Silicon Valley Bicycle Exchange

I volunteered here as part of their bicycle repair workshop day. As a first time volunteer, they throw you in the deep end of the pool with just a quick orientation and a handout and you start fixing bikes for charity or underprivileged children. But with more experienced people around you, you learn fast and can apply your wits to try to solve mechanical issues of the bike. Beforehand, I didn’t even know how a bike really worked. After a few hours, that wasn’t a problem anymore. You get down and dirty with the bike and the lubricant replacing or mending parts. The founders and experts were there helping us and QA’ing our bikes at the end. The volunteers come from all walks of life.
The facilities are dingy since its the back of a car repair shop. They provide Costco pizza for $ 3 or you can bring your own lunch. The have a mechanic’s fridge for your own food as well. Of all of my volunteer opportunities, this definitely was the most intellectually and hands-​on experience I’ve had in a long while.

I’ve been volunteering at SVBE for the past three years and find it’s a super friendly, helpful crowd. The shop is well equipped to fix just about anything on the types of bikes we typically get for donations.
This is the best place I know of to build confidence and get some mechanical experience. Bikes are perfect to learn mechanical service since they generally are pretty simple machines — the magic is in the phenomenal engineering/​design. And SVBE is the perfect place to learn since the bikes are already broken, you have nothing to lose, and plenty of people around who can show you how to fix something the right way using the right tools (which SVBE has).
Before you head over, find their web page and verify a «work day» is scheduled on their calendar. Bring a water bottle and $ 3 if you want to participate in the CostCo pizza run.
It’s a mixed crowd: a few teenagers, often with a parent, some stanford students, several SW/​HW engineers, etc. You can always find someone to work with to make it more fun.
NO ONE is paid to be there — it’s 100% volunteer. We won’t baby sit your kids or clean up after you. Keep that in mind, be patient, be helpful. ask questions and you’ll get 1:1 bike repair training for free while doing something good for the local communities.

I have volunteered at SVBC Bicycle Exchange a few times this past year. I am not a bike specialist, and I always learn a lot on any of the work days. Along with that comes the satisfaction of having made something with my hands, and it’s always great to know that someone will be able to ride safer and happier on a bike I fixed!
I would highly recommend coming over for a weekend. The folks here are good at what they do and very helpful to help you learn. Also, the quality bar of the spruced up bikes is pretty high, so you learn the subtleties of fine tuning.
An aside, they also sell some of the used bikes, and buying from them supports the charitable operation.

I have been volunteering at the SVBC Bicycle Exchange for more than one year. I like to repair bicycles. Anyone can learn how to repair bicycles. The Bike exchange typically holds workshops every 2^nd & 4^th Saturday of the Month. I work with other volunteers from the community. People are nice and helpful, if you do not know how to repair bicycles.