OCBC membership is a way for anyone to learn bike repair skills, use our shop and tools to work on their own bikes, and get discounts on new parts. The focus of the OCBC is on education, so full membership involves either taking or testing out of our repair classes. Anyone wishing to support the organization without the classes or personal shop use can become a Supporting Member.

The OCBC is a volunteer-driven organization: membership is not required to volunteer, nor is volunteering required to be a member. We try to make doing both easy and attractive, though, because volunteer work not only supports the shop, but it gives members practice with the skills they learn in the classes.

For any time spent volunteering, anyone gets $5/hour credit toward purchases of bikes, used parts, simple labor, classes, and membership. Volunteering credits do not apply to new parts.

OCBC membership program

If you wish to pay for a membership online, you can do so on our payments page.

If you just want to get email news about volunteer opportunities, members' benefits, and other stuff we're doing, please sign up for that in the link at right.

Supporting Membership

  By contributing $50 -- or 10 hours of time volunteering -- per year, you'll get:

• 15% discount on all new products
• One free, while-you-watch Bike check-over
  
• Free Traffic Skills Intro class (required for Regular membership)
  
• Free library of books and videos

(A Supporting Membership can be upgraded to regular membership anytime by paying the $50 difference.)

Regular Membership

By contributing $100 (or 20 hours of volunteering) you'll get all of the above benefits of supporting membership, and a subscription to our series of four bicycle Maintenance Classes;

Plus, once you have attended all the classes (including Traffic Skills Intro), you also get:

• use of the shop and tools for $5 per hour (or 1 hour of volunteer credit)*
  
• Credit for two hours of shop-use
  
• Free use of our Bike and accessory library (saddles, clip-in pedals, etc.)
  
• "As-is" purchase price on most un-repaired bicycles (road bikes excepted)
• Swap privileges on some used parts (like bars, stems, pedals, seats, etc.)

* For shop-use requiring more than 2 hours, special tools, or staff advice, an appointment is urged; and not available on Saturdays.

Regular Membership --Renewal

Membership for subsequent years is $50, due on the anniversary of completion of the classes, and includes credit for two hours of shop-use.

Frequent Volunteer Status

After three months, for volunteering an average of 10 hours/month, all Regular Members automatically receive a 30% discount on purchases of new items.

Key Volunteer Status

Regular Members who commit to a schedule of 10 hours/month of volunteering or helping with Earn A Bike classes are eligible to be trained in shop management procedures, and receive a 45% discount on purchases of new items.

Trustee Status

To encourage members' participation in the co-op's governance, any Regular Member with 20 hours of involvement in co-op activities over the previous year (volunteering, personal shop use, or even just joining our Saturday rides)  is eligible for election to the board of trustees of the co-op (at our June annual meeting). Trustees receive the same benefits as Key Volunteers.

Kids' Membership

To encourage the development of future cyclists, we offer a special membership for people from 8 to 18 years old:

• Those who have successfully completed any Earn-A-Bike course are welcome, with a parent or parent-designated adult, to take our repair classes to use the shop for personal work, or volunteer for shop credit to "trade up" their Earn A Bike, and join our group rides on Saturday mornings, receiving the same benefits as adult members.

• Those who have not enrolled in an Earn-A-Bike course can earn a bike (with a helmet and lock) by volunteering (with a parent or parent-designated adult) for 10 hours and taking the Intro to Traffic Skills and Bicycle Basics Shop classes.
• Kids bikes can be traded up to the next size within two years for a credit of half the price of the smaller bike.
  

Group Membership

OCBC's mission to "help anyone use bicycles" includes a commitment to bike education that other groups wish to undertake. To that end we offer a program to help any group — from a school district to a scout troop — develop skills and resources to promote cycling to others. 

OCBC will train any number of your staff and/or volunteers in basic bike maintenance, route design and logistics for leading groups of children or adult cyclists, conducting bike rodeos, work shop set-up, and program design, as for starting a bike library or mini co-op; or mechanical and/or traffic skills for individuals, as for a corporate "commuter club," just for examples.

For a minimum of 4 hours of training (in at least 1 hour sessions), at our standard rate of $100/hour, any group also receives:

• 30% discount on materials for their programs (e.g. tools and shop supplies; helmets and locks for rodeos; fully repaired bikes for Earn A Bike programs, new repair parts)
• free used repair parts (i.e. for community-bike maintenance)
• Un-repaired, assessed, "prepped" bikes (if at least one of the group's members has completed OCBC's Maintenance Classes)
• OCBC shop credit of $5/hour for each individual for the time they participated in the group's training, which they may use towards OCBC membership, classes, bicycles or parts.
• Free Traffic Skills Intro class at our location for anyone who received the group training.

if your group is interested in this training program, you may want to also see our page with advice on starting a bike education program, and please contact us to discuss your group's specific needs.