A summer 2012 recap, and look ahead to winter 2012/13

We had an enormously successful 6 months, more than ever was anticipated.

We’ll start at the start of the season…
Fender Bender offered it’s first mechanic training experience (now called “Rags to Wrenches”) in April 2012 – there were 5 people that completed the 6 week training !!

We engaged with a variety of in depth repair skills and bike maintenance techniques – from bike anatomy and proper tool use, to patching flat tires, over-hauling wheel hubs, derailleur adjustments, getting our own “bearings” together, changing cables and housing, and even silk screening our own Fender Bender t-shirts, and more.

The “Rags to Wrenches” mechanic training is more than building bike repair skills – it is community building – where the bike is used as a vehicle of transportation and transformation in our own lives and our communities. The class applies bicycle metaphors to hands on activities that allow us to explore our imaginations and experiences, then guide us to new possibilities of healing, growth, and adventure.

These are pics from the April class, a few open shops – the lovely faces of folks who made magic happen all summer at the shop!

In addition we were able to….
- Coordinate 8 hours of open-shop each week
- Facilitate a 7wk mechanic training at Detroit Community High School http://www.detcomschools.org/
- Tuesday eve bike maintenance classes at Wheelhouse Detroit !! http://www.wheelhousedetroit.com/
- Operate the first ever Allied Media Conference bike lending library http://alliedmedia.org/news-tags/bikes
- Organize and clean the space!
- Led youth and adult group rides on the regular
Young Educators Alliance to name one http://www.facebook.com/YoungEducatorsAlliance
- Hosted the Full Moon night-time ride every month
- Offered bike rentals, and re-furbished bike sales all summer….

BEST of all…there’s a collective now!! Eight peoples deep

How we came together…
Organically and from the ground-up. Each person had a different reason they were there: love of bicycles, to hang out, learn bike repair skills, seeking a gender non-conforming, women, and/or queer positive space, to build community, to bike ride with a group, to ride a bike for the first time – wow! empowerment, curiosity, self-exploration, etc. Whatever the reason was, or as different as each initial interest may have been – we quickly found common passions and deep currents that fussed us in our various walks of life and diversity. This dynamic is the backbone to building strong relationships, understanding, and perspectives in the shop – ones that reflect in the principles and practices we are developing together to guide our work at Fender Bender.

Our goal continues to be more than a bike shop – we want a space where women, queer, and gender non-conforming people can comfortably access bike repair skills, a bicycle, lead workshops and be leaders, host group bike rides, connect to our bodies in a healthy and healing way, build relationships, share stories, and shine in our own unique contribution to our communities, AND the cycling culture of Detroit. We seek to organize in a way to undo harmful stereotypes and damaging expectations, and create space to foster and encourage a new narrative and ways of living for women, queer, and gender non-conforming folks to thrive and share in a rich culture all it’s own right here in Detroit.

Fall/Winter overview
As the season turns toward cold weather and winter we will host events, bike rides, and conversations to connect people and keep the ball rolling. We initially planned to continue programming and open shop throughout the fall and winter – but we’re going to take a break for the next few months (perhaps to open for winter hours in January, but we’ll be in touch). We’ll take this time to reflect and apply what we’ve learned from this season, and physically build into the shop – so we can emerge more cohesive, organized, and clear in our work; what we can offer and how we plan to collaborate in the space.

We will continue to sell refurbished bicycles, bike rentals for multi-day use with groups-events-conferences-etc., light repair work and tune-ups by request. Fender Bender Detroit is a 100% volunteer-run project. All bicycle sales, rentals, and tune-ups help us to financially fuel open shop, workshops, tool and equipment purchases, rent, and material costs. Bicycle donations allow us to provide bikes to people for no or low cost in our “Rags to Wrenches” mechanic training, and also our “Build-a-Bike, Build Community” youth workshops. If you have a bike donation, contact us via this blog, email, or facebook – we are very flexible and can arrange a time for you to drop off, or we are happy to come to you!

As alwayz, if you have ideas or imagine how we can work together – holler !! And if you’re interested in helping with workdays during the next few months, email fenderbenderdetroit@gmail.com, leave a comment here, or message us on the facebook. Thank you!

Bike Love, Fender Bender Detroit

Regular OPEN SHOP schedule + MORE to start @ Fender Bender 7/16/2012

Regular community-access shop hours start @ Fender Bender Detroit!!

