Pedal Revolution Closing FAQ
A message from Steve
Why are you closing?
Pedal Revolution is operated by a non-profit organization called New Door Ventures. New Door’s work has always involved providing access to employment with social enterprises, including Pedal Revolution, operating to this important social mission.
New Door has always raised funds to support the operations of Pedal Revolution. In recent years, the increasing costs of doing business and the ongoing slump in the bike industry have meant that the costs of supporting Pedal Revolution’s operations were growing. With the additional challenges to our programming and fundraising projections for the foreseeable future due to COVID-19, the added financial burden of owning and supporting the business is no longer tenable. Through this difficult decision, we will ensure that New Door survives this economic crisis and can continue to provide programs and support for low-income Bay Area young people.
There’s a bike boom! Why don’t you re-open?
Pedal Revolution is and has always been a different type of bike shop. Re-opening is not as simple as one may think when considering the safety of our staff and the challenges to our youth programming during COVID-19. We are excited for the current bike boom and hope that it will be a great help to local bike shops. Operating a small business in San Francisco is no easy feat, in addition to other challenges that we’ve faced for a while like maintaining staffing levels, economic changes to our city and neighborhood, and demographic changes to the youth population that we work with. These were issues before COVID and are likely to continue post-COVID.
How can I help?
While we appreciate your support, the decision to close the business is final. You can help by supporting the other remaining brick and mortar bike shops in the area. If you supported Pedal Revolution because of the social mission of New Door, please stay in touch with us by signing up for our newsletter.
What are some other bike shops in the neighborhood that I can support?
There are several bike shops in San Francisco. Box Dog Bikes in the Mission, American Cyclery near the Park, and Everybody Bikes and Swell bikes in the Avenues are all great independent bike shops. Missing Link, Tip Top Cycles, and King Kog in the East Bay are great options. For the DIY’ers - The Bike Kitchen is a great resource.
Is there a chance that Pedal would be bought? What happens next?
We would love for Pedal Revolution to carry on in some manner, whether through another organization that would want to explore some sort of bike-related social programming or through an individual or company that would want to buy it outright. It’s too early to say what that might look like, but we will be investigating those possibilities. If you work for or have connections to a Bay Area organization that might be interested, please email us.