Volunteer Roles

We're looking for one or two friendly faces to staff our front desk on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of each month. As our Greeter, you'll play a crucial role in our bicycle repair training events! This is a great opportunity to be at the heart of our community events, meet new people, and contribute to our mission of empowering others through bicycle repair skills!

What You’ll Do:

• Welcome new volunteers and ensure they've signed liability release waivers
• Help new volunteers check in via QR code or iPad
• Take pizza orders and coordinate pizza pickup
• Set up outdoor table for lunch and oversee canopy setup
• Assist with sales and handling petty cash, as needed

Why This Matters

You will be the first point of contact for new and returning volunteers, and your actions will significantly influence their experience and overall impression of SVBE. A friendly and engaging approach will help volunteers feel welcome and encourage them to return.

Requirements:

• Friendly demeanor
• Desire to help where needed
• Friendly demeanor and help volunteers to feel welcome
• Responsible

Help us rock our events! We’re looking for friendly volunteers to help manage our on and off site bike repair events. This is a great chance to develop your leadership skills while having fun!

What You’ll Do:

• Be the point of contact for volunteers and outside agencies before and during the event
• Help manage all logistics, making sure tools and supplies are brought to events, and mechanics have what they need
• Make sure everyone registers when they arrive
• Track how many bikes get completed, partially completed, and go through QA1 and QA2
• Send emails, answer questions, be on site for event

Why This Matters:

Outreach events are important for keeping us in touch with the community and letting the community know about us. Having volunteers run our events makes outreach possible.

Requirements:

• Bicycle mechanic experience
• Understands QA process, can keep track of bikes going through repair process
• Good communication skills

Are you excited about bikes and cycling? Do you want to make a difference in your community? Join our Outreach Volunteers and help us spread the word about Silicon Valley Bicycle Exchange

What You’ll Do:

• Staff information tables at indoor and outdoor events
• Talk with the general public, share our mission and volunteer opportunities
• Engage with the public about what we do and why it matters

Why This Matters

Your enthusiasm can inspire others to get involved, supporting our efforts to promote cycling and bicycle repair in the community.

Requirements:

No experience is necessary, just your enthusiasm and a willingness to engage with people.

Drive a truck full of repaired bicycles from Bicycle Exchange to deliver the bikes to a recipient organization. Help load and unload the bicycles.

More volunteer role description coming soon.

Volunteer mechanics should be able to, at a minimum, do basic ABC checks and work somewhat independantly, performing some repairs on bikes. You do not have to be an expert, or have professional experience. As a volunteer mechanic you would also have the opportunity to take bikes home and work on them there at your own pace, and then bring them back when you are done. You would need to sign out the bike on our check-out sheet — be one of our Homework Heros! Contact our Volunteer Coordinator if you have questions about your qualifications, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Help teach and supervise apprentice mechanics, sharing your bike repair knowledge and skills.

What You’ll Do:

Work with volunteers interested in improving their bike mechanic skills. Share your knowledge and explain to the best of your ability how to perform repair work. Be ready to answer questions.

Why This Matters:

Skilled bicycle mechanics are the key link that enables us to achieve our goals. Mechanics repair bikes, make sure they meet our QA standards and get them ready ready for distribution. Having more volunteer mechanics will enable us to repair more bikes and meet the high demand from those in need.

Requirements:

• Bike mechanic skills
• Enjoy teaching adults and kids

If you have lots of experience with a particular repair area, be our expert; examples might include three-speed hubs, shock overhaul, frame straightening, wheel truing, etc.

What You’ll Do:

Share your expertise with our other mechanics and work on difficult issues.

Why This Matters:

Sharing your specialty skills will speed up problematic bicycle repair.

Requirements:

Experience and knowledge working on specialized areas of bike repair.

Provide our first level of quality assurance inspection--before each project receives a green tag and leaves its repair stand.

Be the final word in quality assurance. Requires extensive experience.

Help run our sales shop and improve our customer experience.

What You’ll Do:

There’s a lot of activity that keeps our shop running smoothly, and we need your help! If you enjoy working in a bike shop, sorting incoming parts, providing supplies to volunteers, managing restocking requests, etc., we’d love to hear from you.

