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Youth Bike Summit 2025: A Magical 3-Day Weekend

July 7, 2025/by CalBike Staff

This guest post was contributed by Joshua of the National Youth Bike Council.

The Youth Bike Summit is a three-day conference, held every year since 2011 (except in 2020 and 2021). This year, the Youth Bike Summit turned 11 years old and came to Boston for the first time at the end of May. It created a collaborative space for young people and bicycle program staff members to meet and share ideas. Politicians, students, educators, and advocates gathered to cultivate youth leadership through bicycling, celebrate youth excellence, educate everyone on civic engagement, and much more. This year, the National Youth Bike Council partnered with co-host organizations in Boston, Mattapan Food & Fitness Coalition, and Bikes Not Bombs, to put on the Summit. Over 200 attendees from 52 cities and 17 states assembled in Boston to explore the power of learning through bicycling. 53.20% of them were youth (24 and under). Together, we explored how bikes are tools for joy, leadership, and justice.

Youth Bike Summit Highlights:

1,492.5 miles biked
53% youth majority in attendance (ages 24 and under)
200% increase in organizations represented compared to 2024
27 workshops over 3 days
$16,947 saved in affordable housing for attendees
2 youth leaders honored
1 Big Bicycle Ride (and 7 other mobile workshops)

Breaking the ice

The event started on Friday evening and ran until late Sunday afternoon. Friday included icebreaker activities for the students to start the weekend with a new friend. This year, participants had UNO battles, Jenga matches, and chess duels. On the way in, attendees were greeted with an attendee goodie bag and a Youth Bike Summit 2025 edition shirt. They could show off their new items at the 360-degree spin camera or craft memory items in a makerspace provided for hands-on learning. This Youth Bike Summit also included a live singer, live musicians, and a DJ with dinner.

While Friday focused on camaraderie, Saturday focused on calls to action to the youth leaders and program staff at the 9 a.m. plenary gathering.

Massachusetts State Senator Liz Miranda gave a speech on how elected officials make a difference in the city and why speaking up is important. “Don’t forget to engage with your political leaders,” Miranda said. She finished by saying, “If your communities are not safe, if it’s not a healthy community, like the one I grew up in. You have the power to use your voice and to tell people that I am somebody that matters, and I live in your community, and I want a change.” This message was mirrored by National Youth Bike Council members Lot and Pablo, who led the crowd through chants of “Beyond the Bike!”

One of the staples of the Youth Bike Summit is peer-to-peer encouragement and the opportunity to inspire the next generation with the stories of today. Anika P, the youth keynote speaker, a college sophomore from Massachusetts, shared her story. She discussed reviving a bike club at her school and how that led her to eventually speak with her state senators and representatives on bike safety awareness and legislation to make roads safer for bicyclists.

Vivian Ortiz, Boston’s first “bike mayor,” also joined the leaders of the host city and the National Youth Bike Council members in celebrating the distances that individuals have traveled to get to the event during the plenary.

Everybody Learns at the Youth Bike Summit

Presentations were on the theme of “Beyond the Bike.” Learning sessions included information on bike mechanics, bike art, group rides, environmental justice, and bikes on campus. Attendees could participate in mobile workshops, including a tour of the Neponset River Greenway, and there was a big group ride on the last day. Participants talked about learning to fix bikes through an internship program for high school students and the challenges of running programs like that.

Not all mobile workshops featured bicycling; some captured the essence of staying active while educating. For example, one mobile session challenged participants to experience safety through a new lens as they evaluated crosswalks and pedestrian behavior.

One Big Ride

On the last day of the Youth Bike Summit, everyone gathered for a huge bicycle ride, which included local riders from Boston Critical Mass, who helped lead the ride and showed off what Boston biking has to offer. The 10-mile ride through Boston started at Roxbury Community College, headed toward UMass Boston, continued through Franklin Park, and finished at Roxbury Community College. The ride was a joyous event, with riders shouting good morning to neighbors in passing, ringing their bells, and cheering at large intersections.