There are 2 main ways you can engage with community-access opportunities: OPEN SHOP and BIKE BREAK-DOWN days…

1. OPEN SHOP – there are 3 main ways you can engage with open shop time!!

a. You can bring your bike to repair or perform maintenance work with our tools and guidance our a mechanic assistant if needed…

b. If you are interested in building a bike, we do have bikes in various conditions that need repair to get up and running. These bikes can be bought for $25, and may need new parts, or repair that will cost additional fees, ex. cables, cable housing, inner tubes, new tires, derailleur, etc. Once you purchase a bike to restore, we can assist you in restoring the bicycle. This may take anywhere from 1-10hrs of work, so your bicycle will not be ready for riding immediatley – and will require you to be present and available during the open shop hours to co-restore the bike with the assistance of one of our mechanics, while you establish intimate knowledge of and relationship with your soon-to-be bicicleta

c. The third way you can use open shop hours time to volunteer time with us: organizing the shop, parting out bikes, and sorting thru bike part inventory. Taking bikes apart is a great way to become familiar with the bicycle and all its working parts and wonder…. also you will get to know the tools you need to use and for what

OPEN SHOP HOURS: Mondays 7-9pm, Thursdays 7-10pm

2. BIKE BREAK-DOWN – there is one way to engage with bike break-down hours!!

a. This time is dedicated to parting out bicycles that are not going to be restored. Bike parts taken off these bikes will be used to stock our inventory of used bike parts. Its important to create a supplies of parts that can be used for restoring other bikes, and during community-access open shop hours

Taking apart bikes is the BEST way to learn about bikes, how they work, and the right tools to use and when!!!

BIKE BREAK-DOWN HOURS: Fridays 6-9pm, and every 1st + 3rd Tuesday of the month 6:30-9:30pm

These shop hours are available specifically for women, transgender, queer, and gender non-conforming cyclist in Detroit. Respect safe space !!

If you have any questions, concerns, ideas, and/or ways you think we could collaborate with you or your organization – plz let us know! Share this info with anyone you think would like to get involved, and/or appreciate/needs/wants time and space like this to learn and grow!

Looking forward to seeing you and your bike at the shop soon!

Big bike love!

Fender Bender Detroit

The Dudey-Free Zone bicycle documentary

“Dudey-Free Zone is a 26-minute documentary on the importance of women’s/transgender/gender-queer bike spaces”

Here’s one example of a recently made bicycle documentary that focuses on the joy of learning bike repair and riding as women, transgender, and queer people but the challenges of doing so in a male dominated “dudey” domain….

check out the wordpress here -

http://dudeyfreezone.wordpress.com/the-film/

watch the video here –

http://vimeo.com/35672630

Enjoy!

Cycling the Exurbs

As a city dweller, sometimes it’s easy to forget that the majority of land making up These United States, isn’t contained under concrete anxiously awaiting it’s turn as the next foundation for a Starbucks, but way the hell out in the middle of nowhere, with maybe some corn on top of it.

The land between the urban and rural is made up of sprawling suburbs, and a new kind of combo-pack called an exurb. Distant strip malls and forgotten outposts of manufactured homes, where sidewalks go to die.

Anyone who has ridden her bike more than about 30 miles in any given direction (unless they were riding into the ocean) has undoubtedly encountered this awkward mess of infrastructure and pseudo-development. Anyone who has ridden further, can tell you about the terrifying network of two lane highways that stitch together massive swaths of raw land out in America’s farm country, where drivers are categorically impatient and reckless. Not unlike most city drivers, but in the country, all this recklessness happens at top speeds with no shoulder and dozens of miles between gas stations/ambulances.

Some people take entire bike tours with the express purpose of exploring these roving fields of genetically modified subsidized agriculture that make our country so great, but later on, when they are back in that new Starbucks that just opened, uploading photos from their sweet tour, they will still think of city cycling as preeminent and all other cycling as extracurricular.

This thought pattern does a huge disservice to a great number of bike enthusiasts who actually don’t live in cities, but in these exurbs and rural outposts, for whom a commute to work might take 30 miles on dirt roads when the deer are still out and the sun hasn’t boiled the pavement yet. People for whom the point of cycling isn’t to run to the grocery store and back because that would take 4 hours, but will ride for pleasure, often up and down the same stretch of highway on their thrifted mountain bike every afternoon.

