Ever since we launched the Social
Bike Business program I’ve been attracted to bike kitchens. It’s hard to
imagine a better sort of place than these comfortable spaces where young people
gather around the shared goal of repairing bicycles. But something always
bothers me whenever I visit one.
For those not familiar with bike kitchens, the concept
started in Los Angeles
in the early 2000s when an eco-village turned an old kitchen into a shared bike
repair area. This repair space was stocked with collectively owned tools and managed
by volunteers who offered hands-off suggestions on repairs so that visitors
would learn bike repair themselves. Word spread quickly about this cool concept
and now, just over a decade later, you’d be hard pressed to find a large city
in either the U.S. or Europe without something called a “bike kitchen.” Bike
co-ops and collectives often follow a bike kitchen model.
I believe that most bike kitchens share many of the goals of
Social Bike Business; that serving the bicycle needs of disadvantage people was
once a top goal for them. My question in the title of this post comes from personal
experience and my curiosity as to whether the shift I have noticed is
intentional.
When I travel, I always buy a used bike to ride during my
stay. If the bike I buy needs a specialty bike tool and there is a bike kitchen
in that city, I go there first, usually to find it closed or that day set aside
for particular sorts of people I wouldn’t describe myself as.
Even though bike kitchens haven’t been available when I’ve
needed them, I often like to drop by before I leave their city to see what they
do, hang out with fun bike folks, and even help out if they need me. I’ve enjoyed
many a fun evening at bike kitchens.
What bothers me is that I rarely see impoverished people at
bike kitchens. I also don’t see middle-aged or elderly people nor do I see
people of different cultures or even types of cycling. The vast majority have
been young people with plenty of income and time to spare, not the faces of the
stress and oppression of poverty.
Something is keeping disadvantaged people away from the bike
kitchens I’ve visited. The random hours and designated days for certain types
of people would be a bit tough to figure out, but not impossible, especially if
you’re desperate to get your bike fixed affordably. It could be the hands off,
learn-by-experience principle—poverty is not just a lack of money, it is a lack
of time as well. When a low-paying job steals your whole day and all your
energy, it’s all you can do to get home and enjoy a few hours with your family
before bedtime. You don’t have time to learn bike repair by trial and error.
Bike kitchens are fun. They have helped many a young person become
a confident cyclist and often find a career with bicycles. This is very
important for the growth of the bike culture in the U.S.
and Europe .
Should I even worry that bike kitchens seem to have become
elitist? Should they? Perhaps this elitism is deliberate as each group of
volunteers realizes their limitations and focuses on helping people like
themselves. Focusing limited resources is a good thing. Still, I can’t help
wondering whether or not this is what most bike kitchens intend. Please offer
your thoughts in the comments section.