After the ride, the Youth Bike Summit ended with a visioning session. This year’s visioning session included speakers Alison Dewey of the League of American Bicyclists and Jose Masso, the Chief of Human Services for the City of Boston. Both speakers expressed support, offered motivation, and shared resources for staying involved in bicycling and community organizing.

We deeply appreciate our sponsors, who are responsible for helping create an affordable and rewarding experience at the 2025 Youth Bike Summit. We are glad to credit the following organizations in helping gear up the next generation of youth leaders: Hub Luv (The Title Sponsor), Lawson Valentine Foundation, Boston Children’s Hospital, SRAM, The League of American Bicyclists, Toole Design, Transportation for Massachusetts (T4MA), Piscitello Law, Invest in Women Entrepreneurs, and Velocity Bicycle Cooperative. We are extremely thankful to our partners who helped craft the 2025 Youth Bike Summit experience: Manhattan Portage, Cycling Out Loud, Helmet Flair, and Redshift Sports.

We can’t wait for next year!

NYBC: Bicycle Programs Are the New Student Movement

April 28, 2025/by CalBike Staff

This guest post was written by Joshua from the National Youth Bike Council. Learn more about this youth-led group.

The latest movement started by post-secondary students has an unorthodox approach: on-campus bicycle programs, offering DIY repair space, repair services, or bike rentals. Imagine a dedicated space on campus that is open to students in the afternoon with a free set of tools to crank on bicycles together. Imagine dedicated bicycle rentals for students to borrow for a week or a semester, with a set of free DIY tools located at the rental station. Many campuses now have vibrant, bicycle-centered spaces that build community while encouraging students to get out and ride.

Campus bike projects create connections

As culture wars and diversity of opinion have become more polarizing, some young people have turned to bicycling groups to kindle meaningful friendships amid exams, school schedules, practicums, and more. Others discover on-campus bicycling groups when they see a group of their peers cycling down a campus roadway, smiling, and having fun.

At first, bicycle repair seems very niche. But when taking into account the larger picture of the college student experience, bicycle repair makes a lot of sense. College campuses are often designed to prioritize walkability and facilitate easy access to classes, libraries, food, and other amenities. This is why bicycling has been able to satisfy the needs of students who have a desire to renew their connection with nature, get across campus in a short amount of time, or find new social groups. It’s also a way to explore off-campus options in a more convenient way and provides autonomy.

We found several examples of student-initiated movements, ranging from some that had been around for 10 years or more to those that had just started this year, in 2025.

Meet the students who keep the wheels turning

Meet Allan of Brandeis University, Kenedy and Hosea from Tartan Bike Project, and McTzviel of Orange Bike Project.

Allan on the left, Hosea and Kenedy in the middle, and McTzviel on the right

Tartan Bike Project is a new initiative currently being led by Kenedy and Hosea, working closely with administrative staff at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to bring their first-ever student-led bicycle project to life. For Brandeis University out of Waltham, Massachusetts, Allan F. has initiated the soon-to-be bicycle library, Brandeis Bikes, a reincarnation of the old DeisBikes that used to exist at the school. Lastly, Orange Bike Project of Austin, Texas, a student-led bicycle repair shop, has been running since 2008. It is fully operational with afternoon hours, and some of the original alumni are still hanging around.

Each project was a student-initiated endeavor that sought to do the same thing: connect students on campus with reliable bicycle resources and a tool to access off-campus activities.

How to start a college bike project

“Be stubborn, know what you want, and have a good idea of what that looks like,” said Kenedy when we asked what it takes to start a college bike project. Although the Tartan Bike Project is the newest, it has helpful experience to share. Kenedy used to attend the University of Texas, where she was introduced to the Orange Bike Project after she got a bike. When Kenedy got to Pittsburgh, she met Hosea, who helped her raise over $20,000 to start the Tartan Bike Project and advocated beyond that for space on campus to be allocated for a bike shop similar to the one run by the Orange Bike Project in Texas.

The Orange Bike Project has been on the UT campus for many years, consistently serving students. “The project gives a lot, but the project also takes a lot — so have resiliency and patience” was McTzviel’s advice to anyone wanting to start a similar endeavor, emphasizing the logistics involved with sustaining a long-term initiative.

