Dear friends of Back Alley Bikes:
As winter turns into spring, Detroit's cyclists can look forward to some exciting changes in Back Alley Bikes. We are re-focusing our efforts on two new projects: a revamped youth education program, under the Back Alley Bikes' name, and a full-service retail bicycle shop, under the guise of The Hub.
Back Alley Bikes began as a youth education project eight years ago, working with Detroit Summer to share bicycle knowledge for use in community projects. For many of our volunteers and collective members, youth education was a paramount part of the shop. Over the past few years, it has been difficult to sustain our youth programs because of popular demand for the Tuesday-night open shop, and because demographic changes in the Cass Corridor affected youth participation. The immense growth in Drop-In attendance effectively depleted our core volunteer group's energy, and our organization was unable to grow at a rate to accommodate the community's needs. We also had difficulties this past Fall with trouble-making members of our core collective. This past Fall and Winter has been a difficult time in the organization's history. We are currently closed for the Winter. However, we are turning it around to be a time of transformation, and are happy to announce that the shop won't be closed forever. The motto of Detroit seems relevant to us at this time; sperimus meloria, resurget cineribus: "She shall arise from her ashes, we hope for better things."
Members of the Back Alley Bikes collective has accumulated an amazing amount of experience serving Detroit's cycling community over the years. We have also solicited and received feedback from numerous patrons over the years about how to make the shop better. With this knowledge and experience, we have begun building the foundations for the new structure. Here is a quick overview of our plans:
THE HUB will be a 501c3 Non-Profit with its own Bylaws and Board of Directors. The current Board of Directors includes Ben Chodoroff, Chelsea Haggerson, Joey Rodriguez-Tanner, James Stevenson, Jack VanDyke, and Bec Young. Eventually, we will replace our board member positions with other qualified people, so we can continue to do the work on the shop floor. In 2008, THE HUB Non-Profit will oversee two main projects: Back Alley Bikes and The Hub Bicycle shop.
* BACK ALLEY BIKES will be the youth education arm of THE HUB. It will continue the quality youth programming that Back Alley Bikes has been doing for the past eight years, like Youth Earn A Bike and Mechanics In Training. BACK ALLEY BIKES will also develop youth programming for use in schools and other youth institutions. Funding for youth programming will come through grants, fundraisers, and individual donors.* THE HUB BICYCLE SHOP will be the full-service bicycle retail business owned by THE HUB. It will be open six days a week to fill a much-needed void in Detroit's bicycle service market, including the sale of bicycles, accessories and parts, and bicycle repairs. Profits from THE HUB BICYCLE SHOP will go back into THE HUB Non-Profit, and the shop will also provide a training ground for youth taking part in Back Alley Bikes' education programs.We are excited to have the opportunity to rebuild the shop in what we believe is a sustainable structure. We believe this structure will be strong enough to be a Detroit institution for years to come, yet flexible enough to incorporate new programs when the need is there. Most of all, we hope that you'll join us in developing this vision. We need your input and help to excel at our current plans and to create new ones. Let us know how you might want to get involved.
The retail shop will open its doors at this location on March 1st, while we continue renovations. We hope to see you there at some point in the near future!
Click here for a map - we are in the alley west of Cass Ave.