In the suburbs, when amenities are marginally closer, but infrastructure is equally lacking, cycling can be even more dangerous. Anywhere a sidewalk exists, drivers will wonder why you’re not on it. Traffic speeds are generally higher than in cities, and the roads tend to be wider with more lanes and tons of large, blind driveways leading to and from businesses along the strip of road, all of which can be dangerous and inhibiting for cyclists. It is in these places that I have seen some of the most dangerous riding of my life. People regularly riding in the street against the flow of traffic (although that happens in cities too but at lower speeds and with more traffic lights to slow everyone down), or riding on sidewalks (also against the flow) with grocery bags hanging from the handlebars, disobeying all traffic laws with no helmet, and dubious components. In places where the cycling community is not as large or as visible, there is very little peer pressure to keep the errant, unsafe cyclist in line. It’s a concrete jungle out there and it’s every Cannondale for herself. That’s how people die.

Part of the mission of Fender Bender is to make cycling accessible to people who don’t have resources where they live, which is often the case with folks who are stationed outside the city center. In areas of sprawl, car culture is dominant in practice and mentality. We design communities that are so heavily dependent on motor vehicles that even the thought of riding a bike a mile away to the library or the bank feels like riding to Siberia. Getting over the mental block of car-dependence is the greatest challenge to riding in the outposts, but people are getting over that hurdle more and more every day and we are excited to encourage it.

The simple fact of riding is that the more visible cyclists are, the more accepted it becomes as practice, which will inherently lead to more cautious drivers and better cycling infrastructure. Awareness leads to progress. Those who are riding on the fringe of cities and in farm towns, have the daunting task of raising visibility at a time when car culture has not yet caught up. Those who make the leap, knowing that the only way to make something safe is to do it while it’s still dangerous, are doing a great service for all the two-wheelers who come after them. We hear often that people ride on sidewalks because they assume it’s more dangerous to ride in the road where the cars are. This is patently false. FALSE. Don’t ride on the sidewalk! If you think cars aren’t looking for you in the road, they definitely aren’t looking for you on the sidewalk, and when they come flying out of their driveway, you are going to suffer. If you are in the road, they can see you and move around you. If you are on the sidewalk, you are telling vehicles that they don’t need to respect your space in the road because you have ceded it to them. Don’t give them the road! You pay for that thing too!! Get on it! The only way for us to achieve visibility and acceptance, is to create such an intransigent presence that cars have no choice but to respect us. But it takes a few brave, relentless pioneers to start that visibility and teach other cyclists.

Every person who rides a bike is part of the cycling community whether they identify as such or not. We all benefit from visibility and safety. The duty is on all of us to teach each other how to ride safe, be respectful, and implement positive changes for cyclists in our communities. By focusing our bike activism on cities and urban dwellers, we are chopping off a huge number (I would argue, the majority) of cyclists who don’t have the luxury of living within a few miles of a bike shop and definitely don’t have the option of lobbying for bike lanes on the millions of miles of state highways that currently adjoin most of the country. The onus is on all of us to teach bike repair and safety to ourselves and each other so that anyone in any part of the country can have access to the kind of cycling that fits their lives. The invisibility of rural cyclists is intolerable, and only serves to make road riding more dangerous for those who choose it.

If you live in a suburban, exurban, or rural area, why not start a group ride with your neighbors? Or get a bike-pool of folks together twice a week to ride to the grocery store as a group, or ride with your kids to and from school? There are myriad ways to gain visibility while also riding safely. If you’re not sure about the rules of the road or how to navigate city streets by bike, contact us or come to one of our full moon bike rides and get some practice! By gaining visibility and supporting cycling in all it’s forms across all landscapes, we can all make the roads safer for ourselves and others.

See you out there.
Liz + FB

April updates!

It’s been a while since we checked in with everybody, but there is A LOT happening behind the scenes that we can’t wait to share with you!

First, there are a few really interesting articles about bike culture that have come up recently that we wanted to share.
Did you know the average American two-person household could save as much as $825 a month by switching from a car commute to one based on cycling and public transit? SNAP!

Also, new data shows that the lowest earning quarter of Americans make nearly one-third of all bike trips. Cycling is not just for yuppies anymore!

