To our valued customers and cycling community,
On July 5th, 2017 our flat and tune-up rates will be changing to better reflect the service we provide and help sustain our business model centered on cooperative principles and worker rights.
Above all you are paying for a high standard of work, safety, and quality control.
Additionally, you are supporting an environmentally conscious community space that actively promotes diversity in the biking community, values empowerment through education, and supports social justice work in the Boston area in various ways.
Here are some of our guiding principles that set us apart from the usual bike shop:
TRANSPARENCY
We are committed to clarity and transparency. As soon as you enter our shop you are on the service floor. A trained estimator looks over your bike in your presence and will discuss their service suggestions with you. This procedure ensures that you and the mechanic can communicate directly and openly, deciding together which work and services best serve you and your bike’s needs.
SAFETY: 2nd PAIR OF EYES
Every job we do – from fixing a flat to a full tune up – is double checked by a second mechanic. In addition, we test ride your bike two times: both the mechanic and a test rider who looks the work over take your bike for a ride before we hand it back to you.
EXPERIENCE
The staff that works on your bicycle has the benefit of processes and procedures that have been refined over the 45 years our doors have been open. Together, we have a total of 70 years combined staff experience! Our staff regularly meets to exchange ideas, refine our practices, and keep all of us up to date on new technology and industry changes.
WORKER OWNED COOPERATIVE
We are a worker owned cooperative, which means a group of the mechanics you interact with collaboratively and democratically own and operate Broadway Bicycle. We embrace the values expressed in the Seven International Principles of Cooperatives, which include open and evolving membership, stewardship for the next generation, and concern for the community we operate in and serve.
HEALTHCARE, LIVING WAGE AND WORKER RIGHTS
Worker rights has always been a priority at Broadway Bicycle. We show this in our $15 an hour minimum wage, our free healthcare to all full time workers, and our wage cap that states that no worker can make more than twice the wage of the lowest paid worker (so far we have not even come close to this figure). All our wages, our wage system, and our paths to advancement – which are open to all workers – are fully transparent.
TRAINING AND DIVERSITY
Broadway Bicycle trains all its staff. This means that we are able to hire from a diverse pool of applicants and skill sets, which makes a more innovative and adaptive workforce. We believe a more diverse shop is a healthier shop and better reflects and serves our diverse cycling community. We are committed to training workers without prior shop experience and are thereby able to offer groups traditionally marginalized in the bicycle industry better access to the bicycle repair profession.
ENVIRONMENTALLY CONSCIOUS
In addition to maintaining and supplying our community with alternative transportation, Broadway Bicycle believes in good environmental practices. Our main lubricants and cleaning products are vegetable based. We use Pedro’s products that are “safe for you, your family, and the environment.” We pay to have tires and tubes recycled, we allow the public to drop off their bicycle related rubber for recycling, and our metal recycling is either donated to Bikes Not Bombs or recycled at a local facility. Additionally, we partner with local groups (e.g. the fellow cooperative Cero) to reuse our recycling for various projects.
COMMUNITY SUPPORT AND INVOLVEMENT
We believe in community involvement. Examples are our fundraiser for Boston GLASS during pride week, our annual Pancake Breakfast for commuters during BayState Bike Week, and donations to the Boston Cyclist Union, Massbike and many more.
ACCOUNTABILITY
Like all shops and retail businesses, we sometimes make mistakes. We believe in honesty and transparency and will hold ourselves accountable, doing our best to remedy the situation with the customer.
THANK YOU
After 45 years of serving the Cambridge cycling community, holding ourselves to high levels of mechanical service and expertise, cooperatives principles, and worker rights, we are looking ahead at the next 45 years with the hope to keep doing our best as your neighborhood bike shop. Thank you for your patronage and participation in our weird and wonderful business.
