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December Hours

2011-12-09T15:33:00.000-08:00

Howdy All,

We'll be closed from the 23rd of December and re-opening on the 2nd of January. 2012, here we come!

Monday's Are Back

2011-11-15T05:35:00.000-08:00

We are happy to announce the return of the Monday shift!!! Monday's 4-7 pm the back door will be unlocked and the wrenches will be turning. Also look for our new sign out front during open hours.

Grand Opening Party, April 29th!!!

2011-04-20T15:53:00.000-07:00

We're having a grand opening party at 30 First St.!!! 6:30 pm after Friday's Critical Mass ride, we'll be hosting an open house. If you haven't seen the new space, come on down and check it out. We'll bring the refreshments, you bring the suggestions for a new exciting name. Also, don't forget about the Critical Mass ride meeting at the monument on college green at 5pm.

New Friday Shift!!!

2011-04-04T14:36:00.000-07:00

We're happy to announce a new shift!!! Fridays from 4-7 we'll have more staffed hours at the 30 First St. location. Come on down and fix bikes with Chad!!! He's super helpful and an all around great person. We've also reorganized the space a bit. Also, we'll be having a grand opening party April 29th. More details will be posted soon.

2011-03-14T09:27:00.000-07:00

SPRING MECHANICS TRAINING

We're excited to announce our first Mechanics Training. This four week workshop series will give participants the skills to overhaul most bicycles. Topics to be covered will be brakes, gears, bearings, wheels, bike fit, etc... Class size is limited and pre-registration is required. Starting on Saturday April 9th, the workshops will take place on Saturdays from 5-7pm. There is a sliding scale suggested donation of $10-$50. For questions, call or email Nate Ebert, drivingsbad at yahoo dot com or 740.856.9388.

One year of sidecar bicycles

2011-01-16T22:18:00.000-08:00

One year has passed since I built my first sidecar bike, and now I am on my third. I have been attracted to the sidecar setup ever since 2009, when I began driving an imported India rickshaw here in Athens. First off, the Raja Royal was super heavy, and probably should not have been driven anywhere but on the bike path. Navigating steep hills was either toilsome on the way up or unstoppably fast on the way down. But besides the drawbacks of working with and on such a bulky and foreign machine, it certainly made me fall in love with pedi-cabbing in general. And when I found out how sidecar bicycles are built and used in various parts of Southeast Asia, I came to realize how this could solve most of the problems of pedi-cabbing in hilly Southeast Ohio.
Sidecars have a number of advantages, but the most important one is weight. The Raja Royal was a trike so heavy I didn't even want to know how much it weighed. The latest sidecar is light enough that I can pick it up easily. The advantage is most notable when climbing hills, but also in negotiating curbs, or when making emergency stops. The slight disadvantage to less weight is that the wheels may lift off the ground when cornering sharply. To counteract this, the driver must lean heavily into corners, which makes things interesting. Properly conducted, however, a sidecar has a level of agility much closer to that of a bicycle than that of a rickshaw.
Another distinct benefit of the sidecar is having your passenger in a more conversational arrangement by your side. It is nice to be able to see who I am driving and how much fun they are certainly having while on board. Since my passengers seem to almost always want to ask me questions, this is a great way to have it.
On my latest version, the car itself is detachable from the bicycle. This makes owning and building pedicabs far more convenient, because I don't have to sacrifice a bike by permanently welding an addition onto it, nor do I have to build completely from scratch. Also, once it has been built it can transform from pedicab back to a bicycle for seasonal storage.
Another thing about the sidecar is that, for a pedicab, it is very compact. sidecars are usually both narrower and shorter than traditional rickshaws. This makes it far easier to bring it onto sidewalks, where it can more easily entice customers.
One thing I heard yelled from the sidewalks when I drove the Raja Royal were comments like, "This isn't China!" "We're not in China here!" People had some pretty strong cultural prejudices regarding that type of vehicle, it seemed. In contrast, when people see a sidecar, they usually respond positively. Perhaps it is because our culture is at least familiar enough with sidecars, usually in the context of motorcycles, to be able to assimilate the idea of a bicycle sidecar.

