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Bike Pirates
Bike Pirates is a Bloordale bike co-op where volunteers fill the workstations servicing rides. This 4 ½-year old non-profit collective has ambitions beyond bike repair, with a garden and kitchen to help feed their community, and workshops offsite for outreach. The co-op is always looking for volunteers with administratvie and office skills, just in case you're doubtful about your skills with a spanner.
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you know what makes an great bike repair shop one where they'll actually explain it to you.
you know what makes and amazing shop, Bike Pirates, where they'll do all the above and teach you ow to fix it!
Of course, I still made a generous donation, but I don't think I'll be going back to this shop again. Very disappointing.
Pirates is hectic, that's for sure. Both overwhelmed and overwhelming on a busy day, and I get the impression that there's a bit of burnout in some of the old hands there. (On the other hand on a quiet day it's an awesome place with some great people.)
That said, volunteers not confident in everything they're doing is something you'll find at any DIY repair place (but not the attitude) -- one of the perks of volunteering is learning bike repair, so there's always people who know some things but not all. Sometimes it's necessary to go "Hey, are you sure about this, let's double-check with someone else..."
pretty much left to do stuff on ur own but thats the way i like it. The parts selection was wonderful and i like the vintage collection downstairs. all in all i give it a thumbs up for providing the space to work. not for newbie and general knowledge is required to be successful
Part of it is you have to be patient - if they're busy, you might be stuck waiting for a few minutes until someone can come help you with the next part of your repair. But it was a a great experience, and they served Thai food in the middle of it!