Allan F. shared a similar lesson after Brandeis University rejected his initial proposal late last year: “It showed me where the gaps were and how to strengthen the proposal,” he said. Creating a bike project is a different kind of academic endurance that requires a strong sense of purpose, a clear vision, and a willingness to adapt.

Know Your Whys

Each bike project leader said it’s worth the effort to create these social groups because they live on even after the founders graduate. McTzviel joked that, “Sometimes you have to remind yourself that you are there for school,” not just hanging out with friends and creating a physical space for students to gather and work on bicycles.

A bicycle repair location is a hub for student engagement around an essential service students need.

For students like Allan, Hosea, Kenedy, and McTzviel, spending time working on their bike projects was the equivalent of a real-world practicum. It gave them the opportunity to leave a lasting mark and serve the needs of future students. They gained lots of skills that are relevant to the post-college world, like writing proposals, time management, building a team, working as a team, and project management. It was a crash course on entrepreneurship and business management.

Student leaders looking to start a bike project usually need some inspiration. They can turn to the Youth-Bike Hub (YB Hub), another youth-led initiative, started by the National Youth Bike Council. YB Hub aims to create a more collaborative, environmentally sustainable, and connected world by empowering bicycle projects for or started by youth. The YB Hub is a newsletter that lifts up youth-bike initiatives happening around the country and leads quarterly calls between these groups. It’s a great way to connect with bike projects on different college campuses. Join the YB Hub newsletter if you are interested in starting or hearing from a college bike project.

More help to set up a campus bike program

Tatiana from Georgia Tech is offering a webinar, Essentials to start a College Bicycle Program, to provide information and answer questions on July 14 at 11:30 a.m. ET. Join the webinar on Zoom with this link.

During the webinar, Tatiana, the former president of Starter Bikes at a Bicycle Friendly University, will break down the essential resources you need to start or sustain a bike program on your campus. From sourcing tools and parts to securing space and allies, she’ll share practical tips and lessons learned from running a thriving student-led bike shop at Georgia Tech.

The National Youth Bike Council is also developing a guide to assist students in launching campus bike projects. Students don’t need to start from scratch; there are lots of resources and support available.

National Youth Bike Summit Builds the Movement for Better Biking

August 7, 2024/by CalBike Staff

This post was created in collaboration with the National Youth Bike Council and Youth Bike Summit.

On June 14 through 16, more than 200 advocates attended the annual National Youth Bike Summit held at Muhlenberg College in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania. Youth attendees ranging in age from 13 to 24 years old participated in and presented at workshops and group rides.

Two attendees, Zoe F, 23, from Boston, and Lot M, 21, from Philadelphia — both members of the National Youth Bike Council — shared their reflections on the experience. Their answers have been lightly edited.

*NYBC members Lot (left) and Zoe (right).*

What is the Youth Bike Summit to you?

Lot: The technical answer is that the Youth Bike Summit is an annual three-day conference with a plethora of organizations collaborating to celebrate youth from all over the world. This is done through a variety of events such as presentations, workshops, bike rides, and game nights.

However, the Youth Bike Summit to me is that and so much more. If I had to describe it in one word, I would say that it is an experience. It’s a chance to experience numerous people coming together as a community to celebrate youth and cycling. I’ve been to the Youth Bike Summit at least four times now, and I confidently say that I enjoyed myself each and every time.

Zoe: The YBS is a place where young people, regardless of the cycling experience they currently have, can meet up and talk about the issues they see in their communities. It allows people who wouldn’t communicate otherwise to come together to discuss ideas, successes, and resources. It is also just a time to have fun and grow the global cycling movement.

Did the Youth Bike Summit offer you any “first” moments?

Zoe: The first time I ever ran a workshop was at the 2019 YBS. Before that, the closest I had ever come to that were group presentations in school. Running a workshop did require a little more involvement, planning, and finding out ways to engage a crowd. I had also never spoken in front of so many adults before who were looking to me for knowledge, so that helped build a lot of confidence in me.

