#BikewithAlan

#BikeWithAlan is a way to remember FCCB’s long-time bike mechanic and friend, Alan Tucker. Alan rode all over the Metro area on various bikes that he’d restored at FCCB. He loved to post photos from memorable spots around town and added captions that were quintessentially AlanWe have organized Alan’s photos & comments into folders and have named the collection: Alan’s Town, a photographic bicycle tour of the greater Louisville area!  Browse the photos here and let’s continue the ride!  

Join us and celebrate Alan’s life by recreating his photos. To #BikeWithAlan: 

  1. Ride to a spot that inspires you and 
  2. Share your photo with the hashtag #BikeWithAlan.

From now through Derby, we will collect your photos posted with the #BikeWithAlan tagline and share them at a memorial event held in Alan’s honor on his birthday in late June.

The only rule is to use the #BikeWithAlan hashtag!  Need some ideas? Here are three examples:

EXAMPLE 1: Upload picture(s) normally on Facebook or other social media platform and simply add tagline #BikeWithAlan before you hit “Post.”

EXAMPLE 2: Add personal message on top of photo, and share to social  media with  #BikeWithAlan

EXAMPLE 3: Make new image with recreated photo together on canvas with original Alan photo, and share to social media with #BikeWithAlan

Spotlighting Donations

At FCCB, we are fortunate to receive a massive number of donations from our members, local bike shop owners, and members of our local community. Most of our visitors know from our website, Social Media and word of mouth that we have quite a few awesome bikes for sale at great prices. But, we do more behind the scenes that people may not hear that much about. I am of course talking about the donations of bikes that we make to other organizations and local non-profits. We have been able over the past few months to make use of over 50 bikes by donating them to groups like Pedal Power, whose shop is pictured here.Pedal Power Workshop at Beargrass Christian Church 

We are happy to assist Pedal Power with donations as they work to fulfill their mission of providing bicycles to refugees, houseless persons, local shelter programs and employees at Churchill Downs. It is also a way for us to pursue our goal of providing reliable transportation to members of our community. We strive not to let any bike go to waste. And we are humbled to provide support to groups that share in that effort.

Another group that makes massive effort at improving the lives of members of our community through providing reliable transportation is Wayside Wheels. Located at the Wayside Mission, Wayside Wheels focuses on assisting Wayside clients while promoting a safe and healthy lifestyle by offering group rides and support in learning about bicycle repair and maintenance. They also will provide bikes to Wayside clients when they are available.

Andy Dyson at Wayside Wheels next to a donation of 11 bikes from FCCB.

The third and final group that FCCB is happy to assist with donations is the La Casita Center in Old Louisville. La Casita is a community based network of workers, volunteers and members that come together to support each other in the community through classes, workshops, support groups, and resource sharing initiatives. La Casita focuses on accompanying families in the Latinx community to facilitate empowering families and strive towards long term systemic change. FCCB was very happy to have made a donation of 16 children and teen sized bikes during the holiday season to La Casita Center.

FCCB continues to make positive effort at fulfilling our mission of teaching about bike maintenance and repair, as well as providing low cost transportation. Making donations such as these is another way that we work towards these goals. Look forward to seeing us next time you stop in and ask what other fun projects we’re working on!

Biking in at Shelby Park!

Pleased to have been invited to Hal and Ben’s Bike in last Saturday at Shelby Park, Falls City Bikeworks along with the Olmsted Parks Conservancy, who hosted the event, and other local organizations and vendors contributed to making this bike night a hit with local community members!

Our staff and volunteers assisted members of the community with exciting activities like building DIY panniers out of kitty litter boxes. They were also available to answer questions, make minor bike adjustments or repairs and offer advice or conversation.

Alan and Amanda assisted people with DIY innovation

Featuring live music from local artists, free play areas for our next generation of cycling enthusiasts, food trucks and West Sixth Brewery selling refreshments, the fun didn’t stop even after dark when the selected movie, Microcosmos, was showing on a large inflatable screen.

Join Falls City Community Bikeworks at our booth during the next Bike-In on July 20th at Bingham Park and ask us how you can help support our mission!

FCCB Recognizes Extraordinary Volunteer: Everett Lancaster

In just a few months, FCCB volunteer Everett Lancaster has gone from first-timer to shop regular, and has made a lot of friends and learned a lot of bike skills in the process.  Everett breezed through his eight volunteer hours to earn a Sweat Equity Membership, and then kept coming back to give more of his time to our community.  He’s found a new bike (A Norco cruiser) for himself and fixed a few dozen bikes for others.  Everett has confidence in the bike shop and eagerly picks up new and more challenging repair tasks each time he visits the shop.  We’re glad to have him as a part of our community!Extraordinary Volunteer!

For all these reasons, FCCB recognizes Everett Lancaster as an Extraordinary Volunteer for February 2019.  Thank you, Everett!

