Bicycle House Tallahassee

"Most helpful, friendly, knowledgeable place anywhere. Most frugal nonprofit ever...recycling 1,000 bikes college kids abandon. Sadly they have to move every few years sine don't own a building."

"I volunteered at bike house last year and this year. I learned a lot of things about repairing bikes whilst being able to help out the community. Everybody there is incredibly friendly and very open to showing me how to fix things or how to use certain tools. I have brought in a couple of my own projects so that I could use some specialized tools, too. With combination of everybody’s mechanical knowledge and them having the right tool for any job, basically any bike can be repaired here."

"I am a grad student living paycheck-to-paycheck. That means any emergency or repair is a considerable expense I sometimes can't afford. My bicycle is my transportation, I don't own a car. I tend to ride it a lot (everywhere I need to go), so understandably, the parts wear out pretty quickly, as it happened a couple of weeks ago. Since I was low on money and I know a lot of other students who get repairs at this place, I followed the instructors on the website: "If you can’t afford a repair at a bike shop we can help… Bring your bike in during business hours... We will go over the bike with you and discuss what you need". This was not my experience. I stopped by during business hours to ask what can we do to get my bike into a riding shape again. Instead of any constructive dialogue I was told "we don't help people like you" and "we're volunteers helping poor students". This felt extremely rude. Again, I know many students like me who get repairs at this place. By the time I was leaving, the person communicating with me made me feel like I'm some evil rich guy who is trying to take advantage of a charity, whereas, in fact, I'd be willing to provide the parts and only come in to get them installed, if this is something we'd agree on. Nope, I was dismissed immediately upon a 5 second judgment of my character. I strongly advise against visiting this place unless you feel like having your financial situation scrutinized by a person mostly going off his hunch, and you are willing to argue with him."

"I LOVE Bicycle House. I first came here when my bike was needing some cables rerouted and I was greeted by Luis Ortiz, a long-time volunteer. The place was bustling with volunteers fixing bikes, sweeping the floors, and organizing the space for a move. He and I fixed my bike together and got to know each other over the course of an hour. At this point I was pretty amped about this whole thing. He suggested I come back to volunteer and later that week I did. And I kept coming back, because not only was I learning how to work on my bike myself, but Bike house offered meaningful way I could contribute to our community. I've made lifelong friends at bike house over the last 6 months and learned so much about the community and the people that make bike house what it is. I'm excited for what the future holds as Bike House is now OPEN in the new location (still in the same commercial park, just behind the old building) and the space is continually improving with the focus of providing transportation as the #1 priority. A team of volunteers, led by Scot Benton, the founder of Bike House, have worked for months to open up the new location. We built a fence using rebar and 26"wheels, scaffolding filled with frames and wheels, covered by a 50'x70' tarp roof, an absolutely massive sheet metal door, moved and organized hundreds of bikes, wheels, parts and tools all in the name of creating a space that will best serve the community's need for transportation by Bicycle. Below I attached pictures of the new shop so you can get a sense of how it's set up today. I personally have been riding my bike as my sole means of transportation for the past year and IMO it's way more fun and efficient and cost effective than a car, so if you are in Tallahassee and need a bicycle, check out the bike house website, call in, or come in to see how Bike House can help!"

"Great people, welcoming environment, and very useful space. Every volunteer and staff member I met here was above and beyond amazing! Luis, Alex, Al, Josh, and of course Scott are all incredibly helpful, knowledgeable, and fun. The guys were able to help me get my bike back in working order, give me some tips, and talk for a bit. It's the kind of place that you want to go back to and be a part of. I cannot give these guys and what they do enough praise!"