Santa Cruz Bicycle Exchange

WORKSHOPS: First and third Saturday of each month, 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.
982 17th Avenue (at Henderson's Automotive), Santa Cruz

What We Do:

The Santa Cruz Bicycle Exchange takes donated bikes, repairs and tunes them up to run like new, and donates them to organizations that serve people in need. We keep used but perfectly functional bikes out of the landfill and give people

who need transportation a clean, low cost, healthy alternative. How We Do It:

The bikes we repair come from people’s garages and sideyards, the bikes they’re no longer using. They generously donate these bikes so that someone else can make use of them. They fully inspect each bike to know what needs repair or adjustment, using a method honed over 20 years with thousands of volunteers of all experience levels. This ensures that every bike completed is safe and fully functional. The Santa Cruz Bicycle Exchange has professional bike tools and the parts needed to finish any repairs or adjustments. We outfitted a shop in Live Oak for bike repair. Workdays are the first and third Saturdays of each month so that the largest number of volunteers can participate. Most of our volunteers have little or no bike repair experience. The system works because some volunteers have extensive bike repair experience, like they worked repairing bikes in a bike shop, and they can help you through the process if needed. When the bikes are finished they are donated to local social services organizations that serve those in need, and those organizations distribute the bikes to their clients. We choose the organizations based on their clients: working homeless and low income take priority because of their urgent need for quick, low cost transportation. We also prioritize low income children whose parents cannot afford a bike, since we all remember the joy and freedom a bike gives a child. How the Money Works:


The Santa Cruz Bicycle Exchange is a 100% volunteer organization, no one is paid for any work they do. We’re a non-profit (501(c)(3) for that small number of tax code geeks out there), so any donation you make - bikes, bike parts, money - is tax deductible. To pay the rent and buy parts we sell a fraction of the bikes we repair, just enough to cover our costs. The goal is to donate as many bikes as it is possible for our volunteers to fix. How to Contact Us:

We have a website: www.scbe.bikex.org

You can email us at: [email protected]

Here’s a map showing our street address: https://www.google.com/maps/place/982+17th+Ave,+Santa+Cruz,+CA+95062/@36.9690261,-121.9856989,17z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x808e154eda800d33:0xb72c1e8d1523762b

And this page has an aerial view so you can find the shop in the 17th Ave complex: http://www.scbe.bikex.org/contact (hint: enter next to the fire station)