Build two bikes and keep one for yourself. No previous mechanics experience necessary!
Donate money, volunteer, or pass along your gently used bike for a second life.
Learn the skills to better understand your bike in one of our maintenance classes.
Speaking of Build-A-Bike, the dates for our next course have been set… Sign up HERE now, for the next Build-A-Bike class, which will meet weekly on Mondays for six weeks, from 6-9pm.
Pictured here, Jenna (the one-and-only) helps students overhaul a headset in the February Build-A-Bike.
(Photo credit: Dan Dunn)
Recycle-A-Bike (RAB) is a volunteer-based community organization that connects people with refurbished bikes, provides practical bike knowledge, and advocates bicycle use by safer, more confident cyclists.
Valuable connections are made in our community shop among bicycle riders. By learning and sharing bike maintenance knowledge, people learn to believe in themselves and their community. Our programs make the simple technology of these pedal powered machines available to all with the help of the volunteer staff and general skill sharing.
Mobility on a bicycle is an expression of our freedom and equality! We encourage members of the public to participate in cycling as part of a healthy and active lifestyle – not just as a recreational activity, but also as a viable mode of transportation.
Ride safely on the road. Be predictable, aware, courteous, and confident. Keep riding: you are a legal vehicle with the same rights on the road! Download cycling safety tips from the Narragansett Bay Wheelmen and the Greenways Alliance of Rhode Island (via RIDOT’s Bike RI page).
-Dailen V., Volunteer
-Betty B., Board Member
-Nick P., Master Mechanic
12 Library Court, Providence, RI 02909 | (401) 525-1822 | Email
Open Shop: Tues. 5-8pm and Sat. 10am-2pm
Youth under the age of 15 must be accompanied by an adult.
Bike Donations: During Open Shop or by appointment.
Patrick McEvoy, Program Director
John Powning, Board Chair
James Baumgartner, Board Treasurer
Perry Gast, Board Member
Amye Follett, Board Member
Will Heublein, Board Member
Tyrene Jones, Board Member
Douglas Lewis, Master Mechanic
Patrick McMillan, Board Member
Ed Raff, Board Member
Kurt Teichert, Board Member
Peter Ward, Board Member
Build-A-Bike is a six-session course that teaches members of the community how to repair and recycle abandoned bicycles. Participants fix two bikes: keeping one for themselves and donating one to our program. In this way, we remove bikes from the waste stream, develop a skill base of mechanical proficiency in the community, and offer affordable mechanics training.
Recycle-A-Bike started Build-A-Bike in the Spring of 2011. We hold five or six workshops per year; last year, 68 people successfully completed the program, and 112 bikes were rebuilt and put back onto the road. As the green economy grows, the need for specialized skills surrounding green transportation rises. Build-A-Bike teaches people how to repair and refurbish bicycles and share that knowledge with those around them.
Build-A-Bike meets six times for three hours each. Participants receive 18 hours of hands-on training for a suggested donation of $200 (contact us about alternate arangements). For more details on the next upcoming course, and to sign up, please fill out this application form. Be sure to also add yourself to our monthly mailing list to receive program updates or feel free to E-mail us with questions.
Whatever your interest or availability, there is a place for you! Greeting visitors at Open Shop, distributing brochures, and fixing bikes are just a few examples of how you can help out. If you’d like to volunteer, start today by emailing Patrick. We can’t succeed without you!
Can’t bear to see an unused bike collect dust in the basement or go to a landfill? Donate it to us for a second life! For the past 10 years, we have been refurbishing hundreds of old bikes for newly arrived refugees, students, city youth, and others through programs like Build-A-Bike, Wrenching Wednesdays, and Open Shop.
We accept all kinds of bicycles: cruisers, road, mountain, and BMX bikes. However if the bike has too much rust and appears beyond repair, please take it to a scrap yard. We accept donations of bicycles, bike tools, and bike parts during our open shop hours.
Recycle-A-Bike is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Your gift is deductible to the full extent of the law. Watch our 2012 fundraising video!
Where does the money go?
Everyone is welcome to drop into our space during our open shop hours. Visitors can use our bike stands, specialized tools and space to make repairs or do routine maintenance on their bikes. Used bike parts are available at discounted prices. The price of new parts are determined by the market rate.
This is a do-it-yourself model, where we take pride in teaching visitors how to make the repairs and adjustments, instead of simply doing the work for them. Our in-house Master Mechanics are always on hand to provide technical expertise and guidance. You don’t need any mechanical experience to join us, but do be prepared to get your hands greasy. There is a suggested donation of $5/hour. Anyone may also volunteer during these hours, and time donated helping the shop will earn points which may be traded for parts, or shop time.
Open Shop Hours: Tuesdays 5-8pm and Saturdays 10am-2pm
We teach bike tune-up, maintenance, safe riding, and occasionally we offer more specialized classes. Build-A-Bike Classes, Afterschool Programs, and Refugee Fix-A-Bike programs are just a few of many classes we offer. Email Patrick for further inquiries on taking a workshop or partnerships (schools, community centers, businesses or other groups). Download our new Providence Cycling Map to get the inside scoop from seasoned riders on Rhode Island’s bike paths!
Recycle-A-Bike (RAB) and The MET School have partnered to offer a certification program for high school students to become Junior Bike Mechanics. Over two dozen students have launched their explorations into the world of bicycle refurbishing, maintence, and safety. Designed as an internship, the program entails hands-on mechanical experience under the instruction of RAB-certified teacher-mechanics. Students in this end up with a bike of their own building, and a set of skills which may lead to potential employment in the bicycle industry. At the end of the curriculum of instructional workshops, students are assessed on their bicycle knowledge and repair proficiency. Students are provided additional practice hours by manning the Full Cycle bike shop, the MET’s after-school bicycle repair facility.
Bike Valet encourages people to ride their bikes to destinations and park nearby without worry of their bicycle’s safety. The goal is to celebrate two-wheel transportation, while alleviating car congestion at large events. In this past year, RAB brought the valet service to over forty local events. By bringing bike support to events. Among the local events, we offer this bike-parking service at the Saturday Farmers Market at Lippitt Park each week throughout the summer. RAB was able to reach thousands of people promoting cycling and offering riding and repair resources to large, diverse groups of people. Other events have included Pronk!, Foo Fest, New England Biking & Walking Summit, Cyclovia, Cylcocross Races, Rocktucket Block Party, Woony Ride, and many others. If you are interested in having Bike Valet at your event, contact valet@recycleabike.org.