Free Cycles Missoula is a bike program that provides bike, parts and help to the community. The community shop is open Monday to Thursday from 3pm to 7pm and Saturdays 11am to 3pm. During open shop, you can fix your own bike, get free used parts, build a bike trailer, rent a checkout bike, or build your very own free cycle. We have volunteers to assist you in your project. The community bike shop is located at 732 s. 1st st. west- 3 blocks west of orange st. just south of the river.

If you want to build your own free bike to keep, we require 2 hours of volunteer time and one bikewell class. The main volunteer time is Wednesday s 7pm to 9pm. You can also volunteer during any open shop.

The BikeWell Classes, which cover bike safety and bike maintenance, are offered Tuesday 7pm to 8:30pm, Wednesday 5:30pm to 7pm, and Thursday 1:30pm to 3pm. There is no need to sign up, just show up. After volunteering and taking the class, you can build- with our help- a bike to keep. Allow 2-4 hours to build a bike from our stock of donated bikes and parts. Patience is very important.

We have no volunteer or class requirements for people 10 and under.  Right up front in the shop, we have children's bikes for you to take away and ride.  Some are complete and ready to go, while others may need a little work that we can help you with.  For 11-14 years of age, we ask for one hour of volunteer time and a class.

If you have bikes and parts to donate, please bring them during open shop hours.

We have checkout rental bikes for $1/day, $5/week, or $15/month

The shop is a place to:  work on your bike, get used parts, build a bike trailer, get technical advice and meet bike enthusiasts from all over.

If you would like to contact the program director, you can reach Bob Giordano on his cell phone at 880-6834, or email mist at strans dot org

Come by and see us!

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More about Free Cycles programs:

Community Cycle Shop: We run a shop that people can build bikes, get used parts, borrow tools, etc- for free.

Pedal Education: Our outreach program- includes everything from maintenance workshops to sustainable transportation discussions.

CheckOut Missoula: We keep several styles of bikes on hand to loan out to visitors, other non-profits, and whoever else needs short-term wheels.

Pedal Technology: Build your dream pedal power machine! Anything from bike trailers to 4-wheelers to mechanical art.

Festival of Cycles: Each spring we throw a huge 'bike party' in a local park. The main attraction is combining whatever bikes and parts we have on hand (usually several hundred) with a community-wide bike drive that forms the bike pit. People helping people build bikes...     click for a description

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Pictures from the shop...

Come on into the Shop, we'll give you a hand with your bicycle dreams...

Sign our guest book if you would like to leave a comment about our services, or suggestions for improvements.  Make a donation if you can- we have to raise about $800 a month to keep the shop open ($500 rent, $150 utilities, $150 supplies).

The main room when you come in has 10 work stations for bike fixing. 

The lavender bike work station...

The yellow work station- we strive to have 7-17 metric wrenches at each station, along with screw drivers, pliers and assorted tools.

The purple tool board in the middle of the shop has the cone wrenches, pedal wrenches, and tools for bottom brackets... also with some adjustable wrenches, scissors, tape, chain whips and hammers.  In the foreground is the main wheel truing station.

A key to the shop- the Flat Tire Repair Station.  In addition to instructions, there are patches, glue, tire levers, a good floor pump and work table.  To fix a flat: find the hole with the help of the water bucket, dry the tube, scuff the area with sandpaper, mark the hole with a ball point pen, spread a light, thin, layer of rubber cement over the hole/puncture, let dry for a minute (longer in humid climates), press patch on, rub patch kind of vigorously for a good seal.  Ready to ride!

Here is the Bike 'Well'.  The cycles under the overhang on the right are for building (2 hours volunteer time and one class required first), the bikes against the wall on the left are for parts (look inside for parts first though).

 Wheels are also located in the 'well,' hanging on these nifty wheel racks that utilize old brake arms as hooks.

Good wheels are on the green rack, decent wheels needing work on the yellow rack, damages wheels for anything your heart desires are on the red rack.

Waiting wheels to be sorted, fixed or taken apart (we reuse spokes and axles when possible).

This shows half of the main parts room.  We always need help sorting, labeling and fixing parts.  For instance, Ron has been taking away old beat up seats and mending them to perfection (it helps that he has his own upholstery business).

Bins and Bins of shiny parts that make a bicycle go.

Another section of the parts room... 

Need a tube?  Patch it!

A good style of rack for hanging all those tires.  We always have plenty of good to great mountain bike tires, and we seem to always be short of road bike tires. 

Spokes and all the various sizes.  Spoke replacement is fairly easy- especially if the broken spoke is on the non-drive side of the wheel.

We do have tons of reflectors.  Did you know Montana law requires 8, yes 8, reflectors on your bicycle?  Two on each pedal, one on each wheel, a white or amber reflector on front and a red or amber reflector for the back.

Old wooden drawers make great parts bins.

Bent fork?  Not a big deal... allow an hour or so to replace...  or accept the challenge of straightening out that bend.

Keep you and your bike dry with a set of fenders.

Chain, chain chain... 

Three things to consider for replacing your chain.  Compatibility (must fit on your chain wheels and cogs), Length (put the chain on your big chain wheel in front, big cog in back, and the derailer should be flexed 45 degrees forward with respect to your chain stay) and Ware (a really used chain is stretched, and cannot be remedied by simply removing links).  To test for chain ware, either use that special tool, or pull on the chain as it sits on you big chain wheel up front, and see how much it pulls off the teeth.  If you can pull the chain more than, say, two thirds off the tooth of the chain wheel, it's time to think about replacement.  While a used chain can work, especially if you are keeping the rest of your drive chain in a used condition, a new chain at a retail bike shop is a good investment.  One general rule of thumb is that you go through 3 chains before having to replace the rest of your drive train (front chain wheels and rear cogs).

What's a community bike shop without a little cycling parts creativity.