GO Bike Buffalo

I signed up and took their Flat Tire class, and this is a class that anyone who owns a bicycle should take.
The instructor rolled each of us a tire, and walked us through the entire process, from taking the tire off the rim, prepping the surface, putting on a patch, and then reassembling the entire thing. I was dirty and greasy by the end, but filled with confidence!
GO Bike is also not just a shop, but they’re an advocacy group, working to get better presence for bicycles and bicyclists in Buffalo. They’ve done a ton to help make the city a better place to ride, and they have a lot of great events going on throughout the year. A true treasure.

My son needed a commuter bike and my daughter just needed one for occasional trips around town. On the advice of a friend, we stopped by to see what kind of options they had.
The staff were helpful and patient with us as we tried out several bikes. They even helped my son switch out the seat on a bike to one he liked better and installed a kickstand for him.
The group offers an open workshop area with free use of tools to members ($ 30 fee) as well as 4 different classes on basic bicycle maintenance.
The two bikes, plus locks and lights, cost about $ 400, which is less than one bike would have cost new.
I like not only supporting a local nonprofit, but I also like knowing that if something goes wrong with the bikes, we know where we can learn how to fix it.

Need a cheap bike to get you from point A to point B? Try out Blue Bike. Their selection of used bikes turns over quickly and most of their stock is available in the spring and summer months. The selection is pretty sparse in the winter. I was able to get a Le Tour Schwinn for $ 60 when I first moved here to help me learn my way around the city. They also have bikes in the $ 40 range and tend to carry more MTBs and Huffys than road bikes. But keep your expectations realistic, you are not going to score a refurbished Cannondale or Pegeot here.
They also double as a community workshop co-​op of sorts.

Every city needs an organization and space like Buffalo Blue Bike.
Here, you can learn not only to fix your bike, but be empowered to build your own. Folks donate used bikes and parts, and volunteers help you construct your own Frankenbike for yourself — or you can volunteer to build a bike for a person in need, as they’re frequently giving bikes away, especially to children’s organizations.
There’s all kinds of tools that anyone can use for free, and lots of cool people there using them, especially in the summer months, when the place feels like one big, friendly garage party.
The idea is that once people feel educated and empowered about using and fixing their own bikes, bike usage overall will go up. And since Buffalo’s a pretty flat city, it’s ideal for creating a two-​wheel culture. I can’t wait to see how it looks in 10 years, when hundreds of people are wheeling around on their supercool fixies thanks to Buffalo Blue Bike.
Since the org’s just getting on its feet and is still staffed mostly by unpaid volunteers, it does have its flaws. Mainly that the instructional model here, if you can call it that, is pretty unstructured and sink-​or-​swim — you won’t take an organized class in building a bike, but just sort of pick it up as you go along from whomever is working next to you. Thus, the results won’t always be perfect, as we found when my bro’s first bike lost its chain during our first ride together. Whoops. But as my dad says, «This is how we learn!»