And Congress bums us out by proposing that the Environmental Protection Agency be prevented from regulating greenhouse gasses. Ugh.

As for us, we’re busy getting ourselves ready for the summer season and are excited to see everyone out on the road! This summer, in addition to our regular open shops, we will be offering a twice-monthly drop in class at the Wheelhouse which will cover all the basics of bike repair in just 2 hours! We will teach you how to fix a flat, adjust and repair brakes and derailleurs, diagnose common problems and get moving again! The class is $5 per person and comes with free literature and a patch kit. The class will be open to anyone of any age or gender, but space is limited. The schedule will be up soon, so we’ll keep you updated.

See you out there!

xoxo

Liz + Fender Bender

 

It Gets Better – If you actually make it better

So, everyone’s been pretty stoked about Dan Savage’s new project It Gets Better. If you’re not aware, the project is a collection of video testimony from folks from the whole spectrum of queerdom and their allies. They are home made, heartfelt, utterly beautiful stories all brought with the simple message to queer kids: It Gets Better. If you’re being bullied now, feeling like no one will ever accept you, scared of your family, scared of your church, scared you’ll never find love, these people are all here to tell you that your life will improve and you have so much to live for.

It’s great, right? The perfect antidote to so much gay hatred that queer people hear every day. The only problem though is that telling someone you love and support them might get them to feel a little less hopeless in the short term, but what does it actually do to stop bullying?

I believe in the message of the project. I think if you can give enough hope to a gay kid who is suffering, it may be enough to keep them from killing themselves, which is a huge, HUGE deal. But, despite all the posi-vibes, I think it’s inaccurate to say that these videos are doing anything to actually alleviate the source of gay youth suffering – the fucking bullying.

It seems other people have been thinking the same thing, and one of those people is an awesome woman named Sarah Hoffman who writes a blog all about her experience as a mother of a gender non-conforming child. Take some time to give it a read if you have a minute, but particularly, this post on how to take action beyond words and actually make a meaningful difference to end bullying of queer youth.

She calls out schools in their role as the harbors of bullying and gives educators and parents real tools they can use to teach tolerance, respect, and humanity to children. It really isn’t that hard to teach compassion to a child. It’s an innate trait. Most children are in fact, too empathetic for their own good. They mirror the emotions and behaviors of the people who nurture them. A child does not wake up one day and decide to hate. It has to be taught to them. Intolerance has to be deeply ingrained through their exposure to hateful messaging from parents and family, churches, all manner of media, and other children (whose parents, families, churches and media taught it to them, etc).

I actually find this fact hopeful because it means hate can be unlearned. And furthermore, we can stop it from being taught in the first place. Sarah Hoffman has provided a comprehensive list of tools for parents and teachers to help make this transition possible. Even if a child is not receiving hateful messages from their teachers, their teachers can step up and provide messages of tolerance to counteract the negative ones they are assuredly hearing elsewhere.

This isn’t to say that all kids are haters, or exposed only to hateful messages, but as adults, we have learned how to filter out opinions and messages we don’t agree with as they swirl around us in the media driven milieu of our daily lives, kids do not have that filter. Everything sticks. Let’s try to get something good to stick while we can.

See you out there,
Liz + FB

Dally in the Alley and Call for Art Submissions

Hey friends, we wanted to alert you to some awesome events and opportunities coming up that we hope you’ll join us for!

The first is next Saturday, September 11th when Fender Bender will be moving our open shop into the great outdoors as we set up a mobile repair station at the 33rd annual Dally in the Alley street fair right here in the Cass Corridor. Fender Bender’s highly trained ladiez will be on staff from noon until 7pm to fix your bike, patch your tire, teach you your cone wrench from your crank puller and so much more! All services offered will be free (just like always) but donations are gladly accepted and greatly appreciated (just like always). We’re not exactly sure where on the street we’ll be setting up shop yet, but look for signs the day of and you’ll find us. We are hoping to use this as an opportunity to bring in more awesome supporters and allies, as well as educate more people about bikes, so bring your friends and spread the word! We should also mention that this special Dally-only open shop is 100% gender inclusive, so anyone of any gender can get their bike fixed or gain access to our trove of knowledge. Sweet, right?

