Become a Mechanic!
Dartmouth Bikes offers many avenues for the community to learn about bicycle fixes on their own terms. We are, after all, a limited team of bike mechanics that do as much as we can to combat campus bike waste, but the magnitude of the problem greatly exceeds our capacity to deal with it on our own, and through our campus outreach, we hope to foster an infectious love for DIY bike fixing and empower everyone with the knowledge required to fix their own bikes, rather than us doing it for you!
Learn from us through:
A FREE Mechanics Workshop on a term-by-term basis. We meet for an hour, once a week during weeks 2-9 of the term, or so, depending on group scheduling. You will learn everything that we know about bicycle maintenance, tuneups, repairs, and parts replacements. By the end of the workshop, you will be eligible to apply and join the Dartmouth Bikes team as a mechanic! No experience necessary.
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Workshops are usually scheduled during winter term of every academic year. Keep an eye out for a blitz to the campus-events listserv with a sign-up link!
Open shop hours that we are piloting beginning 23S! Two or more official Dartmouth Bikes mechanics will be in the shop during our specified hours and will be available to help instruct you through basic repairs as you perform maintenance on your own or other's bikes and give tips and pointers for general bike maintenance. These hours are also an opportunity for you to get familiar with some of the other services that Dartmouth Bikes provides, like appointments for fixes you don't feel comfortable doing yourself, and a chance to become familiar with the bike shop space and tools. Find our more about Open Shop Hours here, and when we're doing them on our location and hours page!
Appointments! That's right, feel free to pester the mechanic handling your bike with as many questions as you'd like about what they're tinkering with on your bike and why! No need to sit outside and wait while we fix it—feel free to take an active role in learning how to fix your bike so that next time, you don't even need us to diagnose and fix what's wrong with your bike!
17W, 17S Inaugural Mechanic Workshops Made Possible by the Milton Sims Kramer Prize!
Headtube
Crank
Stem
Seat post
Saddle/Seat
Tire+tube
Rear derailleur
Pedal
Spoke
Top tube
Down tube
Front derailleur
Cassette/cogs
Fork
Axel/Skewer
Brake and shift levers
Brake
Seat stay
Chain stay
Seat tube
Hub
Rim