Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) 

Have a question?  You’ve come to the right place!  If you have a question that is not answered here, feel free to ask us on the Contact Us page or call us at 415-450-8000.

General Questions | Logging In | Accounts & Memberships | BikeMuse Gifts | Event Ticketing | Voting | Brick Art

How long has the museum been open?
We had our Grand Opening on June 6, 2015. For the two years preceding that we worked on designing and building the space, gathering the collection and creating the displays. We held a few events, such as history talks and a local nonprofit’s fundraiser in the space before the official opening.

What are your hours?
Our hours and special event closings are posted on our Plan Your Visit page. We can sometimes arrange special visiting hours if you will get in touch with us in advance. Please keep in mind that we are all volunteers.

How can I get involved?
Please come to the Museum, introduce yourself and let us know your skills and interests! We are accepting volunteer applications and we can use volunteer help for almost every facet of running the museum. Don’t live in the area but want to help? Please contact us anyway and we will discuss the possibilities together. Please check out our Volunteer page for more info. Thank you!

Do you have any paid staff?  Are you hiring?
No, we do not have any paid staff. Everyone who works at the museum is volunteering his or her time. This museum was also created entirely by volunteers. This dedicated group spends several thousand hours a year maintaining the space and curating an extraordinary collection of bikes, most of which are on loan to us or have been donated. We are still working hard to complete our initial vision and to create special exhibits.

How can I support the museum?
Great question!  Your admission fees, memberships, purchases and donations will help to pay the expenses that we have incurred so far in creating the museum, and they will help us to keep the museum open. We are a registered 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit.
There are many ways you can support us—from becoming a member, to donating much-needed funds (we also accept stock donations) to buying cool stuff in our online store, to in-kind donations of items that we need for our facility, and volunteering. If you shop with Amazon, you can bookmark our Amazon Smile link and use it to go to Amazon. Including us in your estate plans is a powerful way to make a lasting impact. You can reach Marc Vendetti at 415-450-8000 x105 with all your donation questions.

Is it legal for a nonprofit to charge for admission fees and memberships?  Doesn’t it all have to be by donation only?
According to the law, a nonprofit entity can charge whatever it needs in order to sustain its operations.  It just cannot distribute those funds to the owners of the entity. It has to use them to further the purpose of the non profit–which is exactly what we do with our all-volunteer staff.

How can I help spread the word?
You can “like” us on Facebook and mention us on other social media, like Twitter and Instagram. If you visited the museum and enjoyed your experience, please write a review on Google, Yelp, TripAdvisor, etc. Being a fairly new museum and lacking advertising funds, we depend on word-of-mouth to spread the word. Use hashtag #marinmuseumofbicycling in your social media posts. Thank you!

Do you have parking?
We have a parking lot for cars and bikes. There is also a good amount of street parking in the area, especially on weekdays. We encourage everyone to ride to the museum. We have racks for up to 16 bikes and complimentary U-locks that we can loan to cyclists during their museum visits.

I have a bike [or other material] that the Museum might be interested in. Whom should I talk with?
Thank you for thinking of us! Please use the Contact Us page and let us know more. Please keep in mind we do not offer advice on valuations.

I have a gift certificate, how can I find out how much is left on it?
Click this link to check your certificate balance. Please feel free to Contact Us with any questions.

How can I find out about upcoming events? Do you send out emails?
We email announcements for all upcoming events to everyone on our lists. You can click here to subscribe to the Email News List. Members also automatically get notices. We keep our lists private to protect your information. We also post events on our website and in event calendars in local media such as the Marin IJ, San Francisco Chronicle, Pacific Sun and many others.

 

Logging In to your account

How/where do I log in?
At the top of every webpage on the far right is the menu item “JOIN US! / LOG IN” Hover over that or tap on it and a short list of choices will drop down. Click on “MY ACCOUNT LOGIN“. This will take you to your “My Account” portal where you can manage your account, memberships/subscriptions and get member discounts in our shop.

 

Accounts and Memberships

How do I join and how much does it cost?
Our membership page covers all the details.

How can I see what membership I have and when it expires?
See the instructions above for Logging In. Once you are in your account portal, click or tap on My Membership. Your “Next Bill On” date is the same as your expiration date.

What is the difference between an Account and a Membership?
Accounts: You can have an Account without having a Membership– but if you have a membership you automatically have an account. The chief benefit to having an Account is it makes shopping on our site much easier. When you have an account, you don’t have to fill out the new customer info form every time you make a purchase. If you have an Account, the next time you come back to get something, you log in to your account first. This saves you time and keeps a record of all your orders in your My-Account portal.
Memberships: A Membership has all the benefits of an Account, but offers much more. Depending on the level of membership, you can have unlimited free entry to the Museum; you could bring a buddy into the Museum for free; bring your family in for free; get discounts and free shipping in the store; and even get free passes for member-only events.  We definitely recommend a membership– and we depend on our members to keep the museum going!

What is the difference between Memberships and Subscriptions?
Subscriptions and Memberships work together. Subscriptions are like your trusty membership assistant that keeps track of the length of your membership and handles all your renewal tasks. You renew your membership by renewing your subscription at your chosen membership level. Your subscription is the thing that you actually renew in your My Account portal.

I purchased a Couple, Family or a Group Membership.  How do I add my family, employees or other members of my group?
When someone purchases one of these types of memberships, called team or group memberships, they are in charge of adding additional members to the group. See the table in Figure 1 which describes the 3 roles found in group memberships– Owners, Managers and Members. Usually, we just see Owners and Members. Only the largest groups have any need for Managers. The Owners may also just assign people to the group themselves rather than trying to get the others to do it.

