The return of spring means brisk business for bike shops, and as the weather warms cycling stores across the city are staffing up with skilled mechanics ready to make winter-weary rides road worthy again.

For two local shops, that annual hiring process was a bit more inclusive this year, thanks to a group striving to make the back rooms of bike stores more welcoming spaces for young women, transgender, and gender nonconforming people, three groups that have faced obstacles breaking into the male-dominated cycling industry.

The initiative is the brainchild of Casper Wood, a worker-owner at the Urbane Cyclist co-op at College St. and Spadina Ave. He decided to act after he realized the vast majority of qualified applicants turning up at Urbane were male, and most were cisgender, the term used to describe someone who identifies with the gender that corresponds to their sex at birth.

“The bike industry is very whitewashed, and very cis guy oriented. That’s not the only people who like cycling. Everyone should be able to feel comfortable,” said Wood, 26, who identifies as a trans man.

“I wanted to figure out how to be able to get women, trans, gender nonconforming people into these roles.”

According to Wood, women and trans people face a double layer of discrimination in the cycling world because not only is riding itself often considered a sport therefore the realm of men, but it’s often assumed the mechanical skills required to work on bicycles are exclusively male attributes. It’s not uncommon for women report being talked down to or even harassed in bike shops.

Wood believed addressing the problem wouldn’t be as simple as merely hiring more women and trans people. Building and repairing bicycles is not an easy job, and Urbane, which has a solid reputation in the cycling community, couldn’t risk hiring unskilled workers.

So instead Wood decided to help provide young women and trans people the necessary skills. Working with Charlie’s FreeWheels, a non-profit bike shop at Queen St. East and Sherbourne St. that promotes cycling among youth, Wood developed an apprenticeship program geared toward young women and trans people.

Starting in January, for six weeks each Sunday Wood and Ainsley Naylor from Charlie’s spent six hours training four would-be mechanics.

Participants were selected from graduates of Charlie’s build-a-bike program, and already had some basic knowledge. The apprenticeship taught them enough skills to become level one mechanics, including mending flat tires, installing accessories, fixing brakes, and interacting with customers.

Each participant received an hourly wage of $14, and took home about $500, according to Wood. At the end of the apprenticeship all four were hired at either Urbane or Charlie’s. Wood says he hopes the program is repeated next year.

One of the apprentices, Alex Townson, 23, has just started her full-time role at Urbane.

“I’m very excited. I think getting to do something you’re passionate about every day is kind of the goal and that’s how I feel about this,” she said.

According to Townson, she was the only woman in her build-a-bike class at Charlie’s, and her female friends have reported being treated rudely by male employees at bike shops.

“It’s an area that we’ve typically been excluded from. Everyone has passions and everyone has interests, and if (fixing bikes is) your passion and your interest, you should be allowed to do it in a safe space.”

According to the 2016 census, of the 34,355 Toronto residents who reported cycling was their main mode of commuting, only 38 per cent were female. (The census doesn’t allow respondents to formally identify themselves as transgender.)

However, a grassroots movement to draw more women and trans people into the cycling community has been chipping away at the problem for years.

More recent initiatives include the Bad Girls Bike Club, which leads regular group rides for female-identifying youth through the city’s trails and paths.

But as early as 2008 Bike Pirates, a volunteer-run bike shop in Parkdale, began hosting trans- and women-only hours on Sundays.

Organizations like BikeChain, a non-profit based out of the University of Toronto, have since followed suit. Tuesdays between 6 to 9 p.m. are now “WTF” hours reserved for clients who are women, trans, or femme (a queer person who presents as traditionally female).

Beth Austerberry, BikeChain’s executive director, said the aim of the WTF hours is to create an environment where women, trans people and others “can learn about bike maintenance in a place that feels safe and encouraging for them.”

Austerberry sees teaching bicycle repair skills as an act of empowerment, particularly in a city where the cost of living is high and having affordable transportation options is a key contributor to independence.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

BikeChain’s weekly WTF hours have been in place for about a year, and Austerberry said that while they have been generally well received, men are sometimes frustrated when they turn up and find the shop isn’t open to them.

She said in those cases, BikeChain employees try to explain why the hours are there.

“We try to frame it in that positive way of this is a program we created to actually make the space accessible for more people rather than to less people,” she said.