Although bike season is year round in Oakland, there are a lot of changes happening at local cycle shops that may inspire riders to dust off their bikes as the weather warms up. 

Several cycleries — including members of Oakland SPOKES and the East Bay Bike Coalition — are creating new ways for neighborhood bike enthusiasts to get involved in the next couple months.

At Bikes 4 Life, a West Oakland grassroots-focused community bike shop dedicated to providing “healthy, sustainable opportunities” for neighborhood youth, upgrades and renovations to the store are expected to be completed by mid-March. When everything is complete, B4L will be able to once again make full repairs and the shop will launch a year-round youth program. A reinstatement of a former mentorship program, the six-week curriculum (which will include workshops and group discussions) will revolve around leadership development, self-esteem and conflict resolution, said founder Tony Coleman.

“We’ve only been able to run the summer program for youth, and we’re working to change that,” Coleman said.

In addition to getting more youth involved throughout the year, B4L also has a new fundraising campaign in the works. The campaign will allow any donor — whether they donate $2 or $200 — to participate in programming and planning at B4L as a full member. Coleman said he hopes to get as many people involved as possible with the fundraising outreach.

“The point is that we are in a state of emergency,” he said. “We’re not just trying to say, ‘hey look, we got a nonprofit, everything is all warm and fuzzy’ — we’re going to actually roll up our sleeves and get a lot of people involved with the work.”

The re-vamped fundraising drive also will bring in funds from other organizations through sub-contracting.

“Say an organization gets funding to work with youth, but they don’t have the resources.  They’ll donate that money to us and we’ll work with the youth,” Coleman explained.  “An organization like ours doesn’t have huge funding, but we do have the skill and the reach.”

Bikes 4 Life isn’t the only shop in town with renovations underway. Manifesto’s new location in Old Oakland is still undergoing construction, but is open for business and will be operating at full capacity by late March according to co-founder Mackay Gibbs. The new location also is installing a parklet — which converts former car parking into seating or bike parking. Although San Francisco already has about 20 parklets, Manifesto's will be part of only eight located in Oakland.

The Old Oakland location will be home to a new tradition of Sunday brunch — which Gibbs plans to keep going every last Sunday of the month from 11 a.m. to 2 or 3 p.m. Brunch consists of a visit from El Taco Bike and Coffee Bike; this month’s brunch also will include an art exhibit featuring purchase-able work by Bay Area artists Jaime Lakatos and Ken Davis. Gibbs said she hopes to have a fortune-teller for the event, as well. The old location on 40th Street will continue to host Bike Church, a bi-monthly Sunday gathering.

“Every year we do Bike Church a little bit different,” Gibbs said. “It’s supposed to be like the reception you go to after church. We’re trying to foster community.”

Another spring event Manifesto will be hosting at its new location is a book reading by El Cerrito resident Andrew Ritchie, who will read from his book "Major Taylor: The Fastest Bicycle Rider in the World," which chronicles the life of the late, famous African-American cyclist. The book reading is tentatively planned for the second Saturday in April.

In Berkeley, Street Level Cycles is gearing up for its Spring Bike Sale, although the official date is yet to be announced.

“We usually have it when it stops raining, but it hasn’t even started raining yet,” Executive Director Amber Rich joked.

Until then, bikers can come in during the shop’s open hours — which happen three days a week — to get their bikes serviced for free, only having to pay for parts.

This community-based model — with an emphasis on DIY bike repair — will soon be a component of Fruitvale’s The Roll Up. The shop has recently installed a “guest bench” where community members will be able to come in and utilize the tools and space of the shop, located within walking distance from Fruitvale Bart in a giant warehouse called “The Vulcan.” The bench should be open for public use by next month, according to long-time employee John Paul Olsen.  The "rent" for using the bench will be charged on a sliding scale, like many item priced at The Roll Up.

For more information about these events and the shops themselves, visit their web pages:

• Bikes 4 Life  
• Manifesto
• Street Level Cycles
• The Roll Up