Bikechain

Bikechain's Annual General Meeting is coming up! The date will be set next week, and as a
funny part of our bylaws, to vote at our AGM you need to come in and fill out an 'active
membership' form. Then you can help elect the fine folks that guide the organisation
through me, your trusty coordinator! Better yet, if you'd like to help guide Bikechain
too, let us know and keep your ear to your email for the upcoming date!

ALSO:

The City! That's right! Time to either vote for mayor, councillor and school trustees
(not this school silly. that's already happened) or to hassle everyone you know who is a
canadian citizen to vote. Do both! That's what I'll be up to.

I'm not too concerned about anyone on this list voting for Rod Frod, so here's some great
links to finding out what your local candidates like and dislike

Toronto Coalition for Active Transportation Election Survey:
http://torontocat.ca/main/platform_election_surveys

Toronto Environmental Alliance Candidate Report Card:
http://torontoenvironment.org/voteto/reportcard

Finally, a quick break from your studying (or not studying, as the case may be)

http://twentytwowords.com/2010/09/27/bike-dancing-to-the-beat-of-a-drum/

http://vimeo.com/11894823

Hope you've been staying safe and dry with all the rain we've been 
having. If not, drop by the shop, adjust your brakes and rig up some 
fenders!

BIG FUN NEWS

Dandyhorse, Toronto's cycling magazine, is having their 2nd annual  "pants-optional" release party this Thursday, the 7th, at Parts &  Labour, 1566 Queen W. Six bucks gets you the magazine and a donation 
for having a great time!

www.dandyhorse.com

Bike Boxes! They've been installed at St George & Harbord/Hoskin, and  once the weather co-operates, there will be a whole bunch more. Bike 
boxes are a pavement marking that designates a space for cyclists to 
wait in front of cars at a red light, and to proceed first when the 
light turns green. That last sentence is copied straight from the 
city's website, so go there to learn more!

http://www.toronto.ca/cycling/

Bikechain's Free Evening Seminar Series is going to be the third  Thursday of every month, and this month is about cycling in Toronto, 
infrastructure, road etiquette, and how to get in touch with what's 
going on in the cycling scene.

It's happening at Bikechain, the 21st of October, from 5:30 - 7:30. 
There's a flat fix demonstration at the end too!

Elections are coming! October 25th! You should vote (assuming you can, you need to be a citizen). If you 
think having permanent residency is enough for you to be able to vote 
in municipal elections (people with PR live here too), join the Better 
Ballots initiative, and encourage your friends and family to vote for 
candidates that want better civic engagement.

If you can vote, please check out your ward's candidates and be 
informed when you vote. There's too many ward's for me to make 
suggestions, which I happily would if you come talk to me. Instead, 
I'll just say this;

DO NOT VOTE FOR ROB FORD!

Check out http://www.toronto.ca/elections/ for details (not details on 
why to not vote for Rob Ford, that's here http://www.fordonford.com/)

But reall, we live in a democracy, so make up your own mind. That's 
what I've done.

Stay safe on the streets, because it might be your own fault at the 
end of the day (and VOTE! Make sure you can go vote! If you can't, 
volunteer to help campaign for people! If you aren't sure, find out 
and volunteer!)

Okay, I'm done ranting for today.

No, really, it's the law to have a bell, horn or gong (!) on your bike. We've got them at Bikechain!

Your faithful and trusty coordinator Toby will be away at the Ontario Bike Summit on Monday and Tuesday next week, so as a special treat, former coordinator Alex Gatien and Bikechain President (and former employee) Matt Draimin will be filling in on Monday and Tuesday respectively. Treat them nicely, they have soft skin.

It other news, Car Free Day is coming up next Wednesday!

The Sierra Club, Bikechain, and the City of Toronto will be putting together an info fair as well as fun and games over on Queen's Park Crescent from 10am - 2pm. Bike Pirates and BikeSauce will be on hand to do tune-ups and safety checks for cyclists.

Woot!

Tonight is the first in our third thursday seminars. We'll be covering basic maintenance for your bike, and there will be a flat fix demonstration at the end! Fun! Double Woot!

Is having a bike not enough to alleviate the burden of your giant student debt? Maybe you should get a job! Bikechain is hiring a whole whack of students in roles from doing outreach to new students to helping those new students figure out how to fix a flat (because they didn't come to the seminar tonight). You need to qualify for workstudy (like if you get OSAP or go and hassle Awards & Admissions, but do it politely), and then shoot us a resume.

Job descriptions can be found here. Triple Woot!

Like riding? Join the U of T Cycling Club. Weekly-ish rides are meeting up at Bikechain and exploring the city by bike. Email utcc(at)utoronto.ca to find out more! Quadruple Woot!

Welcome back everyone, or if you haven't been gone, just plain ol' welcome! Is this going to be the year all your readings are done before your classes?

This might be a long one....

1. Bikechain is expanding our hours!
2. Bikechain is hiring!
3. Bikechain is looking for volunteers!
4. The U of T cycling club wants riders!
5. Mark your calendars for fun stuff!
6. BIXI is coming!

1. Your love of coming into to Bikechain has demanded this. After years of being open
12-5pm during the week, we've finally maxed out the amount of bike fixin' we can help you
with in that time. Bikechain will now be open from 11am until 5pm, Monday to Friday. Our
new hours will come into effect on September 13th, it's a Monday. Woot!

We will also be piloting an appointmnet system for folks who work a regular 9-5, or want
to avoid the crazy drop-in miasma. You will be able to make appointments starting
September 13th. 2 appointment spots will be available from 5-6pm on weekdays, with
periodic gaps in availabilty. You will be able to make appointments through our website,
and all appointments must be booked one week in advance.

2. Bikechain is looking for workstudy eligible students to work in the shop, both as
mechanics and administrative helpers. Job descriptions can be found on the U of T Careers
Centre website, the Sustainability Office's website and on our website too!
http://sustainability.utoronto.ca/participate/opportunities.htm


3. Are you looking to give back to Bikechain in a more casual way? We'll be looking to
have volunteers help out in the shop and do various jobs, dirty and otherwise. We'll be
looking to do fun things like hold movie nights and DIY crafty stuff, if that's more your
speed. If you're interested, drop us a line This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

4. The U of T cycling club is looking for riders. The club isn't about going hard and
riding until you're ragged. It's about getting together and going for fun rides. If you
would like to participate, or even better, help out leading rides, contact
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Heads up, they're also running a bike ride to Niagara Falls
September 24-26.

5.  Now that school is back in session, we're running our FREE evening seminar series
again. There will be one seminar a month, held on the third Thursday of the month, and
will run from 5:30-7:30pm. Shoot us an email so that we know you're coming, and there are
more details on our website.

This month's seminar is Basic Maintenance. Come by and learn when to do what to keep
things rolling smoothly. Email us to let us know you're coming by. Every seminar ends
with a flat fix demonsatration too!
http://bikechain.utoronto.ca/index.php/calendar/calendarlisting/detail/18-third-thursday-seminar

Bike to Campus Day is coming up on the 22nd of September. Join us at the north side of
Queen's Park for awesome street festivities! Woot! More details to come....

6. Want to see bikes on every corner? Sign up for a BIXI membership and help Toronto
reach it's last benchmark to getting a public bike sharing system in the city! There
neeed to be 1,000 subscribers, and we're halfway there. Think about what having loaner
bikes available all over the place! https://profile.toronto.bixi.com/

Keep two wheels under you!
(unless you are doing a backflip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_tDYw9C8Ws )


With love from Bikechain!