Art Spin Bike Ride Thursday June 30th

Art Spin is a multi-disciplinary art crawl style bicycle tour of galleries (commercial, artist run & public), art performances and visits to artist’s studios throughout various downtown Toronto neighbourhoods. Each Art Spin tour will feature a new itinerary featuring some of the city's most exciting artists. Much of the programing includes interactive events that directly involve our audiences, calling upon their creative participation. Art Spin works closely with different community partners to help capture and share the pulse of this city’s vibrant art scene.

This year's Art Spin will take place on the last Thursday of the month from June until August 2011.The meeting point is the gate to Trinity Bellwoods Park at Queen St. & Strachan, between 6:30 – 7 pm and ending around 9 pm. Art Spin is a free event, and anyone regardless of age or cycling ability is welcome.

Dates for 2011 season include...
June 30th
July 28th
August 25th

Busy Season Continues!!

We are up to our eyeballs in bikes and bike-riders! If you are coming in to use the space we will probably be full, and you will most likely have to put your name on our waiting list. Patience is key! We want to help each and every one of you, and we want your bicycle to be awesome and safe.

Here are a few tips for accessing the space during this very busy season:
please be prepared to wait. Be patient, and courteous.

Bring your bike lock! we cannot store or be responsible for you bicycle!!

Bring a book - or read one of ours - you could get a better idea of how to accomplish the repair you are waiting to do.

Be mindful of time. We cannot predict how long it will take anyone to learn and fix their own bike, but what helps is if you come in with one repair you need to accomplish today, not a full overhaul. After 2-3 hours on a stand, it might be time to finish up and allow someone else to access the space.

Hang out, have fun, ask questions, but try not to be in the way. We need our main thoroughfare - the wooden part of our floor - to be as clear as possible. There are people and bikes and frantic mechanics moving up and down - and in and out of - the space all day. Please keep things clear and don't block the entranceway.

Be respectful of the volunteers who are running the space. They are here to help you, and are in a position to dictate how the space will or will not run. We have basic rules of conduct - i.e. you cannot work on your bike unless you have a repair stand - which are in place for your safety and the functioning of Bike Pirates.

Please do not take our tools outside, unless you have been given specific permission.

Be sure to make a donation for the use of the space, as well as paying for your parts. The donation you make should reflect how much time you spent at Pirates and how much you accomplished. This donation literally pays our rent. You want us to still be here next year, right?

Don't forget to go for a test ride (especially if you have been working on your brakes!)

Always let us know when you are done, and fill out a receipt at the front desk.


Happy Riding!
Bike Pirates.

New Things

Hey, Did you know that we now carry bike locks? Bike Pirates carries "Trelock" locks from Germany. We have received 3 different styles, in a mid-price and mid-security levels (Between $40 and $80). Check them out online here.

And stop by the shop to check them out!

In other news we will have brand-spanking new Bike Pirate stickers in the shop this coming week. Designed by our very talented pal Frank, these have been a long-time coming. Look for them on all of our Pirate-built refurbished bicycles from now on. You can pick one up in the shop too, to help support and promote your Pirate friends.

Also coming soon - lots of Bike Month events! Stay tuned here and lots of other places to hear about events througout bike month, starting May 30th. We hope to see you out in the streets for bike rides, socials, bicycle breakfasts, and of course, our annual Back Alley Bike Wash.

MAYDAY! MAYDAY! @Bike Pirates

The Toronto Bike Messenger Association is holding the 2nd annual BMEF fundraiser on May 7th! Saturday:

Fundraiser Party 9pm@ Bike Pirates 1292 Bloor St W (Lansdowne/Bloor) $20
pre register here for Sunday Polo Tournament

Donate to Bike Pirates

Bike Pirates will happily accept donations of bicycles, parts and tires year-round during regular Bike Pirate hours.

You can also make cash or cheque donations to Bike Pirates Bicycle Club. We are a non-profit society that partially relies on generous donations from the community to continue offering our services and advocating on behalf of all cyclists in Toronto. Donations can be delivered in-person to Bike Pirates.

Donating used bikes and parts to Bike Pirates is a great way to support our work and to clear out your garage or basement at the same time.

Bikes that are in good working order will be checked by Bike Pirate volunteers and adjusted as needed before being re-sold at affordable prices as part of our low-cost bicycle program.

Parts and tires that are in good condition will be added to our substantial stock of second-hand parts that are available at pay what you can prices.

If you’re not sure if the bikes or parts you have are reusable, feel free to drop them off anyway. Bike Pirate volunteers will check them out and make use of anything that we can. Any bikes, parts or tires that cannot be reused will be recycled on site rather than entering the waste stream.

Bike Drive and Events in March

Tomorrow marks the return of our Monthly Bike Build Nights at the shop. This is an opportunity for volunteers to contribute by helping us build up a pile of bicycles for sale in ONE NIGHT. We usually work from around 7pm until 2am building as many bikes as we can, as there is little time to work on sale bikes during open hours. Having safe, affordable bikes for sale is part of how we fulfill our mandate at Bike Pirates, and makes cycling accessible to a few more people :) Building bikes is also fun, and the night is usually a good exercise in team-work, fun, frantic, and sometimes silly. All volunteers are welcome to contribute, keeping in mind that this is geared toward completing as many bikes as possible!

...But our bike build nights are not possible without bikes donated to the shop. During the winter months donations tend to drop off, and we find ourselves staring down a pile of sad mountain bikes...

So Bike Pirates is planning a large-scale callout for a Bike Drive this Spring. This will involve flyering bicycles and residences all around our community (and yours!), so we'll need lots of volunteers to go out on foot and bike to spread the word. The Drive will take place on a Wednesday evening later in the month, so that folks can drop off their bike when the shop is not busy with normal operations. Please let us know if you would like to help with the flyering, and stay tuned for more details!

We are also planning our Third Friday event for March which will be a Volunteer Appreciation Dinner. Last season we held this in December, but this year we thought it might be a nice way to *begin* the season instead. All volunteers should join us at the shop for a pot-luck style community meal, as an opportunity to socialize, ask questions, and get to meet other Pirates who you may not know.
Again, more details will be coming up soon. Let us know if you would like to help plan for this event.

News for This Week!

Yes we are open tonight! We've told you before and we'll tell you again - Pirates don't celebrate holidays, religious or secular (or completely made up) unless it involves eating lots of delicious food or something. So - YES, we will be open tonight, regular hours. Bundle yourself up and come on by.

Also this week we have TWO EVENTS planned.



Friday night February 25th we will have the relaunch of our Annual Critical Hot Chocolate event. We did this three years before and it was a super fun time. For those who brave the streets for February Critical Mass the evening will end with a hot chocolate social at Bike Pirates. There will be vegan hot chocolate, lots of fresh made baked goods, and live music.



Critical Mass meets at the SE corner of Bloor and Spadina at 6pm and the ride begins at 6:30. Join us at Bike Pirates starting at 8pm for the event!

Saturday night February 26th we will be hosting a presentation and workshop from the amazing folks at the Beehive Collective. The discussion will be based on their most recent campaign The True Cost of Coal. Join us at 7:30pm at Bike Pirates for this exciting presentation.

Both of these events are free to attend, but we will gladly accept donations to help with the costs.

Hope to see you there!