Why This Matters:

An efficient running sales shop improves the customer and volunteer experience.

Requirements:

• Bicycle shop experience
• Familiar with parts inventory

Help connect buyers with bikes. Engage with customers in a proactive and knowledgeable way, providing a positive customer experience.

What You’ll Do:

Help customers pick out the right bike for them. Be willing to engage in conversation about skill level, bike functionality, etc.

Requirements:

• Should have knowledge of bike types and different riding styles.
• Helpful if you are familiar with market values of used bicycles.

Join our team and support our mechanics by prepping bikes for repair! Your role will be helpful in getting bikes ready for action. This is a great introduction to learning about bike repair by seeing the bicycles up close and becoming familiar with the various parts.

What You’ll Do:

• Clean off mud, grime and debris from bikes
• Remove rust (if needed) so mechanics can dive right in
• Pump up bicycle tires that are too soft or flat (Carol added this - appropriate?)

Why This Matters:

Your efforts will make a big difference helping mechanics to start their work, and help keep our shop running smoothly. If you enjoy hands-on work and want to contribute to our mission, we’d love to have you on board!

Requirements:

No particular skills necessary

Join our team and help keep our community connected! We're looking for a passionate individual to create and share our newsletters, keeping our volunteers and supporters informed and inspired.

What You’ll Do:

• Craft engaging articles about the Silicon Valley Bicycle Exchange
• Edit and polish content for clarity and impact
• Collaborate with volunteers to gather stories, feedback, and insights
• Publish and distribute the newsletter every two months to keep our community up-to-date

Requirements:

• Prior experience in newsletter editing and content creation
• Strong writing and communication skills
• A proactive approach to seeking input and making content compelling

Help us share the impact of Silicon Valley Bicycle Exchange! We’re looking for enthusiastic volunteers to capture and share the amazing work we do—whether through photography, video, social media engagement, or outreach. If you have experience in content creation and storytelling, we’d love your help in amplifying our message!

What You’ll Do:

• Attend events (onsite and offsite) to take high-quality photos and videos for use on our website, social media, and promotional materials
• Capture engaging moments of volunteers fixing bikes, teaching mechanic skills and building community connections
• Edit video content for social media
• Assist in creating tutorial videos about bicycle repair to help educate our community
• Support our Marketing team with managing SVBE’s social media accounts (TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn) with engaging content, including event promotions, volunteer highlights and impact stories
• Potentially monitor and respond to comments and messages to engage with our audience and encourage participation
• Digital and in-person outreach
• Attend Outreach events

Requirements:

• Experience in photography and/or videography
• Experience posting content on social media platforms, including TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn
• Ability and interest in attending various events within your schedule capacity and interacting with volunteers to capture authentic moments
• Interest in increasing your sales, marketing, conversational and non-profit management skills
• (Bonus) Experience creating tutorial videos or educational content

This is a flexible volunteer role with no set schedule, but your contributions will have a lasting impact! If you’re ready to use your skills to support a great cause, we’d love to have you on board.

Help keep our repair shop organized and ready for volunteer mechanics to tackle the next batch of bikes! As a workbench organizer, you’ll play an important role in helping manage the bike shop workspace.

What You’ll Do:

• Put away and reorganize tools
• Clear off work surfaces for optimal use
• Restock essential supplies like grease guns and other products
• Wipe down laminated instruction guides
• Collect loose nuts, bolts and other small items

Why This Matters:

Your efforts will ensure our mechanics have everything they need to work effectively. If you’re detail-oriented and enjoy creating an organized environment, we’d love to have you on our team!

Requirements:

Familiarity with bikes and garage / workshop environments.

Volunteer position description coming soon. If you're interested or want to learn more, please contact our volunteer coordinator Toni, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Got a particular skill you'd like to contribute to Bicycle Exchange? Have an idea for something that needs doing at Bicycle Exchange and you'd like to do it? We welcome all kinds of volunteers at SVBE. Please let us know by contacting our volunteer coordinator Toni, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..