The first build I call the Skruvskar, because its seat is made from a recycled Ikea office chair.

This being my first sidecar, it taught me many things good and bad about sidecar logistics. It has been on many an interesting ride and carried many a drunken a passenger. It has a three-passenger limit, and I found out what happens when the limit is exceeded a few times. As the wheels get more and more splayed apart and the bike leans toward the sidecar, the vertical load imposed on an angled wheel will eventually fold it. for this reason the car must be firmly braced to prevent flexing, and sturdy or smaller diameter wheels should be used because they incur side-loads that most wheels are not designed to handle. The Skruvskar's frame was made mostly from 1/2" electrical conduit, which I discovered was much too flexible to stand up to the abuse I was giving it. I had to repair and re-weld the thing at least a half dozen times, and is still far too deformed to go back to carrying two to three passengers regularly. One part of this car I really like is the backseat made from a bike frame's rear triangle and seat, with handlebars that had a pair of klaxons on either side. It also has a coaster brake on the car wheel, operated by a foot pedal.

The next sidecar I built is called the Widecar. Simply because its...wide.

The idea was to build a 4 passenger sidecar, if possible. The base was made from recycled bed frame angle iron, and the rest 1/2" conduit. It became a tandem when I added a recumbent seating position with a crankset linked to the sidecar wheel. With a stoker on board, it was able to reach a good cruising speed. Unfortunately, the driver pictured wrecked into a curb because his passenger, already on the far right side, was leaning even more to the right when a left turn needed to be made. They both recovered, and so did the Widecar too, for the most part. It was also brought to the PawPaw fest last year, where the kids got to have fun on it until the wheels were shot to hell. I still haven't had it working since it went out on Halloween.

And so, here comes the newest iteration:

The Decidecar - because you can decide whether or not it stays attached. It was made almost entirely of recycled bike frames, with conduit used only on the armrests. The thing I like about this design is that it can be adjusted for camber and toe-in. A sidecar works best when the wheels are not quite vertical but very slightly angled in at the top. Also, the sidecar wheel should track not straight ahead, but very slightly towards the bike. Being able to tune these adjustments, I ended up with a sidecar bike that can be ridden no hands, which is always a good sign for a customized bike.

This car has a 24" wheel instead of 26", so that the seat can be over the wheel and the track width be fairly narrow. What I failed to do is place the wheel in the proper fore/aft position. It is a few inches behind the bike's rear wheel, when it should be either in line with or ahead of. This makes it such that coming off a sharp dip while loaded may cause a tipover, so I may need to add a safety wheel to catch the bike should that happen. This version also has a third brake, again operated by foot pedal. Braking the sidecar wheel is tricky, however, because sharp braking will certainly pull the vehicle to the right unless both rear brakes are applied together. When all three are put to use, though, this thing sure stops quickly.

Now opening: The East Side Bike Co-op

2011-01-13T11:21:00.000-08:00

Hello fellow Athenians. I am pleased to announce that a new bike co-op space has been set up in the downstairs area of this residence at 18 Euclid. The space will be designated mainly for the production of yellow bikes used in the bike share, AYBiTS. There are also bikes available for sale, and tools available for use, a VCR and a Super Nintendo for entertainment, and a small library available for lending. In the garage custom bikes and cargo vehicles are made as a part of Bikes Bring It, a planned business that specializes in sidecar pedicabs. Excess frames from the bike-share program are chopped up and used for fabrication. Do you wish to see either a flourishing bike sharing program or more pedicabs on the streets of Athens? Do you see yourself in the seat of a yellow bike or a pedicab driver's seat someday? Then come volunteer at the East Side Bike Co-op!

Hours for the East Side Bike Co-op are:

Tuesdays 5 to 7pm

Thursdays 5 to 7pm

New Bike Cooperative Address!

2010-11-22T21:28:00.000-08:00

Hello fellow cyclists!
We have an announcement to make.
We have a new indoor space located at 30 First Street!
So we are no longer using the Brown St. garage that the lovely Brown Towners let us use for some time :].

Where, you ask, is 30 First street?
The new Bike Coop space is located one the street parallel with Brown.
Bring your bikes out back to the white door,
work space is located in the basement.
Luckily now we'll have some heat during the winter!

