Originally Posted by Western Flyer

Many cities have bicycle coops, which teach kids and adults how to build and maintain bicycles. Here in Portland the kids get to put their own bikes together from donated parts, mostly used. I have met folks touring on the Oregon Coast on bikes they put together where the most expensive items were the used panniers they bought on Ebay.

http://communitycycles.org/links/bike-collectives.html

As an added note, if anyone lives near a bike coop and you have a box of used parts or an old bicycle in your garage gathering dust, consider donating them. You will get a receipt for tax purposes and help folks get on a bicycle.