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Portland Gear Hub

Portland Gear Hub

Portland's Non-Profit Bike and Outdoor Gear Shop
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  • Bikes & Gear

    Portland Gear Hub

    Operating Hours:

    Tues – Fri 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
    Saturday 10:00am – 4:00 pm

    207-761-7632

    155 Washington Ave. Portland, ME

  • Bike School

    bike school workstations

    The Portland Gear Hub’s Bike School is a dedicated education and program space located across from Kennedy Park in Portland’s East Bayside neighborhood.

    85 Anderson St., Portland, ME

    Join our newsletter to learn more about available classes, programs, and volunteer opportunities!

Getting Everybody on Bikes, Together

Did you know that with your support, over 200 people earned bikes at no cost in 2022? Every donation and every purchase YOU make helps us get more of our community safely out on bikes through our Bikes for All Mainers and Kids Bike Party earn-a-bike programs.

Thank you for a successful 2022 program season!

Registration for our programs will open again in spring of 2023.

Volunteer With Us

Volunteering is a great way to learn about repairing bikes and meet other bike friends! View the details and sign up for a shift here:

Volunteer Information

Open Bench Time

Open Bench Time is an all-ages drop-in program at our Bike School location to work on your own bike. Individuals work independently to repair their bike using our repair stands, benches, and tools. A staff mechanic is available for assistance and a selection of used and new parts are available for sale. A bench can be used for a maximum of 90 minutes at a time.

Open Bench Time is offered at a sliding scale with a suggested donation of $0 – $20 per session. 

More Info Here!

Tuesdays, 4 – 7PM 

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Program season kick-off! 🎉 The 1st Bikes for A
Program season kick-off! 🎉 The 1st Bikes for All Mainers class began this week!! Students take a class with a group bike ride to earn bikes, helmets, lights and locks. The class covers traffic safety and rules of the road while biking in Maine, as well as helmet fit, and tips on checking your bike so it is ready to ride. This free program is made possible by community members who donate their bikes, volunteers and staff who repair the bikes, and generous funding from the Onion Foundation, Quimby Family Foundation, Martin’s Point Health Care, the Michael Goulet Foundation, the Smith Charitable Trust, Kryptonite Locks, the Rines Thompson Foundation, and L.L.Bean!! Together we can continue increasing equitable access to the outdoors 🌳 🚲 ♻️ #bikesforallmainers #earnabike #gearhubbike #gearhubbikeschool

Antique of the Week brought to you by skiddin shre
Antique of the Week brought to you by skiddin shreddin @jessebillypilgrim Last week we had two kid's bikes donated that really struck a nostalgic nerve for me. I grew up riding cheap department store bikes and remember my brother and neighbor having very similar bikes to these. Both are Murrays which were proudly made in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee. Murray has made a lot of metal things over the years including gas tanks, car fenders, lawnmowers, electric fans, pedal cars and of course bicycles. They started out in Ohio, but eventually moved to Tennessee in 1956 and sold millions of inexpensive bikes under lots of different brand names. Western Flyer, Sears, Firestone and Spaceliner bikes were all produced out of their massive 40+ acre factory. Kids are VERY hard on their bikes and tend to break or disassemble anything fancy or extra on their bike. These bikes have wheels, handlebars, pedals, and a coaster brake and not a whole lot else. The coaster brakes on these bikes work great and are ready to skid through a few tires. The "Surfside", which was made in 1990, has a Japanese made Shimano hub, and the 1987 "Team Murray 120Z" has a Mexican made Bendix hub. If you look a bit closer, you will see a smattering of US made Wald components who produce some of our staff's favorite bike baskets. While these bikes were technically not "finely crafted", they are very simple, cool looking, surprisingly durable and will give your kid hours of cheap entertainment. #murraybikes #antiqueoftheweek #teammurraybmx #gearhubbike

Abundant sunshine this weekend and bikes-a-plenty
Abundant sunshine this weekend and bikes-a-plenty to choose from! Stop in for used camping gear, refurb’d bikes, or to admire the chive blossoms and sage flowers in our parking lot garden beds. 🌸 #shopusedshoplocal #reducereuserecycle

Drop in to Open Bench Time today from 4 – 7 PM. Yo
Drop in to Open Bench Time today from 4 - 7 PM. You can use our repair stands, benches, and tools to work on your own bike. Our staff mechanics are ready to guide you through repairs and adjustments. No experience is needed! Open Bench Time is offered at a sliding scale rate, at no cost or a suggested $20 per session. Located at our Bike School at 85 Anderson St, or about a 5 minute walk from our retail space. #gearhubbikeschool #diybikerepair