We have the same hours as before:
Sunday:1-4
Monday:5:30-8

and remember.....

See you there.

-Eddie

Bike Co-op @ Browntown

2010-08-24T18:26:00.000-07:00

OFFICIAL MOVING WEEKEND!!

2010-05-17T14:47:00.000-07:00

Yes, we have to move. This Friday, May 21st, starting at 4pm we will start cleaning out the garage at 37 South May and piling it into Nate's truck and my Ma's truck to transport to 35 Brown Ave. We will meet again on Saturday at 1pm at 37 South May to finish up what we didn't get cleaned or sorted, and to set up and arrange our things at 35 Brown. Please come out and help us get moved, if you can! The bike co-op is a community thing and if you help take part in it you feel all warm and fuzzy inside!

After Saturday, we'll have our first workshop at Brown Town on Sunday from 1-4pm. Then the next on Monday from 5:30 to 8pm. That's our new workshop schedule for now, a bit slimmer to place less expectation on our small volunteer work force. Any new weekday hours will be in the same 5:30 - 8 time slot for simplicity.

Moving Preliminaries

2010-05-17T14:18:00.000-07:00

Hey Athens. Sorry I caused a little confusion by posting "Bike co-op moving day" on the Facebook and not elucidating the full nature of that moving party. It was our preliminary move, for clearing away some unnecessary items and storing them at my place on Euclid Dr. Here are some pics from that move:

That's me, Jim McAuley, and Bobby Hatton in those photos. Thanks guys! In the future, the bike co-op may operate workshops in my garage pictured above, but for now we're setting up the bike co-op in a garage on Brown Ave, which was in need of some work.

For one thing, it needed a door.

So I brought one on the Bueno Trike and hung it. That day repairs were also made to the roof, and electricity installed, with the help of Nate, Cusi, and Piper, among others. The garage door is being fixed up a little, too.

Our official moving day is this Friday, but I'll post anew with that info so it's atop the page.

Some New Informational Flyers

2010-03-30T11:25:00.000-07:00

Permission granted to reprint, modify, and distribute.

Green American Bike-Share Article

2010-03-30T10:41:00.000-07:00

Special thanks to Cathy Wilson for writing this piece on AYBiTS:

http://www.greenamericatoday.org/pubs/greenamerican/articles/Fall2009/bikeshare.cfm

Market Ride

2010-03-30T10:37:00.000-07:00

With the help of OU's Office of Sustainability, we have planned this bike ride starting from the Farmer's Market on April 10th. Rainy weather will postpone the ride to April 17th. Call me (Eric) @ 740 707 9719 to affirm which date if the weather is questionable. The idea is to bring your bike to Market, buy all the wonderful organic foods and plants you need, and then leave the market in a large group, carrying your goods home with you. We will simply head West on the bike path and let the group direct itself or slowly dissipate as riders go their separate ways. If we want we can set a destination and head to it for a picnic or something. This event is part of Earth Month 2010: Roots of Sustainability. See the full calendar at:http://www.ohio.edu/sustainability/EarthMonth2010.htm

News Article

2010-02-01T10:30:00.000-08:00

Great thanks to all at Athens Midday for the story:

Share a Bike in Athens

A Sidecar is Born

2010-01-02T15:18:00.000-08:00

Here is the Skruvskar shortly after being completed on the last day of 2009.

Newsletter!

2009-12-10T14:39:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Athens Bike Co-op Newsletter!

This new feature of our operation will serve to inform you, the community, on our ongoing quest to enable others by virtue of mankind's noblest invention. Herein will be announced each month's schedule. (the schedule is agreed upon at our planning meetings, held the first Sunday of each month at 4pm.) Other content will follow in the newsletter, at the discretion of its author(s), who are also selected at meetings. You are invited to participate as well by sending e-mail and sharing your experience with or questions about the bike co-op, or any other suitable content.

If you would like to receive these e-mails, just send a simple request and compliance will be likely. Otherwise, please suggest this newsletter to anyone you think may want to receive it and have them sign up by sending us an e-mail and requesting it.