If you are the Do-It-Yourself kind of person, click here for our Manual on Creating, Joining, and Managing Teams/Group Memberships. If you would rather have some help getting your group together, our membership coordinator would be happy to help setup your group membership. Just reach out to us at members@mmbhof.org and let us know what you would like to do.

Will group members get renewal emails for their memberships?
No – individual group members won’t get their own renewal or expiration emails because they can’t act upon them. The group Owner alone is responsible for managing billing and renewals, so they will receive all renewal and expiration emails.

My membership has expired or will be expiring soon, how do I renew it?
You manage your membership in the My Account portal. There you can upgrade/downgrade*, cancel, or renew Subscriptions (memberships).
You can also turn auto-renewal ON or OFF, and add/delete and update saved credit cards.

* Can I change my membership level (upgrade or downgrade)?
Yes you can! You can upgrade or downgrade your membership level from your My Account portal. You must do so prior to your “Next Payment” (anniversary) date, otherwise once your membership hits that date it locks into ON HOLD status and all you can do is renew at the same level. Even if this happens though, we can always make level changes for you. Just reach out to us at members@mmbhof.org and let us know what you would like to do. Although you can change levels anytime before your Next Payment date, upgrades and downgrades you initiate won’t take effect until the next anniversary date, so for example if you just renewed a week ago and now want to change, you would be looking at a whole year before it changed, so you would want to contact us to change it.

I’m a Hall of Fame Inductee. I thought I was a lifetime member/had a free membership?
We love our Inductees! And YES, Induction into the Hall of Fame comes with a lifetime membership– look for an email after your induction welcoming you to our membership family. If you didn’t get the email or are not sure how to take advantage of your benefits, reach out to us at inductees@mmbhof.org or call us at 415-450-8000 and we will be happy to help you. Of course, as an Inductee, if you choose to support the Hall of Fame through a membership purchase or through donations or through your estate plans, that is extra special to us. It will help sustain the Hall of Fame and the Museum, and will be greatly appreciated.

I’m a Gold/Silver/Bronze monthly member. I thought I had free shipping, but I don’t see that anywhere?
Please email members@mmbhof.org for your special free shipping coupon code.

I’m a member and I thought I got a discount in the store, but I don’t see it anywhere?
Please log in to your account first, then you will automatically see your discounts while you are shopping. Or you can wait until you are in the shopping cart and then login and your discount will be applied.

 

BikeMuse Gifts

International Shipping
It is quite possible that we can package your order safely in a much smaller box than the system can, thereby saving you a significant sum on shipping costs. If you will send us an email with your list of items and your shipping address and we can research it and let you know. Email us at specialorders@mmbhof.org.

Gift Certificates
Redeeming Online: Enter the Code number printed on the certificate in the Coupon code box in the shopping cart and click the “APPLY COUPON” button to redeem your certificate. If you don’t use the full value of the certificate in one purchase, the balance will be there waiting for you the next time you shop– there is no expiration date on the certificates. If your purchases are more than the value of your certificate, you will need to pay the extra.
Printing Tips: The certificates are printed like any regular PDF file. They are formatted for US Letter-size paper (8-1/2 x 11″) in portrait orientation. Download them to your computer first, do not print directly from your email program or the web. Printing will vary widely depending on your computer, printer and what PDF program you have but here’s a general step-by-step procedure. You will need to have a PDF program like Adobe Acrobat installed before you do this. If you don’t have Acrobat, try this free alternative https://www.sejda.com/desktop
a) Click the download button from the shopping cart, or the link from your email.
b) With the image of the certificate on the screen, click the print icon in the upper right.
c) Choose your PDF printer or “Save as PDF”.
d) Click the Print or Save button.
e) Give your file a name and save it to a folder on your computer that is easy to find.
f) When you actually want to print the certificate, open your file from that folder you saved it in to print it.
g) When printing, in the print options box choose “Fit”  instead of Actual-size to get the best results.
If you are giving them as a gift, we recommend you use a nice quality paper (and we like an ivory or parchment color).

I’m a Gold/Silver/Bronze monthly member. I thought I had free shipping, but I don’t see that anywhere?
Please email members@mmbhof.org for your coupon code.

I’m a member and I thought I got a discount in the store, but I don’t see it anywhere?
Please log in to your account first, then you will see your discounts while you are shopping. Or you can wait until you are in the shopping cart and then login and your discount will be applied.

 

Event Ticketing

If you have any questions or comments not covered here, feel free to call us at 415-450-8000 or contact our events coordinator at events@mmbhof.org and we’ll be happy to help.

How do I buy tickets?
a) Book your quantity of tickets, one ticket type at a time and add to the cart.
b) Book all your ticket types before viewing the cart, or click CONTINUE SHOPPING from the cart if you need to add more ticket types.
c) Once all your tickets are in the cart, fill in your purchaser and attendee details, then go to the payment screen and complete your transaction.

How do I get my tickets?
Your tickets will be emailed to you after your purchase receipt is sent. If you lost the email, you can call us at 415-450-8000 and we can send you copies or you can email our events coordinator at events@mmbhof.org.

I got my tickets, how do I check-in at the event?
* Fastest method: If you can show us the little ticket “QR code” on your phone at the door, we can scan them or check you in by your name as you walk in.
*** Next best: If you don’t have a mobile device and you can print them, we can scan your paper tickets as you walk in.
****** Slowest method: We’re always happy to check you in at the front desk by name, but there may be a line.

 

Voting in Mountain Bike Hall of Fame Elections

Where and how do I vote?
Starting with the 2020 season, Mountain Bike Hall of Fame Inductees are no longer elected by public voting. The Hall of Fame Nomination and Selection Committee now has the sole responsibility each year to evaluate the nominations and field the slate of inductees. Check the Inductees page for more information. Nominations on the other hand, are still done by the public, check the Nominee’s page for more information.

 

Page last updated 11/7/22

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