The Mechanical Gardens Bike Co-op is dedicated to expanding fair access to bikes, bike repairs, tools, and knowledge.
Fundraiser for our new space
In October, we had to leave our Red Hook location. We are committed to this neighborhood and plan to continue programming through pop-ups and partnerships. To expand our programs in Red Hook that provide access to the tools, knowledge, and parts for people to fix their own bikes, we need a permanent home.
We’re raising $20,000 in individual donations to get us there.
Countless New Yorkers struggle against financial disparities, education gaps, and discrimination in order to keep their bikes moving. Started in 2015, Mechanical Gardens holds public programming for do-it-yourself repair education and creates community-based workshops that empower every bike rider to take charge of their mobility. We embody New York’s multifaceted movement for urban equity by working to democratize bike access through hands-on, do-it-yourself repair education.
How We Do It
By helping New Yorkers learn to repair their own bikes and ride safely, we help folks gain the skills and confidence to move through the city on their own terms.
By inviting learners to become co-op leaders, we cultivate a space that reflects a diversity of cultures, characters, and contexts.
By universalizing access to quality bike maintenance, we elevate neighborhood health and resiliency while combating economic, environmental, and social inequalities.
By addressing the conjunction of bike issues and affordable housing, living wage work, food deserts, gentrification, and other aspects of urban development, we engender the growth of civic engagement.
Our Programming & Locations
Mechanical Gardens is a do-it-yourself bike co-op staffed entirely by volunteers. We welcome all members of the community to drop by– no appointment necessary. We suggest a $5-10 donation to use the stands, tools, and guidance from our mechanics.
During open hours programming, at least two volunteer mechanics will be available to help you learn to work on your own bicycle. Our goal is for you to do the work yourself, while we help guide your learning.
People of all levels of experience are welcome to come to our open hours programming to work on their own bikes. Some community members are just beginning to learn to wrench. Others have maintained their own bike for years and simply want access to a professional set of tools and a community. Mechanical Gardens volunteers hope to meet you at your level and provide whatever support or guidance you may need. We also sell used bikes, used parts, and a basic stock of new parts.
We accept donations of any components, wheels, and tires that are in good working condition. We do not accept donations of cycling shoes or apparel. If you are interested in donating a bike to us, please email us first.
Williamsburg
195 Maujer Street @ The St John the Evangelist Lutheran Church (inside)
Open Hours: Monday nights from 6-9pm **Clean up starts at 8:30pm and we strongly suggest new projects aren’t started after 7:30pm**
Location Details: We have moved our open hours back into the basement of the church (similar to our pre-pandemic setup). Due to construction on a neighboring building our side yard is currently inaccessible.
Services available: Quick Do-it-yourself fixes (replacement cabling and housing, brake adjustments, wheel truing, chain replacements, flat-fixes, replace pedals).
Bathroom facilities: Toilets with running water are available in the basement of the church
Components available for purchase: Wheels, pedals, tubes, rim brake pads, and a small selection of components
Red Hook
98 Dikeman St (Closed)
Open Hours: **Open Hours at this location is closed.**
In October, 2022 we were sad to leave our Red Hook space and the community we built there. We are committed to staying in the neighborhood and are seeking a new space that allows us to do so. Please support our search for a new home in Red Hook, by donating money to fund the search, move, and interim local programs, or let us know if you have a lead on a new space by contacting us.
COVID Safety
We ask that all volunteers and members of the public wear masks while visiting us, regardless of vaccination status. Please do not come to our space if you have had a known exposure to covid-19 or if you are feeling feverish or unwell.
If you receive a positive test result with-in 5 days of visiting one of our locations we ask that you contact us immediately.
Our Safer Spaces Agreement
Mechanical Gardens recognizes that our culture fosters conformity and rewards people according to a hierarchy of institutional power based on sexism, classism, and racism. We actively work to undo compliance with harmful structures that support poverty, greed, hatred, violence, disrespect, and lack of access to opportunity by extending bike repair and related skills.
We commit to maintaining:
- Open Minds and Open Hearts
- We encourage kindness and openness
- We promote inclusive learning spaces – and are a student-centered space
- We seek questions in the spirit of personal growth – please ask!
- We prioritize honesty, kind directness, and default to peace.
- Basic shared priorities of mutual respect, mutual aid, empowerment advocacy, conflict resolution, anti-violence, and community building.
- Accountability: We accept our responsibility that as individuals, we can be both victims and perpetrators of oppression. By recognizing our responsibility and where we stand in relation to social power and control, we can begin to work towards undoing cycles of power and oppression. We accept a shared responsibility to hold ourselves and one another accountable for recognizing and changing words and behavior that are disrespectful, oppressive, and hurtful.
- Access: We commit to making spaces as accessible as possible to people who come to learn bike skills: educationally, physically, socially, and personally.
- Empowerment: We promote everyone’s ability to speak up for themselves by
- Supporting people to voice their own experience in their own words.
- Calling out speech and behavior that is disrespectful.
- Acting in solidarity to speak truth to power.
- Community: We respect each other in the shared space where we work.
- We take responsibility for using tools so that we don’t hurt ourselves or others, equipment, and bicycles
- We clean up after ourselves and collaborate to maintain the space safely.
- Autonomy
- We support free expression, autonomy, and the empowerment of each person.
- We respect each others’ bodies and spaces.
- Listening: We commit to hearing each other and creating opportunities for all voices to be heard.
- We respect each others’ experiences and opinions.
- We respect everyone’s names, gender pronouns, expressed identities, and experiences.