Our Community Bikes

I bought a bike on craigslist and it was a bit of a junker, but I was able to find all the parts that I needed at Our Community Bikes. I found the staff to be helpful, and had no problem digging around to find the correct fenders that I needed. My bike is now running like a fierce mechanical cheetah and I fly through the bike lanes. Wowzers, very fierce!

I messaged online having never been to this store about bringing my recently craigslist purchased bike in for a once over should the transit strike occur. I was told to just come in. Today I arrived at 12:30pm. Unfortunately they don’t have greeters and you are forced to cue up in front of the cash register just to begin a conversation.
The frizzy haired gal behind the counter seemed over worked however once it was finally my turn I outlined what I seek — it’s not explained how things function but am told to go stand over there with my bike. Um ok.
I wheel my bike between full and busy bike stations with people working on bikes in many states of disrepair. The frizzy haired gal complains how heavy my bare bones bike is and lifts it onto the evaluation area bike holder. I wait and wait.
A good looking thirty-​something starts fondling the front wheel so I initiate conversation — he never introduces himself (I’m not pushy). He seems to be checking the bike without my input.
I indicate I installed the fenders. I recently bought the bike. I haven’t yet had the bike on the road for more than 15 minutes. I ask about seat alignment. He draws on a white board the physics of it (unfortunately without real life application). I ask for the brakes to be checked (he says it could be used as is or adjusted for a quicker response). I mention some clicking on gear shifting (he explains what it might be). I ask about the status of the chain. He explains it’s slightly stretched but still good (mentioning with special ruler that after 12″ it should be a certain length and any longer=need to replace).
Frizzy hair gal yells from the front of the open space that Luke at bay #2 is ready. This occurs almost the moment I get to the evaluation area but I’m told that’s ok. I’m kinda put on the spot what I’d like to do after its hinted more reactive brakes are safer. I ask for this to be dealt with.
I’m directed to the second Bay. Someone puts the bike up on the holder. Frizzy gal yells over something about Karen needing to wait. Someone yells back that I’m in Bay #2. I wait and wait and wait. I can’t remember who Luke was. The only person who said a name at any point. No one wears name tags and it’s hard to tell customers from staff. No one seems available to ask anything.
I went back to the cashier (frizzy hair) and when it’s my turn again I say I’m waiting for Luke. It’s pointed out Luke is beside me at bay #1.
So this is how it is. Without telling you it’s you doing the work (I have no problem but would have liked the later offered gloves before touching all that grease) with a technician kinda maybe nearby kinda even though you’re paying by the hour.
I was there almost 2 hours and all that was done was the back brake wire exchanged out and a new second hand back right brake component exchanged for what had been there — found after I was encouraged to dig in a huge chaos of parts for a component including a spring as the spring on my prior wasn’t as springy. The technician Luke helped as many as 5 people at times while I waited having easily accomplished undoing a not-​for-​profit example.
When he announced the brakes were as they should be I asked for recommendation on attaching bottom of gender near kickstand. He recommended removing the wheel-​not the kickstand. Done. Now the solution was to put a plastic zip tie.
Disappointingly not what I asked for help with. He produced a white zap tie for my black bike and then left again. No room to work with kickstand, once on it understandably moved around. Not a fix. The technician talks to someone about leaving at 2pm. The technician Luke says the evaluation person as Pablo. Luke says «we «should have tied the white zap tie around the kickstand mount — he suggests doing it again. I note it’s 2:05pm — isn’t he leaving? He admits Pablo would do this.
I decide to do this at home and pleasantly ask for help putting wheel back on. I thank him and get in line once again for frizzy haired cashier.
I am disappointed that how they function wasn’t clarified to me even when I said multiple times that I was new to the store and bike maintenance, that the suggestion to fix/​adjust the brakes was made like it was a quick fix (wasn’t), that 15 minutes max could have gotten more done than the almost two hours due to their «understaffed».
I left feeling stupid for not knowing this about how they function. I came on my dayoff to try to get something done and now perhaps it’s worst than before. :(
Don’t go unprepared.
The brake rubs on the wheel now-​it didn’t before.
Everyone else here has fantastic things to say. :(

This place is a huge improvement from their location on 19^th. Every stand has a tool wall, there’s usually enough staff to figure things out, and parts are priced more competitively with MEC and Sport Junkies.
And if you ever wanted to figure out how your bike works, this is a good place to start. They can help you take apart and put back together whatever it is that needs done. You can watch them do it, or do it yourself. Their repair backlog is comparable to other shops in the area, but slightly discounted.
They also facilitate many non profit bike workshops for communities, including women-​only drop ins and programs for trans-​identified people which are by donation.
But caveat emptor of the parts bin! There’s a lot of junk in there, and you might spend all day digging for something that’s cheaply acquired new at a nearby location. You should probably have a good idea of what you want before going through them.

This is the best place to take your bike for repairs.
The pro’s/turn ons.
It’s partially DYI but they give a lot of help and guidance and instruction, even for major repairs.
They even have Truing stands.
You’ll really learn a lot about bikes.
It’s really cheap.
The cleaning up area is really good too to clean yourself up with.

This place is a real asset to the community and I’m proud to support it whenever my bike needs work, and whenever I have bike parts or tools to donate. Great service, reasonable prices, programs that benefit the community, and diverting a lot of used stuff from landfills.

I think this is the best bike shop in town! I built my first bike there. The staffs are so friendly, very patient and always helpful to support what you need. You can get pretty much every bike parts for better reasonable price. Highly recommended.

Best bike shop in Vancouver! Affordable parts, you get to learn how to fix your own bike and de-​mystify it, staff will never up sell you on anything you don’t need. They do some really cool programs with kids, do a free bike program for low income people, you can find them at community events doing tune ups for free and more! They are a charitable organization so make sure you support your local bike shop, OCB is the bomb