In addition, we are in the process of putting together an art auction at the Motor City Brewery to benefit Fender Bender, and we are looking for submissions! Art can be of any media (photography, collage, sculpture, watercolor, blueberry jam, whatever!) and can be any size and any theme. There is no real jurying process, but what we can take will depend on the amount of submissions already received, and we will obviously not be allowing any artwork that is blatantly (or even covertly) bigoted, intolerant, or fucked up. This is a broad statement, especially since art is like, subjective or whatever, but if more than one of us thinks your shit is racist or transphobic or anything even remotely offensive to any group of people or animals, we’re not going to include you in the show. But, that’s not going to happen because you’re all so great and we want your art!!

All proceeds from the show will go to directly benefit our current programming and future growth. The show will most likely be going down in November, but we are still hammering out the details. In the meantime, all submissions can be sent to us at fenderbenderdetroit[at]gmail[dot]com and should include the following:

1. A photo of the piece or link to an external site where we can view it
2. A couple lines about why you’d like to be involved in the show (you don’t need to justify your whole life to us, we just want to know how you got here and why you’d like to contribute. We love new friends!)
3. A little bit about the piece like, it’s dimensions, media details, it’s history or inspiration, and what you’d like to sell it for
4. A very brief artists statement (less than 300 words) that can be included with your piece so people know what you’re about
5. Permission to use a photo of your piece online or in promotional materials surrounding the show (or a polite note opting out of this part)

Also, you’re totally welcome to submit more than one piece, but if you do so, please indicate which you’d prefer to include more just in case we can only accept one due to space.

Thank you all so much for your support. Keep checking back to see updated info about the art show, and we’ll hope to see you all at the Dally next weekend. Yeah!

xoxo
Liz + Fender Bender

Less typing, more biking.

Ok so Fender Bender has still been in full swing even though we haven’t been updating the blog. It’s been a busy summer and we’ve all been very active with riding our bikes, working on projects, educating ourselves, going on adventures…. the list could go on!

But I promise we didn’t just up and disappear after the US Social Forum. I want to add that the forum and our workshops went really well. We met a lot of excellent people who shared their knowledge, experiences, resources, thoughts, and conversations with us. Hello Community! We have lots of new plans brewing for the future of the Fender Bender collective. More on that soon enough.

Our weekly Saturday open shops are still very active so if your bike needs a tune-up or you’d like to just mess around with it and figure things out or if you have any questions, don’t forget about the open shops.

Autumn is creeping in, classes have started for some. Hopefully you get to ride your bike to class. The cooling temperatures in the a.m. are perfect for riding. Raise your heart rate up a bit before you have to go and sit at a desk for hours and hours. Class or no class, the cool nights and mornings are perfect for a bike ride.

Autumn and bike rides! Liz & I will be doing our first century (100 miles) ride coming up on October 9. She is super rad and is coming all the way down to Tennessee so we can ride this together, along with others we are fond of. 100 miles sounds intimidating but it’s also an excellent challenge to work up to. Needless to say, I am stoked! and a little bit nervous. Having friends come all the way down here so we can ride this together takes away the nervousness and adds a lot more fun into the ride though.

If you are looking for a ride in your area, I came across this helpful bikerides.com searching site. There are an assortment of rides for everyone to participate in.

Ok, well that is a very brief update but more to come soon.
Keep riding & be safe out there,
Vanessa & FB

OPPORTUNITIEZ, Y’ALLS!

Hey!!

Here’s a comprehensive guide to all Fender Bender activity during the Social Forum and beyond! We hope to see you at some of these events, there’s so much fun to be had!

First things first:
Fender Bender Open Shops are now EVERY SATURDAY FOR THE REST OF THE SUMMER!
Same time (4-7pm) same place (Back Alley Bikes). Let’s get those bikes in shape for all those late night cruises and daytime commutes to belle isle/work/school/animal rights protests etc.

In addition to the open shops, we have tons of stuff happening during the Social Forum which I alluded to previously, but now have actual information to give you!

