Third Hand Bike Co-Op

If you want to buy a good used bike, its the correct place for you. People are friendly and they help you choose a bike depending on your needs.
Also you can fix up your bike yourself or be a volunteer and help fixing up donated bikes.

Hidden gem!
I hate to throw labels around, but it seems the hipsters have totally missed the bus (or bike?) on this treasure. Or maybe they just prefer to pay peasants to do the work for them. Regardless, Third Hand is a great place for ANYONE to fix their bike AND learn how to do it in the process, all for little or no money. I haven’t been to the shop’s new location (979 E. 5^th), but I learned how to true my wheel at the previous shop on 5^th. They have all the tools you need to fix a bike. A person in need of a bike could walk into the shop and build a bike from the ground up with all the parts available. The location isn’t the greatest, but it’s a co-​op not a business. If they wanted to attract strictly yuppies they would be located on High Street and be paying top dollar for the location. Demand for Third Hand is going to grow along with the growth of the Columbus cycling scene.

Neat place. I donated a couple of bikes and can imagine going back to volunteer and learn. Nice people too.

I was a member of the Third Hand Bicycle Co-​Op from 2006, back when it was ran from Teddy’s garage, through 2008, for the early months of its move to 5^th Ave. I continued to stop by here and there throughout 2009. Let me say up front that I love the Co-​Op and support everything it does. However, I’m about to make some constructive criticism. You’ll note I’m still rating it high because we NEED places like this. And it’s a work in progress, it ain’t gonna be perfect.
In its early days, one of the downsides was that we were falling short at one of our core purposes: to provide bikes for those in need in exchange for volunteering. I was one of the Co-​Ops early (and, at least until I stopped volunteering, only) success stories in that regard. I went there because I was broke and couldn’t afford a decent bike. When I heard I could volunteer and earn a bike that I would eventually build, well, I was stoked. However, that’s easier said than done.
Most of the best donations go out for sale, and I already had a crumby bike. I at least wanted an upgrade. So first you have to wait for a frame to come in that fits you, then manage to set something aside that would potentially sell for a bit more to a paying customer, etc. etc. It ain’t easy. Or wasn’t, I couldn’t say for sure now, and I’ll go into why that’s the case shortly. Anyway, it took almost a year and a half, but I got my bike, and for that, I am thankful. Still riding it to this day…
But back to my criticism… basically, the co-​op has failed at one of its original core purposes: providing and promoting bicycles to those less fortunate in the community. I notice no other reviewer even mentioned that objective, so I guess it’s so far removed now that they don’t even claim it as one of their aims.
The last time I went, which has been over a year now, none of the founding members who «showed me the ropes» were present, I was denied access to any tools, and in fact, the garage was blocked off from the public altogether.
Third Hand has basically become a discount bike shop for college kids and well-​to-​do yuppies. That is not who the Co-​Op was created to serve. Obviously, it would be folly to turn business away, but in my time there, I watched that become its ONLY business, which is a shame.
There is still definite value in what the co-​op does offer, but I’m highly unlikely to return based on my last handful of experiences. While I wish them continued success, I further hope that the co-​op can get back to those original values and better serve the community that needs it most.

Great place! Got new tires, tire tubes, and learned to fix my own bike (priceless). They have a huge number of tools (hardware…) here and always have spare parts for you. Paid only $ 15 for 2 tires and tubes, so not at all expensive. Before I heard about Third Hand, I was quoted something like $ 35 for replacing the tires at other bike stores!
I’ve gone on two different occasions — once on Wednesday and once on Saturday. I definitely recommend going Wednesday because they were PACKED on Saturday. You won’t get as much attention if you go on Saturday if you’re a little apprehensive about fixing your own bike.
GO!

A great place born of great intentions. Plus i went to a fun Halloween party there and met interesting people who (sadly) didn’t objectify me in my tight blue dress. There seems to be a like mindedness running through the people who spend a lot of time at Third Hand, and at its lowest common denominator this mindset seems to be an overarching dissatisfaction with many of the conventions of society we’ve become accustomed to, such as overreliance on cars and a tacit trust of government. I can appreciate that move toward new modes of life and trying to subvert the unhealthy status quo. I think this place is strongly linked to the sporeprint info shop next door. But i don’t think you have to radical to buy a bike there, have them fix yours, or spend some time there learning to maintain and repair bikes.

The philosophy of Third Hand Bike is simple: they promote biking as responsible transportation and encourage the public to bike more often by making bikes (and bike knowledge) available.
They sell used bikes and parts and will have the tools to help you repair your bike, all for a very, very low cost. If your bike is broken and you don’t know how to repair it, they’ll teach you; it’s a teach-​a-​man-​to-​fish type of place.
I was introduced to the Third Hand Bike group at a recycling event in April. We were accepting old books, cell phones, electronics, paper, furniture, etc. We tried to collect a few bikes. We ended up getting three bikes. Two of the bikes were pretty sad and didn’t even have chains. The third bike was in excellent condition… but, someone ended up stealing it from the lot where we were stationed. They rode off on it while we watched. The Third Hand guys were cool about it. They decided that if the thief needed the bike that badly, maybe he should have it.
Third Hand is always looking for extra hands to help with bike repairs, promotions, and logistics. And they’d be more than happy to take your old bike off your hands as well.

Third Hand is a bike co-​op on 5^th Ave. The place is run purely on idealism and donations. The fundamental purpose of the co-​op is to put more bikes on the road, and to educate people about choosing and maintaining their bikes.
I volunteered there a couple times this past spring. First they helped me fix my own bike, and once I was comfortable with some pretty basic maintenance, I started fixing donated bikes for sale. I had to quit going because of scheduling conflicts, but I never had anything but a great time while I was there.
Outside of volunteering, Third Hand is a great place to get a solid used bike for really cheap. The prices range from the super low end at around 30 or 40 bucks, to the higher end hovering around 100.

This place is really cool. Have you ever had a bike and some little thing went wrong with it and you knew that the repair was probably going to be something easy? So easy that you almost felt ashamed to go into a bikestore just to have some pock faced punk smirk at you because you couldn’t lube your own chain or tighten your own brake lines?
Third Hand is great for this because it is pretty much an all volunteer organization where anyone can go in and fix their own bikes (with Third Hand’s tools and bike lift) or have one of the volunteers help you (if you are like me and don’t know as much as you should about something you’ve been doing since you were 5).
Lets say you need a tire. If third hand has one that fits your bike it will probably cost around $ 5. And they will give you tubes for free. When i go to BikeSource to buy a tube I pay around $ 5 anyways. I just stopped in earlier this evening and now I can use my top 8 gears of my bike again, thanks to some handy volunteer named Mike who also showed me how to fix the problem at home in case it happens again.