Lot: Yes! I had the opportunity to be on stage and talk on a youth panel for the first time ever. I don’t feel the most confident with public speaking since I don’t do it frequently enough. However, I was surrounded by other youth with stories to tell, and the speakers before I spoke empowered me to bring high energy as well. On a side note, I am pursuing a career of content creation, so I challenged myself to hype the crowd up, and I believe I was successful in my attempt.

Tell me about your favorite session at the Youth Bike Summit.

Lot: My favorite session at the Youth Bike Summit was the session called “Bike n’ Boat.”

I had the pleasure of chaperoning Aritra, preferred name Ari, for this workshop. He was in attendance with a group called Phoenix Bikes based in Arlington, Virginia. The Bike n’ Boat workshop, as the name implies, involved cycling and canoeing. This was the second time I’ve ever been canoeing, and it was a great experience.

*Lot (left) and Ari at the Bike n’ Boat.*

The participants first took a bus from the college to the site where the canoeing staff were. They explained to us the background history of the organization and the rules of the ride before we began riding. The trail we rode on was nice and chill, and the weather was decent, so the ride was overall enjoyable.

Then we had the canoeing part. It took a moment for all of us to get into our canoes, and we had a brief grace period where we practiced canoeing. I was in a canoe with Ari as I was his chaperone during the workshop. I was definitely nervous every now and then during the canoe portion, since it was my second time canoeing and Ari’s first time ever canoeing. Though there were rocky moments and a few light crashes, we never went overboard. It was a great time overall — definitely my favorite session! Shoutout to Ari from Phoenix Bikes!

Zoe: This year I got to see the Camp Spokes “Shred Into Tomorrow” workshop. I had heard of Camp Spokes and Groundwork RVA before from the National Bike Summit, so it was really exciting to see them here. They had a photo album that showed what the camp was like and what youth get to do there. It looked so fun and made me wish I had something like that when I was in high school!

What was the most fun part of the Summit?

Zoe: Definitely the big ride on the last day. I have never biked through a city like that (with so many people, roads shut down, escorts). It was super cool, and the weather was awesome. I really liked that we got to bike not only on city streets but also on the Delaware & Lehigh trail. We biked along the river and tracks, so the scenery was amazing. At some point, we were stuck at a rest stop waiting for part of the group to catch up, and some people put on a wheelie show to watch. It was just a really fun experience all around.

Lot: The most fun part of the summit was interacting with other people from multiple organizations. It was amazing to see people of varying ages show up and show out. It always warms my heart to see people work together for a common cause.

What role did you play in the Youth Bike Summit?

Lot: As a member of the National Youth Bike Council, I was one of the leaders. I served as a presenter, youth panelist speaker, chaperone, and participant during the three days.

Zoe: I came as an attendee and ran one workshop with the National Youth Bike Council. I was mostly there to have fun, of course, but also to network and try to recruit people for the council. We are looking for more youth interested in advocacy to join (check us out if you’re interested!).

What would you like to see at future Youth Bike Summits — any and all wishes?

Zoe: I loved everything about this summit. If there was one thing that could be improved in the future is more time for workshops! I got to see some of the ones I wanted to, but since there were so many per time slot, I just couldn’t make it to all of them. Honestly, every workshop sounded awesome, and if there could be a way for attendees to see all the workshops or recordings of them in the future, that would be great!

Lot: What I would like to see is a more creative way for people to attend multiple workshops within the day. I was only able to attend one workshop and present on Saturday. There were plenty of workshops I wanted to visit, and I feel as if that could’ve been possible if the times of the workshops were different. Also, I would’ve liked to have more time to prepare for the Youth Panel. Furthermore, there were some technical difficulties that caused my presenting group to have to move rooms. The room we were told to move to was difficult to find, which was partially the reason we didn’t have as much traction for our presentation. Besides that, the Youth Bike Summit of 2024 was truly a wonderful experience!

Kudos to the National Youth Bike Council for organizing this fantastic event and for giving us a report back. Next year’s National Youth Bike Summit will be held in Boston, Massachusetts, May 30 to June 1, 2025. The Summit welcomes participants of all ages who want to support the youth bike movement.