Although it has taken a little while to get off the ground, one of Mayor Gavin Newsom’s pet projects — bike-sharing — is beginning to take sharper focus.

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, which manages bike operations in The City, will host a series of bike-sharing vendors on Friday and Saturday at the Civic Center Plaza. The vendors, some of the leading companies in the industry, will show off new bike-sharing technologies and offer free rides to members of the public.

San Francisco has yet to establish its own bike-sharing network, but The City is set to participate in a regional program soon. More than 1,000 bikes will be deployed around the Bay Area — including 500 in San Francisco — for registered residents to pick up and drop off as they please.

The bike-sharing demonstrations will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday and Saturday at the Civic Center Plaza, right in front of City Hall.

wreisman@sfexaminer.com