Here’s a short interview with Everett, so our members and readers can get to know him better:

FCCB: What’s the best part about volunteering at FCCB?
Everett: This is the best thing that ever happened to me in life. I have good teachers like Nate (Pinney) and Russ (Hisle), and Alan (Tucker) – you’ve taught me things I never thought I could learn. I’m glad to be working with the community members here.

FCCB: Why do you ride? What’s your favorite ride/route?
Everett: My favorite route? – from home to Fall City, it’s simple and easy. Riding bikes is a miracle thing I’ve always done, I’ve always been riding bikes.

FCCB: What’s the most interesting skill you’ve learned while volunteering with FCCB?
Everett: Rebuilding axles, cranks, and how to properly use a workstand – where to clamp the bike on the seatpost.

FCCB: Tell us about your bike – do you have a favorite bike now, or perhaps one from your past?
Everett: The bike I have now is a ‘69 classic beach cruiser – black and white and blue. I’m also a ‘69. I recently got the bike for Valentine’s Day.

FCCB: What can FCCB do better to serve you and others?
Everett: We’re already improving, we’re doing really well and I’ve seen a lot of bikes go out the door and back out onto the street with new rider.

FCCB: Anything else you’d like to add?
Everett: Bikes are a great thing to have, but you have to take care of them. If you take care of your bike, your bike can help take care of you. It can be frustrating to work on your bike sometimes, but the people at FCCB are there to help me learn how to solve new bike problems.

FCCB recognizes Extraordinary Volunteer: Shane Dolleris

Shane Dolleris has been a regular presence at the FCCB Logan Street shop for many months (years?) and has been a devoted volunteer who’s always willing to pitch in with shop tasks large and small. Shane is good at identifying and tackling tasks that have gone overlooked, and often suggests new ideas for improvements and then executes them! He recently volunteered himself to take down a pile of scrap bikes and salvage parts from them.

Shane built his aluminum road bike from a bare frame using parts and supplies from FCCB, and we’ve all learned a lot about parts compatibility while working to get Shane’s bike completed.  It’s something of a right-of-passage among our volunteer mechanics to struggle with seemingly-similar but ultimately incompatible bottom bracket standards (e.g. Shimano’s Hollowtech II vs. FSA MegaExo – see images), and Shane has patiently worked his way through the puzzle of assembling, testing, disassembling, swapping, reassembling, and then doing it all over again while trying to put a bike together from salvaged parts.

FSA MegaExo bottom bracket

Shimano Hollowtech II bottom bracket

We asked Shane to answer a few questions so our readers can get to know him better:

FCCB: What’s the best part about volunteering at FCCB?
Shane: Being a part of a community that is passionate about cycling; that’s the best part!

FCCB: Why do you ride? What’s your favorite ride/route?
Shane: Fitness, freedom; and money (note: Shane rides his bike as part of his job!). The whole stretch of River Road; it never gets old.

FCCB: What’s the most interesting skill you’ve learned while volunteering with FCCB?
Shane: Paying attention to the fine adjustments, it makes a mile of difference.

FCCB: Tell us about your bike – do you have a favorite bike now, or perhaps one from your past?
Shane: My bike is a Schwinn Fastback 9 speed road bike, with a super light double butted frame and a carbon fiber fork. I bought it from FCCB for my birthday; got it for a steal. Thanks, John (FCCB Co-Founder John Krueger).

FCCB: What can FCCB do better to serve you and others?
Shane: FCCB is a great service to the community already. Letting the whole city know about this great shop would only be better!

FCCB recognizes Extraordinary Volunteer: Alan Tucker

If you’ve spent more than a few moments at FCCB over the past few years, you’ve likely received some help from Alan Tucker, FCCB’s volunteer mechanic extraordinaire! Alan has volunteered countless hours in the service of our shop community, and has restored dozens of bicycles for sale or re-donation.  He puts special attention into each restoration, and goes above and beyond when carefully detailing vintage road bikes, especially. Alan is always willing to offer a helping hand when FCCB needs help outside the shop too – he’s been a regular presence at our mobile-workstation events around the city, including Cyclouvia, Hal and Ben’s Bike-In, and at Churchill Downs’ Backside Learning Center. Alan has volunteered hundreds of hours at FCCB, far more than any other volunteer, and has become an intrinsic part of our shop membership. Alan – we are truly thankful for your contributions to the FCCB community!

As a small token of FCCB’s gratitude, Alan received a new USB-rechargeable LED headlight and taillight for his wintertime after-dark rides along the waterfront and to Indiana over the Big Four Bridge.

(Note that FCCB has “made it official” and contracted Alan to serve as Bike Restoration Specialist as of January 2019 to help refurbish our backlog of vintage road bikes)

Alan Tucker with a freshly restored road bike and a new set of LED lights.

We asked Alan to answer a few questions so our readers can get to know him better:

FCCB: What’s the best part about volunteering at FCCB?
Alan: Meeting new people who want to learn and sharing time.