Here it is:

Saturday, June 12th 4-7pm – Open Shop*

Saturday, June 19th 4-7pm – Open Shop and Screenprinting Party!*
Fender Bender is currently having a logo made for us, and we’re going to be screenprinting a bunch of shirts and patches with that logo so we have stuff available during the Social Forum. On this Saturday, we will have our regular mechanics around to help you out with any bike issues, and we will also have a screenprinting station set up for anyone who wants to bring in their own t-shirt to have us print on! We are planning to sell our regular t-shirts for $10 to benefit Fender Bender programming, however, anyone who brings their own t-shirt (or hoodie or messenger bag or whatever) on Saturday to print on will receive a discount of $5! Whoa!! Spread the word and get your friends to come out for some cheap shirts, quality bike education, and fun hang out times!!

Tuesday, June 22nd 10am-12pm – Fender Bender Workshop at the USSF
We will be discussing all manner of social justice issues especially pertaining to gender and cultures of oppression. You definitely don’t want to miss this opportunity to share ideas, experiences, knowledge and tactics for overcoming some of the most insidious forms of hatred and the role they play in maintaining the status-quo that keeps so many people of marginalized populations from achieving equality. This will be an active workshop with the hope of producing real outcomes and collating relevant information to support the goals of our programming and the work of participants from other communities. Be prepared to work hard and engage openly! We will be handing out a collection of hand-picked essays and resources from across the spectrum of social justice as a rough encyclopedia of the issues we feel are the most relevant, as well as a sort of field guide of the resources we believe will be instrumental in affecting real and lasting change.

Tuesday, June 22nd 5-8pm – Community Skillshare: Creating a Model for a Fender Bender Bike Shop and Community Space
Fender Bender wants your help creating a real-life road map to creating our own bike shop and community space. This will be held in the Back Alley Bikes Space and is your chance to give us all your hard earned knowledge that you have obtained through your own experiences creating radical community spaces, practicing gender justice, bike programming, economic empowerment, youth empowerment, any experience you have, we want it! We want your ideas, your advice, your warnings, your support, your timelines, your headaches, your legal experience, your financial advice, your contacts, your suppliers, your mom’s tips on home electrical repair, your musings on spelling it “women” or “womyn”. All of it. This is your chance to leave a lasting, real impact on Detroit and its future. We are all capable, talented folks who are working hard to make this happen in our community, but why reinvent the (bike) wheel when we have literally thousands of allies and supporters showing up with the specific goal of helping us figure this stuff out! Let’s make a template that we can use not only to accomplish our current goals, but also one that we can spread far and wide to other communities for the same purpose. Let’s create a rubric for community organizing that works, that lasts, and that anyone can do, because that’s what this is all about. This workshop is open to all people of all genders and identities. We want everyone’s opinions and ideas from across the spectrum!

Saturday, June 26th 10am-12pm – Fender Bender Workshop at the USSF
This will mimic the Tuesday workshop with a few twists since it will be run by different people than the one earlier in the week. Come to this one if you can’t make the Tuesday one, or vice versa!

Saturday, June 26th 4-7pm – Open Shop*
Fix your bike, fix someone else’s bike, bring snacks for your friends, plan a new project, just come!

Sunday, June 27th 7-???pm – Cass Collective to Benefit Fender Bender Detroit
Cass Collective is a monthly event at the Cass Cafe to benefit different non-profits and community groups around Detroit. This month’s Cass Collective will benefit Fender Bender and will feature sweet bands, a bike raffle, and a lot of real cool people feelin stoked. This event is free but we will receive money from the raffle and a percentage of sales at the bar, so please come and tell all your friends! Unofficial Social Forum after party! Give it up for Detroit and possibly win a new bike built by Fender Bender! It’s a win-win!!!

And finally, we’re trying to decide the best day/time to do a group ride with everyone. Be on the lookout for a poll coming up to figure out which day/time would work for everyone and we’ll see what we can come up with. Right now, it’s looking like sometime in the early afternoon on Thursday, but we want your input!

Thanks so much for all your support. We can’t wait to see what comes out of everyone’s hard work. So stoked.

xoxo
Liz + Fender Bender

*Any events marked with an asterisk are specifically dedicated to our vision of safe space for women, transgender and genderqueer individuals. All other events not marked are 100% open to people of all identities. Thank you for respecting our vision and our commitment to the supportive atmosphere that we strive to uphold. Your respect makes better communities possible.

Upward Mobility

Hello darlings,

We wanted to let you know about some upcoming events and also a few developments happening here at Fender Bender HQ in the coming weeks. Here’s the official schedule for the next couple months. Also, you will notice we have nailed down the topics for our next couple skill shares, but are still looking for ideas and suggestions for the future (repeat workshops can be done also!) so send them our way if you’ve got them. All events are ocurring at Back Alley Bikes, unless otherwise stated (see below for an update about that too!)

