Our Mission

The Bike Co-op is a student-run organization located on campus at UBC. Cycling empowers us, and our goal is to provide students and other campus members with an accessible environment where they can learn to fix bicycles, share resources, and build community. We engage in cycling advocacy and education to promote biking as a safe and sustainable means of transportation.

Accessibility

Bike shops can be very intimidating spaces, especially for women, youth, people with limited budgets and those of us who use the term “thingy-whatsit” when referring to our bicycle parts.

The Bike Co-op and the Bike Kitchen are committed to making our space and resources more accessible. We are working towards developing programming that reaches out to new communities and reduces barriers to riding and learning about bike mechanics. Learning how to maintain and fix your own bicycle is empowering because it reduces the cost of riding your bicycle and makes riding more enjoyable!

To achieve these goals we run the following programs:

1. Women’s Night – The last Wednesday of the month from 6pm to 9pm is Women’s Night at the Bike Kitchen. The space is for self identified women to learn about bike mechanics and is trans inclusive. Beginners are very welcome. Inquire at ubc.bikecoop@gmail.com to confirm the date of the next Women’s Night! This program is by donation – no one is turned away for lack of funds.

2. Bikes 101 – Workshops which give new riders and total beginners the info they need to buy a used bike, ride it safely and learn basic bike maintenance. We are committed to running this program for free or on a sliding scale.

In addition to these programs the Bike Kitchen, our non-profit bike shop, reduces the economic barriers faced by individuals who want to purchase quality used bicycles and maintain them. Our prices for work orders are some of the lowest in Vancouver. You can also learn how to maintain your own bicycle here which makes repair super cheap!

If you have suggestions on how to improve the accessibility of our space or resources please let us know! Email ubc.bikecoop@gmail.com.

Our History

The AMS Bike Co-op was founded in the spring of 1998 by a group of very dedicated students. The venture was financially backed by the AMS Innovative Projects Fund, Trek, and other supporters. The original purpose of the co-op was to build a shared fleet of purple and yellow bicycles which could be used by students to reduce the number of car trips on campus. This initiative was hugely successful, and continues to be a foundation of the co-op’s programming. After the initial success of this program, the co-op continued to expand its operations, gained a core of dedicated volunteers and became a hub for cycling on campus.

The Bike Kitchen

The Bike Kitchen is a non-profit community bike shop that was created to provide a space for students and other community members to learn how to use our tools and parts to maintain, repair, and build their own bicycles. The Bike Kitchen also recycles abandoned and donated bikes to provide students with reliable and reasonably priced bicycles. The Bike Kitchen was founded through BEST (Better Environmentally Sound Transportation) and managed temporarily through Our Community Bikes. In 1999, the Bike Kitchen was handed over to the Co-op. Since this time, the Co-op’s board of directors are in charge of appointing a manager to oversee the operations of the shop. In practice, the two organizations work side by side to run and develop programming.