Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective
Chad Miles
Issue date: 4/26/07 Section: News
- Page 1 of 2 next >
The sun is back, finally. After a long and extraordinarily cold winter, gray skies are at last giving way to blue. As the air becomes breathable again and the temperatures rise, many of us can't wait to get outside and enjoy the nice weather.
One great way to benefit from the beautiful weather outside is to leave your car parked at home and ride a bike to wherever you need to go. This may not be that easy for many, though, including me until recently. New bikes can be expensive, and that old bike that's been sitting in the garage all winter may not be the safest mode of transportation.
Although we learn to ride a bike when we are young, few of us know how to make repairs of any kind to our bike. For those of us who can't afford to spend hundreds of dollars on a new bike, or don't know the first thing about bicycle maintenance, the Salt Lake Bicycle Collective is the answer.
The Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective was started in 2002 with a mission to promote "cycling as an effective and sustainable form of transportation and as a cornerstone of a cleaner, healthier, and safer society. The Bicycle Collective provides refurbished bicycles and educational programs, focusing on children and lower-income households."
After hearing about the collective from my neighbor who volunteers there regularly, I decided to go check it out for myself. Not knowing anything about bikes, I didn't know exactly what to expect and was a little hesitant at first. As soon as I walked in the door, my anxiety faded away as a friendly volunteer greeted me and explained to me how the Collective worked. Basically, I just needed to find a bike that I liked that was the right size and a volunteer would help me do the rest. I chose an older yellow ten-speed that jumped out at me. From there, a volunteer helped me with the many repairs that were needed on the bike like new brake and gear cables, new rims and tires, cleaning and lubricating the bearings, etc.
I learned that the Bicycle Collective has all the parts and tools necessary to make any kind of repair to any kind of bicycle, and the extremely friendly and knowledgeable staff make doing so enjoyable. After you finish building your bicycle, you make a donation to the Collective; or if you have some spare time you can volunteer - helping others learn what you just did - and the hours will be deducted from the amount of the donation. Volunteer enough hours and you may not even have to pay a penny for your new bike you just built yourself.
One great way to benefit from the beautiful weather outside is to leave your car parked at home and ride a bike to wherever you need to go. This may not be that easy for many, though, including me until recently. New bikes can be expensive, and that old bike that's been sitting in the garage all winter may not be the safest mode of transportation.
Although we learn to ride a bike when we are young, few of us know how to make repairs of any kind to our bike. For those of us who can't afford to spend hundreds of dollars on a new bike, or don't know the first thing about bicycle maintenance, the Salt Lake Bicycle Collective is the answer.
The Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective was started in 2002 with a mission to promote "cycling as an effective and sustainable form of transportation and as a cornerstone of a cleaner, healthier, and safer society. The Bicycle Collective provides refurbished bicycles and educational programs, focusing on children and lower-income households."
After hearing about the collective from my neighbor who volunteers there regularly, I decided to go check it out for myself. Not knowing anything about bikes, I didn't know exactly what to expect and was a little hesitant at first. As soon as I walked in the door, my anxiety faded away as a friendly volunteer greeted me and explained to me how the Collective worked. Basically, I just needed to find a bike that I liked that was the right size and a volunteer would help me do the rest. I chose an older yellow ten-speed that jumped out at me. From there, a volunteer helped me with the many repairs that were needed on the bike like new brake and gear cables, new rims and tires, cleaning and lubricating the bearings, etc.
I learned that the Bicycle Collective has all the parts and tools necessary to make any kind of repair to any kind of bicycle, and the extremely friendly and knowledgeable staff make doing so enjoyable. After you finish building your bicycle, you make a donation to the Collective; or if you have some spare time you can volunteer - helping others learn what you just did - and the hours will be deducted from the amount of the donation. Volunteer enough hours and you may not even have to pay a penny for your new bike you just built yourself.
Be the first to comment on this story