Anyway, here’s this:

Saturday, April 24th 4pm-7pm – Open Shop
If you’re not familiar with the format for the Open Shop’s, please take a moment to browse our write up about it. We’d love to see you!

Tuesday, April 27th 6pm-9pm – Workshop and Skillshare
This month’s topic is brakes! We’ll learn all the basic parts, tools, symptoms and repairs you will need to work on and maintain your brakes. We’ll be handing out information you can take home too to refresh your brain later in case you forget.

Saturday, May 8th 4pm-7pm – Open Shop

Sunday, May 9th 1pm-5pm – Fender Bender Mother’s Day Fundraiser!!
We have A LOT of new projects in the works (see below) and are quickly realizing that our need for resources is growing. On Sunday, May 9th, we will be hosting a special Mother’s Day Bake Sale and Tool Drive at Belle Isle. We are seeking donations of new or used bike tools, bike parts (whole bikes even!) and also cold cash to help us advance our programming in the coming months.

Anyone who brings a donation of tools, parts, etc will be given delicious hand-made treats in exchange. Treats will also be for sale if you don’t happen to have any spare wrenches around.

Bring your mom out for a cupcake and let her know how much you love your community at the same time. Moms love that stuff!

Saturday, May 22nd 4pm-7pm – Open Shop

Tuesday, May 25th 6pm-9pm – Workshop and Skillshare
May’s topic is gears and drivetrain. Basically all about cables, shifters, chain rings, cog sets, and chains. It’s a big one, but totally fun and really important to know if you’re going to be doing your own bike repair (which you are totally going to do!!)

Saturday, June 12th 4pm – 7pm – Open Shop

Saturday, June 26th 4pm-7pm – Open Shop

We are probably going to begin slowly increasing the number of open shop’s beginning in May, so check back for added dates!

So, as I mentioned before, Fender Bender is growing rapidly. The more work we do, people we meet, and ideas we hatch, the more we realize that we are in desperate need of our very own space that we can develop and call our own. We are extremely grateful to The Hub/Back Alley Bikes for letting us use their space while we got off the ground. We are now looking forward to the future where we envision our very own community space that includes not only bike mechanics training and education, but also some gender inclusive (yes, even male-bodied people!) community programming as well as self-defense, youth programming, an alternative library, a space for community organizing, and obviously, a certain amount of dedicated days and resources specifically for women, transgender, genderqueer people and a day specifically for families. These are just a few of the ideas we’ve been developing as we identify the needs of our community and attempt to provide resources and solutions.

Any donations to Fender Bender will go to fully fund 100% of our programming. We don’t now, nor do we anticipate in the near future, adopting any paid staff. Any amount of money we receive will be added to our programming in the form of tools, books, advertising and rent. We are currently in the process of completing the application for Non Profit status (501(c)(3)) and will hopefully soon be able to assure you that your donations to us are tax deductible as well.

Currently, our biggest goal is to raise the money to rent our own space, and beyond that, we are in the process of collecting tools and parts to furnish our programming with. If you have a garage, or a potential space that you are interested in donating or leasing to us, please contact us immediately! We would love to rent from/with an ally to the program if at all possible.

If you would like to donate money, tools, parts, or anything else you might have to offer, please contact us and we will gladly arrange to pick up any supplies or provide our address for donations by mail. We should have a paypal account up and running soon also, if you’d prefer to donate online.

Also, just so you know, we would never ask you for your money or resources without allowing you the opportunity to ask us questions about who we are, what we plan to do with it, what systems we have in place to manage it, etc. If you would like any more information about us as an organization before you decide to donate, please drop us an email at fenderbenderdetroit[at]gmail[dot]com and we will be happy to provide any information we can reasonably offer.

Thank you all so much for your love and support while we continue this process. We wouldn’t even consider this a possibility without all the positive encouragement we have gotten from our allies and participants. If you have any ideas for the future of Fender Bender, we would love to hear those too! You are part of our community and your needs are what matter, so let us know how we can work together to provide a space that all of us can find value in.

Take care out there, and we look forward to seeing you at some of our events soon!!
xoxo
Liz