The Freewheel Collective

The Freewheel Collective was established in 2003, so we have accumulated a bit of history. We'll be getting all these archives together soon.

Click here to read previous newsletters.

Below are previous front page updates...

Freewheel wins a Campus Life Award!

Freewheel recently won the award for Best New Organization at the annual Campus Life Awards. All this after setting up on campus only last Spring! We're looking forward to bringing more bike-centered programs to benefit the campus community in the coming year. So check back here often for updates!

Freewheel goes underground...

The Freespace is closing at the end of September. In order to facilitate cleanup of the building, Freewheel is vacating the space immediately. Unfortunately, this means that all Freewheel activities will be on hold until we find a new location.

We are all sad to have this interruption, and are working hard to restore our programs.

If you are involved with a community center that might be able to house our community bicycle shop, please get in touch with us: freewheel@lifreespace.org.

Freewheel makes it into Newsday...

A short article on the Freewheel Collective appeared in Newday on Tuesday, August 16th. You can check out the article by clicking on the image below...

Freewheel continues to pump out bikes for our bike grant program. We need more volunteers to transport these bikes to our grantees. If you can move bikes for us, please get in touch!

J. Matt, Chris N., and Adam just re-built a bike from the frame up. J. Matt described the entire process in words and pictures here.

Freewheel Rolls Through Summer
August 2005

The Freewheel Collective continues to roll through the hot summer. Our Sunday and Monday open hours have been busy turning out bikes for our bike grant program, and a good number of visitors to the shop are learning how to get their bikes back on the road.

The Bike Grant program is pretty swamped with applications right now. If you have applied, you will need to be patient. We need more volunteers, more donations, and more storage space in order to accommodate the overwhelming demand for bikes. The current staff is working at capacity - only through expansion of our volunteer base will bikes be available more quickly. If you have been thinking about getting involved, now is the time!

One of our cooler grants has been to an Adult Day Care program in Freeport that supports people who are HIV positive and in need of assistance. Our first lot of bikes went out to them recently, and we are hoping to deliver more soon! Even if you are not interested in ever touching a greasy wrench, your help in transporting bikes to needy Long Islanders would go a long way…

Help us expand… get involved. Come to our next meeting to learn more, or simply drop by during one of the open hours sessions.

Sunny days, rainy days at the Freewheel:

May 2005: The Freewheel Collective is up and running at the Long Island Freespace. We have been open for several months now, and things have been progressing quickly. We have been joined by many new volunteers, and the word is starting to get out about what we do.

We have been primarily focused on our Bike Grant Program, and we have been turning out bikes at a rapid pace. Unfortunately, limited storage at the Free Space paired with a slow pickup rate by awardees is making it difficult for us to accept new bike donations. We are working on ways to speed the granting process along, but in the mean time if you have bikes to donate, please house them for us for a little while longer. We'll send out the word when we need more.

We need to get the word out about the Bike Grant Program to needy Long Islanders. If you know deserving people who would benefit from a free bike, please download a bike grant application from our documents page.

Our first ride of the year (April 23rd) was a major washout. Somehow we managed to pick the rainiest day of the year for this ride, and as a result it was poorly attended. Stay tuned for more rides this summer...

It is a wonderful time of year, so get out on your bicycle! Need help getting your bike back on the road? That's what Freewheel's open hours are for... visit us and we will help you get riding. Soon we will be posting new open hours this summer, so check these regularly.

Interested in joining the Freewheel Collective? Why not attend our next meeting? And while you are at it, why not join our list?

Open hours in the beautiful weather!

The Freewheel Collective has a home!

Freewheel members Adam and Dusty build cabinets at the Freespace

February 2005: The Long Island Freespace is open and so are we. The Freewheel Collective proudly joins the other programs of the Freespace in this new home of Long Island community activism.

Freewheel has a fully functioning bike shop within the Freespace; you can visit that shop and get help with your bicycle during open hours.

Freewheel needs competent volunteer bicycle mechanics! You don't have to be an expert mechanic: just willing to share the skills that you do have with the rest of the Long Island bicycle community. The more volunteers we get, the more extensive our open hours can be.

Want to learn to be a bike mechanic? We run regular skill-sharing sessions on Monday nights. Anyone can show up for these sessions anytime. If you want a complete course in bicycle mechanics, sign up for the new cycle, which begins March 28th.

Interested in joining the Freewheel Collective? Why not attend our next meeting?

The Freewheel Collective is poised to occupy the FREESPACE

December 2004: The Long Island Freespace has just signed a lease on a building in Ronkonkoma. The Freewheel Collective will proudly join the other programs of the Freespace in this new home of Long Island community activism. With the opening of the Freespace within a couple of months, we expect to be able to expand the scope of our open hours. We will also have the opportunity to interface more directly with the public, to do youth programs, and to expand the volunteer base that keeps the Bike Grant program flowing.