Free Cycles: Investing in Community One Bicycle at a Time

If you’ve ever visited Missoula, MT you know there is an energy in town the second you arrive. Maybe it’s the natural energy created by the confluence of three different rivers or the meeting point of five different mountain ranges, but one thing is for sure, the energy of community is strong. Free Cycles has been a part of that community fabric since 1996. From the outside, it is a bike shop, but to the community and the people who work there, it’s a community gathering space that welcomes anyone who walks in the door.    

Started in 1996 by Bob Giordano and a few pals, they wanted to start a community bike share program and posted an ad in the local newspaper for donation bikes. Three days later they had 300 bikes sitting in their front lawn and over 100 people asking how they could volunteer time to help. Since then, Free Cycles has become a western Montana gathering space that removes barriers to sustainable transportation by providing bicycles, parts, a workspace and education.     

Main Programs

Open Shop

At the center of Free Cycles’ work is the Open Shop: an inviting, hands‑on space where Missoulians learn, fix, and ride with confidence. Four days a week, community members roll in to use the shop’s tools, stands and workstations to repair their own bikes. Knowledgeable staff and volunteers are always nearby to help diagnose issues, teach skills, and celebrate small victories. Since opening its doors twenty years ago, the shop has helped more than 350,000 people keep rolling through the community on their bikes. It’s a living example of how access to tools and know-how can strengthen an entire community. 

Build-a-Bike

Build-a-Bike is Free Cycles’ signature pathway to sustainable transportation. Anyone can walk in, take a “BikeWell” class taught by staff, and learn the basics of safe riding and bicycle maintenance. After contributing 90 minutes of volunteer time, participants pick out a bike and begin the rewarding process of making it their own. The program blends education, empowerment, and stewardship, ensuring every rider leaves with both a bicycle and the skills to care for it. Since the start, volunteers and staff have helped over 30,000 people build and maintain their “new-to-them” bikes.  

Free Cycles also runs two other programs that support the community:

Citizens In Vesting In Community (CIVIC) offers community members with the means to purchase a bike access to reliable, refurbished bikes at reasonable prices. These bikes are typically sold for between $90 and$300. Each sale supports Free Cycles’ broader mission and helps fund the programs that make cycling accessible for everyone.

Youth Cycles partners with local schools and youth organizations to introduce young people to the joy and utility of bicycles. By putting tools in kids’ hands and teaching foundational skills, the program sparks curiosity, confidence, and a lifelong connection to cycling. Each year, Youth Cycles reaches roughly 900 young riders.

Free Cycles’ impact has grown so deeply into Missoula’s transportation culture that it helped inspire the creation of the Missoula Institute for Sustainable Transportation (MIST), the umbrella organization that now guides long‑term sustainable mobility planning in the region. MIST brings together leaders from Public Works, the University of Montana, advocacy groups, and local organizations to shape a transportation network that is safe, equitable, and environmentally sound.

Their collaborative efforts have contributed to major advancements across the city: complete streets policies, Vision Zero initiatives, mode‑shift strategies, and the implementation of some of the earliest protected bike lanes in the United States. Buffered lanes, pavement improvements, and thoughtful street design continue to make Missoula a model for community‑driven transportation change.

Free Cycles embodies the power of the bicycle to transform communities. Their programs, partnerships, and grassroots energy have become woven into the sustainable transportation fabric of Missoula and western Montana. Planet Bike is proud to support their mission through our annual 1% for the Planet giving initiative, helping ensure that more people can ride safely, confidently, and joyfully.