with bikes posted on this website, this is your day. No, but seriously, we are looking for a few more folks to work for Back Alley Bikes. Of course you can always volunteer, but if you want to get paid to do this stuff, you will want to keep reading. Note that this is a job for Back Alley Bikes. We are looking for coordinators and teachers, not mechanics or salespeople like they were doing at The Hub earlier this year. Yeah, you...

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