September 2026

Happy September! We hope everyone is enjoying the cooler weather and getting in some fall rides. This month we sent off 535 bikes and our Operations Associate, Missael, to CESTA in El Salvador (in different containers, Misa arrived first). He was attending Foro Mundial de la Bicicleta - the World Bicycle Forum and visiting some of CESTA's operations and partners after the conference. We will have a lot more to say on that in the next newsletter, so stay tuned!
Around the shop, we're gearing up for celebrating 27 years of Working Bikes on Saturday, October 3rd, from 4-8 PM right here on 24th Place and Western. We'll be using our new entrance to get in and out of the building, feasting on enchiladas (courtesy Flor Azteca), quenching our thirst with the help of Revolution and the Chaos Brew Club, riding and pressing cider with bikes, and generally making merry. Ticket prices go up $10 on October 1st, sign up now if you can join in the festivities!

There are a few fun events coming up after the big party, too, including the Garfield Park Community Council's Breast Cancer Awareness Walk and Ride on October 10th and the Chicago Architecture Center's Open House Chicago weekend on the 17th and 18th. We'll host visitors for tours of the warehouse on the 17th and be closed, as usual, on Sunday the 18th (so we can check out some other sites).

Cycles for Farmers Update

The container of bikes sent off from Working Bikes at the end of May has just been offloaded in Kampala, Uganda, by Irene and the team at Cycles for Farmers (CFF). CFF's core mission involves getting bikes as tools of transportation to folks in rural Uganda, particularly around Lira in the north and to a lesser extent around Mbale in the east, where bikes allow people to access small plots of arable land. Many of CFF's farmer-cyclists grow drought tolerant chilis for the export market and use the income -- sometimes chilis are their only source of cash income -- to pay to send their children to school.

In Kampala, the operation looks far different. Kampala's streets are congested with vehicles and boda bodas, motorcycle taxis, find any gaps they can to get passengers through traffic. Very few brave and/or foolish riders pedal to get around Kampala. The safe places to ride in the capitol are those free of traffic, usually enclosed grounds of schools and higher income families, and that's exactly where CFF is getting people pedaling. They requested about 50% of our May container contain children's bikes and the WB team was happy to oblige. Some kiddie bikes will be sold to Ugandans who are happy to pay to put their kids on higher quality US market bikes, others will form fleets to live at or be brought to schools for bike programming that will help develop a love of cycling in the next generation. We hope to get one more container off to Cycles for Farmers before the end of 2026, likely in mid-October!

Cycle of Power wrenches have been turning furiously, but at this point in the late summer (ok, it's the fall...) we're still taking 6-8 weeks to get application to time of bike receipt for our Cycle of Power local donations. That's the highest wait time of this year, and not unusual for this season, as the program's recipients and case workers spread the good word about Working Bikes through the riding season. All those bikes are getting under folks who will use them as primary transportation, people referred through the VA, ReVive Center, Heartland Human Care Services, and dozens of other groups working with vulnerable populations. Recipients get a bike, lock, helmet, and set of lights, along with a free year of service to keep their ride rolling and get them wherever they need to go and we are always energized to see those bikes with the power fist logo around town.

But C of P bikes aren't the only thing rolling out of our warehouse: we love getting bikes and bike accessories to other groups doing good work in Chicago. Bikes that might not be the best everyday rides -- single speed cruisers, for example -- can serve a great purpose, like the 10 cruisers we sent over to our friends at Lawndale Christian Fitness Center to raffle off at their annual 5K and add some energy to the run's afterparty (and get more bikes out on the streets of North Lawndale).

We were thrilled to send over a half dozen tagalongs to Think Outside da Block to give young riders in Englewood a chance to roll behind their speedier guardians without getting dropped on Roll in Peace or Bike Outside da Block community rides. And it's super exciting that our old double headed Park Tool repair stand, under a program led by Blackstone alum Derrick, will get heavy use in a new home as folks in Englewood spend more time wrenching on bikes in their community.

We're happy to support events with bikes as raffle prizes, too, and were delighted to send over 2 brand new Susan G. Koman branded cruisers to our good friends at the Garfield Park Community Council who will use them to sell raffle tickets ahead of their breast cancer awareness walk n' bike with the funds raised all set to go to (wait for it) the Susan G. Koman Foundation.

And we even sneak bikes into events that aren't explicitly including 2 wheeled transportation, like when we sent a 1972 Schwinn lovingly restored by restoration specialist Jerry M and a Bridgestone kiddie cruiser over to an event hosted by the Center for Disability and Elder Law in the hopes of raising funds to support their good work at a silent auction.

Our 27th Anniversary Celebration is THIS WEEKEND! Tickets are still available for $40, they will increase in price on October 1st, get them quick! We are very excited for our raffle prizes, including a weekend getaway, bike accessories from Portland Design Works, a tent from REI and more. This is our one fundraiser of the year, so we make it count. Your ticket included enchiladas from Flor Azteca, drinks from Revolution Brewing, and Chaos Brew Club as well as the opportunity to win some prizes.

Interested in sponsoring Working Bikes?

You can find out more about monetary sponsorship here, and we love to receive donations for our raffle and silent auction. If you are interested in donating please reach out to us at info@workingbikes.org.

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If you can't make it to our Anniversary Party there is another great opportunity to join us at our shop for a tour with Open House Chicago. We are very proud to be included on a list of such iconic landmarks in Chicago for the past 6 years, and this is a great opportunity to learn a bit more about our history with Board Member Tom Mulhern. Visitors will enter through our new accessible entrance on 24th Place and can peruse public areas until the next guided tour of the 3-story facility plus rooftop. Groups of 10-15 will spend 20-30 minutes walking through the warehouse and learning about the history of the space and the organization. We are open to OHC visitors on Saturday October 17th, from 10am to 5pm, and hope you can visit some of the other fantastic sites in our neighborhood including our friend Hector Duarte's studio, Open Center for the Arts and Mana Contemporary Chicago!