Organizing classes....
  • arthurarthur
    Tonight I was talking with new volunteer Syd. He concurred that we need to be a bit more organized to help keep new volunteers. I think that the new members who have stayed on have been the ones who came to us with extensive bike knowledge, like Dave and Martin. The ones who came here looking to learn from scratch have drifted away, probably because they couldn't just jump in and we didn't really help them learn in an organized manner.

    Why don't we try classes where we set a topic, have volunteers sign up for a stand, and then that will be what we do that Monday or Wednesday.

    Syd and I came up with a bunch of topics, I'll post that next.
  • arthurarthur
    Bike Oven Class Suggestions:

    What kind of tools should we have ourselves, to work at home?

    Brakes
    Adjusting
    When you should change your brakes - wear and tear
    How they should sit
    Types of brakes and brake pads

    Cleaning your bike
    How
    What do you use?

    Fixing flats
    Proper way to remove and replace a tire

    Maintaining your bike

    Different types of tires

    Different wheels and rims

    City riding bikes

    Cranks, shafts and pedals
    clips - different types

    Seat and bike height adjustments
    Men and women
    Seat size

    Handlebars, headsets.
  • DaveM
    A posting for our second class (wheel truing) is on the blog for Wed. 10/15. I know it's a slightly more ambitious topic than some of the others, but it's my favorite! We'll see how it goes.

    A reminder to any and all - if anyone would like to teach a tutorial or class, we would love to have you do so. Pick or come up with a topic and pick a date. Every week may be a little ambitious, but if we have a couple people interested, it would be nice to keep the momentum going.

    For the moment, I think we're expecting the teacher to plan and produce materials. Others will show up to assist as possible. But if anyone needs help gathering or creating materials, please spread the word and I'm sure we can all chip in. Ideally, we'd have the plan (teacher, topic, date) in place a full week before the class (I'm running a tad late).
  • DaveM
    Question for everyone. I am thinking of posting a tutorial announcement to craigslist under the "classes" or "community" sections. Not because we need to get more attendees (we had 5 less than 12 hours after the announcement went out), but just as an excuse for general "advertising". The idea would be to use it as a way to make people aware of the shop, the idea of volunteering, and hopefully create some donations from people who aren't aware of us and don't normally move around in the bike scene. I'd post something like:

    Wednesday October 15, 7:00pm - 10:00pm
    Bike Oven Tutorial Series - Wheel truing and straightening

    The Bike Oven is offering a series of free tutorials designed to help new and current volunteers get up to speed on various common bicycle repair tasks we see in the shop so that they can participate in the madness we call the BikeOven. The Bike Oven endeavors to serve the community and improve the quality of urban life by promoting and facilitating, through culture change, the use of bicycling as an alternative to the non-sustainable and climate damaging fossil-fuel powered motor vehicle transportation system. More information is available at www.bikeoven.com.

    Our second tutorial will focus on wheel truing (straightening) and spoke adjustment. There are no prerequisites for this session and no prior mechanic experience is required. Anyone is welcome to attend. You will be given a brief overview of wheel design, construction, evaluation, tensioning, spoke replacement and tools and will then have an opportunity to practice on actual wheels.

    Class size is limited to 6 students. Secure your spot by emailing {anonymous_craigslist_email}.

    RSVP and confirmation required. Priority will be given to active volunteers and those applying to volunteer.



    thoughts?
  • JHarv
    Think its a great Idea if we have enough open slots. May be if we pull the ad as soon as the class is full. I think it would be a negative if someone gets excited about the free class, only to find out its already full. Maybe we sign them up for the next class or something. Also , did anyone get 'shut out ' of the last class, myself excluded,sorry I apologize (LOL) it was just a joke..... Seriously, if anyone was told the last class was full, they should be given first choice at the next class, otherwise getting shut out of two classes in a row would be a real interest killer, in my opinion. Also we should put some note on the website anouncement when the class is full , or at least offer the ' overflow ' first choice on the next class(es)or something........
  • DaveM
    Good points on overflow. We should try to keep track of people who got bumped and give them dibs on the next class. I'll post an update on the blog once the class is full.

    My idea on the craigslist post though was actually to put it up regardless of whether there is space in the class. Maybe I would emphasize that space is limited and it's first registered, first served. But my hope was that we woudl get people emailing who weren't aware of us before. I would send them back a reply saying:
    - sorry this class is full, but watch our blog for the next announcement and we'll put you on the announce email list
    - check out our site to get a better sense of what we do
    - BTW, we need volunteers and donations

    Granted, it is a bit of a 'bait and switch'. But I am trying to find ways to spread the word about us outside of the bike scene. I think we're pretty well known now among bikers. My thought is that people who troll the 'classes' and other craigslist sections may be a largely different group of people or "fresh meat" ;)
  • JHarv
    I agree getting more/different venues to help spread the word is great. However I would be careful, as you pointed out , of the possible ' bait and switch ' aspects: If I'm interested in a 'free' class and got and e-mail back - sorry the class full but here's what we do, by the way we need volunteers and donations, no matter how tactfully we say it , it sure looks like a typical spammers tactic to get my e-mail.
    If we want volunteers - fine - put that request in areas there people are looking to volunteer.
    If we want donations, again - post that request in areas where folks are already looking to donate.
    I'd be real careful about not having what we advertised for ( free classes) then offering/ asking for something different without them getting the free class first......
    I think there are still a lot of folks -especially newbies - that still have never heard of the Bike Oven. Last week I went on a smaller ride unrelated to anything at the Oven and no one (12+ riders) ever heard of the Oven (all Glendale, Eagle Rock, Mt Washington area residents - all fairly newbies). Also the RTR bike ads used to bring in a fair number of others who never heard of the Oven which was one of the added benefits of RTR which we have lost, unless someone else starts doing a few again....
  • DaveM
    Good points. Maybe next time we'll post something with very strong statement that preference will be given to current/potential volunteers and update/remove it once the class is full. We're full for this class so I won't bother.

    Good to know about our being "well known" -> Maybe not as much as you would think. Sounds like it's still worth trying to spread the word among the current cycling scene. Of course, ideally we're attracting people who are not currently riders. But hopefully they'll tell two friends, and so on, and so on...
  • JHarv
    just trying to fix my typos from above....
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