August Updates

Hey friends! We’ve got lots of updates for you this month:

1. Promo & informational video
2. Share your feedback with us
3. New Bike Alert: Xtracycle Swoop
4. Booking at our Brackett Park location
5. September bookings now open
6. Support the MCBL

1. Promo & informational video

Thanks to our awesome partners at Cyclehoop, we now have a promo/informational video for our program. Check it out and share it with someone you think should know about our program!

2. Share your feedback with us!

As most of you know, 2025 is a pilot year for the program. We’re actively seeking funding to continue (and hopefully expand!) in 2026. Assuming we can get the financial resources together, we’re looking for feedback to inform our next iteration of this program. MCBL members (those who’ve completed our in-person orientation) received a member survey via email earlier this week. Members: please be sure to complete THAT survey to share feedback about your experience.

Everyone else: We’d love to hear your ideas for what our next chapter should look like! This survey is open to ANYONE (you do not need to live in Minneapolis or even in MN). Your answers are anonymous (unless you choose to share your email at the end). Answers will be used to help us understand needs and opportunities for our program. We may also use data and anonymous quotes from this survey in grant applications.

If you complete the survey (& share your email at the end) by August 22nd, you’ll be entered to win a free cargo bike library swag item (tshirt, tote bag, water bottle, etc.)!

3. New bike alert: Xtracycle Swoop

We’re super excited to announce we have a new bike in the fleet: an Xtracycle Swoop! Thanks to the generous folks at Xtracycle and our partners at The Cargo Bike Shop for donating this bike to our program. You can read more about some of its features on our site or direct on Xtracycle’s website.

4. Booking at our Brackett Park Location

As you may remember from our June & July updates, we have officially expanded into a second location near Brackett Park! That location is currently hosting our Lectric Trike AND now our new Xtracycle Swoop.

Due to scheduling logistics for our Brackett Park librarian, these bikes are not bookable on the site BUT we can arrange for custom check out/check in times for September.

If you’re interested in borrowing the Lectric Trike or Xtracycle Swoop, please reach out to us so we can get you on the wait list. The Xtracycle is only available to members (those who’ve completed orientation) but we can offer 1:1 orientations for anyone looking to borrow the Lectric Trike (you do not need to have completed an orientation). Please note: These bikes need to be picked up/dropped off at Brackett Park (not Lyndale).

5. September bookings now open

We still have several members who have not yet had a chance to borrow a bike due to bike availability. Because we want to ensure any member who wants to book a bike gets a chance to do so before we close up for the winter, we will not be approving any repeat (2nd or 3rd) booking requests UNTIL Monday, August 18th (to give those who haven’t gotten their first rental yet a couple days to book a bike). So, if you’ve already borrowed from the library please hold off on requesting another rental until Monday.

As a reminder, bike pick up is at 1pm on Saturdays and drop off is between 6-7pm on Thursdays. We can be flexible with drop off on Thursdays, but please aim to book a bike for a week where you can make the pick up time at 1pm on Saturdays. This helps ensure we don’t overwhelm our volunteers with lots of custom pick up/drop off times.

We will not be offering any group orientations for the remainder of this year (with the exception of 1:1 orientations for those who borrow the Lectric Trike). We want to ensure everyone (who wants to) gets a chance to borrow a bike before we close up for the winter.

6. Support the MCBL

Thank you to everyone who has supported our program through one-time or recurring donations, purchasing merch, spreading the word to your friends/family/neighbors/others, and by participating as a member and sharing your experiences/ideas/feedback with us.

We plan to keep the program running through the fall, then the bikes will get tucked away for a little hibernation over winter, allowing our small team of volunteers to focus on planning for 2026. We are actively seeking and applying for grant funding to see if we can get funds to sustain and grow our program beyond this first pilot year.

If you have ideas/suggestions for us or want to join our very small volunteer team, please reach out via the contact page on our website!