The Crucible

The Crucible Bike Shop needs your support!

Help us raise $110,000 by September 30 to keep Oakland residents riding through another year of free repairs, donated bikes, and youth learning opportunities.

In 2025, a one-time government grant helped fund free bike repairs, refurbished bike giveaways, youth programs, mobile outreach, and community bike events in West Oakland. That funding has now ended, and we have not yet secured a replacement source of support.

For many Oakland residents, a bicycle is more than transportation. It's how people get to work, school, medical appointments, grocery stores, and other essential destinations. When a bike breaks down, it can create a real barrier to daily life.

Each week, The Crucible Bike Shop opens its doors to provide free repairs for anywhere from 20 to 100 bicycles. We serve neighborhood youth, riders with disabilities, and unhoused community members who rely on their bikes to stay connected to jobs, services, and support networks.

The Bike Shop is also a place for learning. Our bike technicians teach repair skills ranging from patching a flat tire to more advanced mechanical work. Young people who arrive with little or no experience often leave with practical skills, confidence, and a deeper sense of independence.

Last year, we distributed 10–20 refurbished bicycles every month, along with helmets, locks, and lights to help riders travel safely throughout Oakland.

Today, we are working to raise $110,000 to sustain this work for another year.

Beyond repairs and bike donations, The Crucible Bike Shop is a gathering place. It brings together people of different ages, backgrounds, incomes, and life experiences in a welcoming space built around mutual support and shared knowledge. In a neighborhood where community spaces can be hard to find, that connection matters.

Your support will help keep free repairs available, put reliable bikes into the hands of those who need them, expand learning opportunities for young people, and bring mobile bike services directly into the community.

Together, we can keep Oakland on wheels.

The Crucible is the nation’s largest nonprofit industrial arts education center, where students of all ages and abilities explore blacksmithing, welding, glassblowing, ceramics, metalworking, and more.