Bike kitchens, DIY biking cooperatives, exist from LA to London, enclaves of biking enthusiasts who get together to share knowledge and bicycle parts and, on occasion, food.
Bike Kitchen Prague is located in Fuchs2, a protected functionalist culture space and former ’30s-era cafe on Štvanice Island which, in addition to alternative theater and indie music, focuses on community activities.
The Bike Kitchen initiative is currently building a permanent workshop at Fuchs2:
“The bike shop is not yet completely finished and equipped to repair bikes, but we also take it as an opportunity to learn something and spend time together. We are always in the workshop on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm,” said a Bike Kitchen Prague spokesperson.
The official opening of the space is June 25, however, a meet-up “Folk cuisine for Bike Kitchen” will take place on June 8.
Bike enthusiasts can come to enjoy a menu of “dumpster soup, curried lentils, and dessert,” and learn more about the Bike Kitchen Prague collective while contributing to the purchase of tools and other equipment for the emerging workshop.
According to the official Bike Kitchen Prague page: “We are a diverse team of people that combines the feeling that there is no open and inclusive space in Prague for those interested in urban cycling, which is not bound to generate profit.”
The shop is based on the idea of exchanging ideas not only in the field of bicycle repair and cycling but on the themes of ecology, a sustainable way of life, and social issues.
Despite the national Czech love of cycling, Prague has long suffered from infrastructure and policy problems that prevent it from becoming a world-class bicycling capital on par with Amsterdam.
Last summer Prague officials overturned a ruling banning bikes in the city center.