FCCB: Why do you ride? What’s your favorite ride/route?
Alan: For fun and health. I love to ride and explore.

FCCB: What’s the most interesting skill you’ve learned while volunteering with FCCB?
Alan: Talking to strangers and having something to share with them

FCCB: Tell us about your bike – do you have a favorite bike now, or perhaps one from your past?
Alan: I have several good bikes. My Schwinn aluminum 564 has 100,000 thousand miles on the frame.  I have used up a lot of tires, chains, and cassettes.

FCCB: What can FCCB do better to serve you and others?
Alan: Listen to my ideas.

(Alan gets straight to the point!)

 

FCCB recognizes Extraordinary Volunteer: Lydia Stephens

Falls City Community BikeWorks is fortunate to have friendly and resourceful volunteers.  We’d like to recognize Lydia Stephens as an Extraordinary Volunteer for her commitment to our bike shop and community – she’s been a regular presence at the shop for several months, and has continued to volunteer long after earning her Sweat Equity Membership!  In addition to our thanks and appreciation, Lydia will receive an FCCB T-shirt and $20 shop credit that can be used for new bar tape, a new chain, cables, etc.

Lydia Stephens – FCCB Extraordinary Volunteer

We asked Lydia to answer a few questions so our readers can get to know her better:

FCCB: What’s the best part about volunteering at FCCB?
Lydia: My favorite thing about volunteering at FCCB has been growing in my knowledge and skills with bike repair! I’ve learned a lot from all the other volunteers as well and it’s been pretty fascinating to learn hands on how to identify and fix things on a bike that I can apply at home or on the road with my own set of wheels.

FCCB: Why do you ride? What’s your favorite ride/route?
I ride mainly for exercise and personal enjoyment! I was part of a tandem bike racing team for 4 years at school and that’s had me hooked ever since!
My favorite route is the Heritage Trail that snakes through the neighborhoods of Terre Haute, IN! It’s a great way to see beauty of the community in a simple way.

FCCB: What’s the most interesting skill you’ve learned while volunteering with FCCB?
How to fix a flat tire! I used to take my bike into a shop every time, but now that I’ve learned the skill myself, it’s so much easier for me to do it on my own.

FCCB: Tell us about your bike – do you have a favorite bike now, or perhaps one from your past?
I currently ride a Dolce Elite road bike, but my favorite bike that I’ve ridden was a Giant, my very first road bike.

FCCB: What can FCCB do better to serve you and others?
We definitely could use more space to work with at FCCB! There are so many good things happening there for the benefit of its members and the surrounding community, but the impact could be even greater given more resources and room to serve well!

Lydia is right about needing more space! During Open Shop days in Fall 2018, FCCB regularly saw 30 visitors or more, with 8 or more bike workstations in progress at any given time!  Below is a panoramic photo of a busy shop day – it’s a crowded shop, but everyone is friendly and we’re always willing to make room for new community members!

Lydia Stephens is shown center-left in a white sweatshirt, working with Alan Tucker on a vintage bike restoration.

 

Growing our circle of friends!

FCCB is always interested in making new connections and partnerships in the community to help us expand our mission of helping others learn bike repair skills, and connecting people in need of a bike with a safe and affordable ride.

Last Sunday (12/9/2018) we were happy to meet Mildred, the Community Liaison at La Casita Center, and her husband, Greg, and volunteers. FCCB offered a tour of our shop, and explained to our visitors from La Casita how we assist our community with bike-skills education, and by providing low-cost transportation. We donated a refurbished commuter-style mountain bike to La Casita, who accepted it on behalf of Juan, an individual within the La Casita community network.

La Casita is a local non-profit dedicated to enhancing the well being of the Latino community within Louisville. Founded in 2005, La Casita has been able to create community spaces dedicated to support, education and empowerment as well as providing programming services. La Casita has been able to offer accompaniment and support to up to 300 families per year!


Jesús and Juan from La Casita receiving a donation. Juan stated that he will be now be able to commute to work much more easily!

Thanks for stopping by, La Casita!  Best luck with your mission, and keep in touch!

A big Thank You to the Clydesdale Athletics Club!

Members of the Clydesdale Athletics Club stopped in to our shop last Wednesday to donate several bikes and a large box stuffed full of much needed helmets. These cycling helmets will be given to members of the community to promote safety while riding. We were happy to have received this donation and we will look forward to offering these bikes to the public at a low cost in support of our mission to serve the public by funneling bikes to those in need of reliable transportation.

The aptly named Clydesdales were able to enjoy a tour of our facilities and spend time talking to our lead volunteer mechanics, Alan and Kenneth. The President of the club, Greg, even offered assistance to one of our regular customers during their visit. At FCCB, we are always enthused to have new visitors to the shop and we wish the Clydesdales the best in their endeavors.

Visit the Clydesdale Athletics Club website here: http://www.clydesdaleac.org/

We are grateful to the Clydesdales and look forward to seeing more of them in the future!