THE FREERIDE PROJECT

Freeride Montpelier promotes bicycling by providing affordable used bikes and community-wide access to the tools, skills and information necessary for bike maintenance and safe riding. Freeride is nonprofit, and completely volunteer-run. Everyone is welcome to join us in building bikes – a bike for one’s self, bikes for the community, or an experiment with anything else – and we strive to make the shop as comfortable as possible for a diversity of people and a variety of skill levels.

Used Bikes

Our volunteer mechanics, when they aren’t helping members, spend some of their time fixing up used bikes. We keep these bikes affordable and also are open to trades.

Earn-A-Bike

For those wishing to exchange time for a bike instead of money, we have an earn-a-bike program. After 8 hours of work at the shop, one may have access to our stock of used frames and parts in storage, and may build a bike from this stock with the help of our mechanics.

Membership

Members pay yearly dues for access, during shifts, to the space and tools, as well as the assistance of our volunteer mechanics. Members also get access to cheap used parts.
The annual membership fee is $0-$30, sliding scale.

Volunteering

Whether regular mechanics, workday helpers, or occasional professional services, volunteers are the backbone of Freeride.

Mechanics sign onto a weekly shift - no experience is necessary! The head mechanic and other mechanics on the shift will help a new mechanic learn as she or he goes along. It is a great way to learn, and a great way to help.

On occasion, Freeride will need to mobilize many volunteers for moving bikes, setting up events, and so on. Announcements for these occasions will be sent over our email news list and posted on this site.

We also rely on volunteer power for public relations/outreach, accounting and fundraising, legal and organizational planning, and heading shifts.

Donations

We gratefully accept any donations of bicycles, tools, parts, supplies, and funding. We also have an evolving wish list posted in the shop. Donations to Freeride cannot currently be considered tax deductible, though we expect to offer this avenue in the near future.

Mission

FreeRide Montpelier is a collectively-run, volunteer non-profit promoting bicycling in Montpelier and surrounding communities. We provide education, information and tools for maintaining and riding bicycles, regardless of individuals’ economic situation.

Statement of Values

As a collectively-organized space welcoming all community members, Freeride strives to be open and tolerant. We reject discriminations based on race, class, gender, sexuality, religion, nationality/ethnicity, age, ability and political beliefs. We ask that anyone using the Freeride space respect these principles.

In addition, Freeride strives to uphold and advocate the following:
- economic accessibility
- gender equality
- environmental responsibility
- promotion of bike culture
- civic engagement, community development, and community service
- personal empowerment
- non-hierarchical organizing and direct participation
- road safety
- participation in a community-based economy

Programs

• Bike Recycling: refurbishing and selling/leasing used bikes at sliding-scale costs. Specifically, we provide opportunities for low-income individuals and organizations to own bikes.
• Work-Exchange: trade volunteer work in the shop for membership fees or bike costs.
• Community Bikes: providing and maintaining bikes for free use in Montpelier.
• Education: workshops and playdays for youth and adults.
• Women and Trans Night: working to overcome the gender-gap in bike culture and the world.
• Bike Art and Freak Bikes: cut them up, re-create them, and ride them!
• Advocacy: politics-free advocacy for bike use, bike riders and bike programs in Montpelier.
• Community Service: providing a venue for individuals to complete community service requirements.
• Events, Galas, Fests, Hoedowns and Celebrations of All Things Bike!

Policy

Decision Making:
We decided on the following decision-making procedure: A steering team will make the operating decisions that need to be made about the coop as they become necessary; at monthly meetings, the month’s decisions will go up for review to members who attend; members can vote at these meetings if they have attended one previously or if they have contributed at least 2 hours of volunteer time to the shop in the past year; agendas and minutes of these meetings will be made public, and everything will be open to review in subsequent meetings.

Alcohol/Illegal drugs:
Alcohol, smoking and illegal drugs are not permitted in the space, and people using the space must not be noticeably intoxicated.

Policy Policy:
We intend to avoid superfluous policies.

Comments? Questions? Email us at: freeridemp@riseup.net