Antique of the Week gathered up and styled out by
Antique of the Week gathered up and styled out by @jessebillypilgrim : I'll be the first one to admit I have done little to no overnight backpacking adventures. I have spent many nights in tents, but they have all been car camping excursions. That being said, if I was going to go overnight backpacking, a lot of photos would probably be taken, and a select few would be curated to put out on the internet. That is where this sweet looking "Camp Trails" frame backpack comes in. If I wanted to look as cool as possible, this backpack would certainly help me do that. I can't honestly tell you how well this pack would help me on multi day hikes, but I can tell you it is teal, and I like the way that it looks. Camp Trails was founded in 1943 by Jack C Abert who was frustrated that a lightweight and comfortable frame pack didn't exist. He was an engineer in WWII and decided to put his skills to work to redesign the awkward and heavy wooden Boy Scout rucksacks and created the first modern tubular aluminum backpack. They were sold at Sears, distributed to the Girl and Boy Scouts and were instantly popular because they were way better than anything else that existed. Unfortunately the company Camp Trails doesn't exist anymore, but this sweet Backpack does, and it is very reasonably priced at only $25. So, if you are planning a backpacking adventure, but don't have a backpack come buy this one and take a look at our other reasonably priced camping gear. #antiqueoftheweek #camptrails #externalframebackpack

Mid-week restock from the woods in Scarborough @ke
Mid-week restock from the woods in Scarborough @ketchaoutdoors to Portland today! One of our favorite things about being a donation-based nonprofit bike + gear shop is the wide range of options we stumble into. From coaster brake Schwinn “Racers” to hydraulic brake all-road carbon fiber bikes. Spanning the 1960’s to 2019. Adult bikes starting at ~$75 and going upwards. ‘90s colorways and millennial pinks. 46cm frames to 64cm frames. It goes on…. Everyday there’s something completely different 🙃😉 so come by to check it out! #gearhubbike #gearhubbutter #shopusedshoplocal #reuserecycle

We’re looking to fill a spot here at the Gear Hu
We’re looking to fill a spot here at the Gear Hub: a full-time, year-round position to lead our Inventory and Ordering. As a primarily used bike and gear nonprofit, we depend on a reliable and economical supply of parts to help us repair and re-cycle ~1,000+ bikes a year for programs, retail, and service. Help us keep it all flowing and orderly in our packed garage of a home! ♻️ The Gear Hub is a collaborative and fast-paced work environment that demands flexibility and support for each other and our community. Together we all perform repairs, provide customer service, process donations, and contribute to the success and mission of our larger nonprofit organization, Ketcha Outdoors. Full job description is up on our website portlandgearhub.org/careers Ideal start date is early June. 🌳 Thanks for reading!

Head over to Open Bench Time today 4-7 PM at the B
Head over to Open Bench Time today 4-7 PM at the Bike School! Install a basket, adjust your shifting, and get your bike spiffied up for our group ride this week with @mainecycling, Bike to Work Day @congresssquare Friday morning, and @portlandbikeparty ride Friday night!!! It must be bike month 😉🎉🪩 #gearhubbikeschool #bikemonth #biketowork #diybikerepair #openbenchtime

Antique of the Week presented by a maine italian,
Antique of the Week presented by a maine italian, @jessebillypilgrim Cycling footwear has come a long way since the 1960s. We recently received a vintage pair of professional road racing shoes, that look closer to ballet slippers than something that would make you faster on a bike. These shoes were top of the line in their time and are made of mostly leather but are a bit of a mystery. The word Leggero, which is printed on the tongue of these shoes, means "Light" in Italian. These shoes are in fact very lightweight, look handmade and do feel like they are made of light Italian leather, so I assume that they were originally made in Italy. Modern road cycling shoes have what is called a "clipless cleat" attached to the bottom of them which clips into the corresponding pedal system that is installed on your bike, but these shoes are from the era that toeclips were the norm. To get more stiffness and performance from a toeclip pedal these shoes have a "Super Performance" plate installed into their hard leather soles. These plates helped lock the foot into the pedal and cage before the strap was cinched down as tight as possible. On the bottom of the plates it says: "Deposee J. Anouetil" Which means "sworn by Jacques Anouetil" in French. Jacques Anouetil was very successful French road racer who was the first person to win the Tour De France 5 times. I assume that these plates were made in France and were applied in Italy at the shoe shop. While I do appreciate the craftsmanship that went into these shoes, I am very glad that cycling footwear has vastly improved over the last 60 years. #antiqueoftheweek #leggero #vintagecycling


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