Our city is jam-packed. The housing crisis is worse than ever, and even businesses are cohabiting to afford space. It’s no wonder that in a city so full, we’ve shucked our need for ownership, and begun instead to adopt a “sharing model” for everything from housing, to business, to bikes. With the emergence of Hubway, city-dwellers can pay an annual fee for access to bikes in one of 100+ locations in Metro-Boston, and cruise around from work to play all without having to worry about bike storage. The same is true for bike maintenance; the Somerville Bike Kitchen provides a tool-sharing model, with a weekly drop-in fee for use of a full tool library and stand: things too cumbersome to fit in our already overcrowded Cambridge and Somerville apartments. The newest kid on the block is bike education collective, SHIFT Bicycles, a volunteer-run co-op taking the streets of East Somerville and East Cambridge to share their knowledge of safe riding and daily bike maintenance. SHIFT’s mission is “safety through education,” which they provide in a skillshare model: folks of all levels of bike-savvy come together to co-learn and co-teach. From complete rookies to skilled mechanics, volunteers are always welcome, and needed to keep SHIFT’s donation model intact: ensuring no one is denied a bike education for inability to pay. Doesn’t get much sweeter than that! Meet the team and get involved May 7th, 1-6pm at Aeronaut Brewing for the Bike Month Kickoff, or visit shiftbicycles.org for more info.