One student is getting his handlebars adjusted. Another is borrowing tools to fix his seat. Still another is returning a bicycle she rented. After all this, a latecomer seeking a repair is asked to come back on Monday because the three running the show are closing shop.
In the storage area at the back of the Student Recreation Complex on the Tempe campus, where ASU’s Bike Co-Op is housed, the energy is kinetic. This fitting considering the man in charge is a kinesiology sophomore.
ASU’s Bike Co-Op provides reduced-cost tools and parts, and provides assistance needed to repair bicycles. It houses a fleet of 20 bikes that can be checked out for up to two weeks. Most of these services are free to students, faculty and staff.
Since Undergraduate Student Government restarted it in 2005, the Bike Co-Op has lacked the structure needed to keep up with the demand, said Director Michael Strickland. He said past directors, who never stayed more than a year at the co-op, started 10 to 15 projects but only completed two.
“On my first day I said, ‘This place has a lot of potential,’” Strickland said.
He took the helm of the co-op in the fall of 2007 as a freshman and said he wanted to better accommodate the increasing demand.
“A more educated freshman class comes in every year — students who are interested in services like the co-op,” Strickland said. “The storage room of the SRC is running out of room for them. A fish can only get as big as its bowl.”
Strickland said he would like a bigger space, but in the meantime he has created a few programs to alleviate a bit of the strain.
Last week, Strickland implemented a comprehensive inventory program that tracks all the incoming and outgoing supplies and parts, as well as log gross income and profit. Additionally, it shows how much money is being spent on certain supplies and how much profit is made per sale per item.
Strickland developed another program to track all bike renters, alerting them via e-mail of approaching bike-return deadlines.
He also said about half the repairs done at the co-op are for flat tires. Because of this, on Sept. 26, the co-op is launching biweekly workshops to teach students how to do minor repairs.
Business and communications senior Mike Kowalski said he saw a posting for lead mechanic at the Bike Co-Op on the Internet. He was hired and happy to have a job that complements his lifestyle, Kowalski said.
“Getting people excited and passionate about exercising and riding bikes — it’s a service not only for the environment but also for ASU,” Kowalski said.
Journalism sophomore Alex Rosen said the service has allowed him to improve as a bike mechanic by 100 percent.
A friend told him about it last year, and he began frequenting the SRC’s storage area to fix up a vintage bike imported from France. It fulfilled his desire to learn more about bikes and pick up a new hobby and meet friends along the way, Rosen said.
“The cool thing about the bike community is that it is very social. People are very willing to share knowledge,” Rosen said. “Going in there with no knowledge of the subject they won’t make you feel stupid, and if they don’t know, they’ll ask some one else.”
Reach the reporter at philip.haldiman@asu.edu.
