The Portland Gear Hub

The Portland Gear Hub was created in January 2014 from humble beginnings based on a dream that outdoor gear could be made accessible, affordable, or free to people who need it. Originally conceived as a gear library and thrift store, much of the initial gear came from Camp Ketcha (now Ketcha Outdoors), which ran a long-time adventure-based program with juvenile corrections "Leadership Adventure Corps." Many of the initial bikes and parts came from the Community Bicycle Center (now Apex Youth Connection) in Biddeford.  These program founders thought the best thing to do with the gear would be to get it into the hands of people who need it, and to keep it out of the waste streams as long as possible. The Gear Hub pulled together community partners from organizing bike repair classes at USM to eventually filling the basement of the YMCA, our first location. We accepted community gear donations of all types- from bikes to tents to kayaks. With a whole lot of volunteer time and organization, the gear was sorted, repaired, and made available to the community launching the Portland Gear Hub! 

Because of the community need and the volume of gear donated, the Gear Hub quickly outgrew the YMCA basement and moved to St. John St. in Union Station Plaza. While gear of all types remained a part of the organization’s fabric, the most sustainable and transformative work focused on bicycles. Using salvaged parts, skilled staff mechanics, volunteer help, and plenty of elbow grease, bikes headed for the landfill were refurbished and made available to the community. Some of these bicycles found new homes via a “Bikes for All Mainers” partnership with the Bicycle Coalition of Maine, which began with donations to adults. When moved under Gear Hub’s oversight, Bikes for All Mainers further expanded and distributed bikes to hundreds of children from low-income families, and any low-income adults for whom bikes could improve their daily lives as transportation. Through this expansion, again, the Gear Hub needed a new home with more space to refurbish bikes for those who needed them. 

In the Spring of 2017, the Gear Hub relocated to 155 Washington Ave in the East Bayside neighborhood. In 2015, East Bayside had been the site of one of the first bike programs in Portland, so in some ways this felt like a homecoming. Hundreds of community members came together to ride the bikes from the West End to the East End of Portland in a celebratory parade. The Gear Hub opened ‘The Bike School,’ a dedicated programs space at 85 Anderson St. Adjacent to Kennedy Park, where individuals could come to Open Bench and repair their bikes with the assistance of a mechanic. Between 2017 and 2020, Gear Hub expanded its programs, grew its impact, and become an integral part of Portland’s cycling community through community rides, gear festivals, and more. During the 2020 pandemic, the Gear Hub helped essential workers and thousands of other people access bikes as global supply chains struggled to meet demand.  

In 2024, with the support of more than 500 people, the Gear Hub completed the milestone of purchasing the land and building at 155 Washington Avenue, ensuring that it can continue to provide access to mobility and sustainable transportation for years to come.