That being said, here comes the

SCHEDULE FOR DECEMBER:

Open Shop Hours -

Sundays 1-3

Mondays 7-9

Wednesdays 1-3

Thursdays 7-9

Fridays 3-5

These hours are often subject to change without notice, and even more so in the winter.

Special Events -

...uh...Christmas at home with the family?

WANTED

-If you have a space heater that isn't being used, it would help us to keep working in a cold garage this winter.

-Your bike donations are always accepted. Please leave them (maybe with a note) outside our garage.

-Monetary donations can also be made by mail. Send checks made out to: Eric Cornwell / 18 Euclid Dr / Athens, OH 45701

ANNOUNCEMENTS

-Sponsor a Bike Taxi! For $5, you can dub a yellow bike with the name of your choosing. For $10, You can add your favorite phrase or quotation to the side panel of a bike!

BIKE CO-OP FAQ

Q: "How does the bike co-op work?"

A: Basically, one (or more) of our volunteers will offer their assistance and expertise to help you with anything bike-related, such as they are willing and able. In return you are expected to make some sort of contribution that helps our cause, such as you are willing and able. (monetarily or otherwise) Hopefully, the exchange is something that is generous to both parties. Our policy is to be generous by both offering affordable bikes and by sharing our mechanical knowledge and expertise while we assist you.

Q: "How are things going at the bike co-op?"

A: Slowly but surely. Sometimes even little operations take more time than you would think, because we are working with either secondhand parts, cluttered space, or partial knowledge of what we are doing. Steadily, however, things do get done. Bikes get fixed and put in the sale rack. Small improvements are made here and there to organize the space. People get their hands greasy and learn new things about their bicycles, too. Since it's winter break, things are naturally a lot less busy, so our activity is mainly geared toward having lots of bikes ready for next spring, both for a spring bike sale and for a spring bike taxi release.

Q: "How does the bike-share work?"

A; It's called the Athens Yellow Bike Taxi Service, or AYBiTS (Aye, Cap'n! Bits o' steel!) Yellow bikes with universally keyed padlocks are put on public bike racks throughout campus and uptown Athens. By paying a yearly membership, you can access any of these bikes for free trips. This can be handy for students, locals, or visitors who can use a more affordable and convenient bicycling option.

Q: "How is the bike-share doing?"

A: I'd say that it's been going pretty well for its first 9 months. A few bikes are MIA and a number of repairs have been made on the bikes, but I notice them getting used and sometimes courteously repaired or delivered by one the members, which is great. Membership is around 35 and our fleet is at maybe 13-15 bikes. I have 13 frames on the rack so far, being painted for the release in the spring. They are getting decorated with stencils as opposed to printed stickers this time, hopefully with better-lasting results.

ATTENTION MEMBERS OF AYBiTS

-The bikes always need attention to work properly! Bikes left to sit too long will often have deflated tires, so if you just air them up and they will likely hold. Bikes left under the weather will keep getting rustier, so choose covered parking spots for them if the weather is going to get nasty. That means you can bring a bike onto private property overnight and put it back on a public rack when there's better weather outside.

-If you come across a problem with a bike, please continue to let us know about which bikes need help and where they are.

-Thanks everyone for keeping an eye on those bikes!

-Your feedback on the Athens Yellow Bike Taxi Service would be greatly appreciated!

SIDE PROJECTS

Logo - The Bike Co-op has a new logo!

Website - Francis Tatem has been working on a website for our humble organization, but I haven't any news yet as to when it will be available, or at what address. Stick with our blog for now.

Art Bikes - John donated his well-decorated singlespeed MTB for us to sell, and I had this idea for an art bike auction. Two other nice mountain bikes have found their way here, both with ugly spray-paint jobs that tell of being stolen. I was going to custom paint and decorate these bikes and maybe we can hold a fundraising event where we auction off a handful of rad-looking bikes.

Our Own Bike Rack - Welded from two scrap frames and forks, the thing will serve as a lock-up place outside our garage, and a place for outgoing and incoming bikes and taxis. It will have two flags on kickstands that will work just like a mailbox flag does. It's kinda funky-looking. and good for welding practice. It's OOBeR!

CRAZY IDEAS

-A number of years back there was this idea for a fundraiser that involved cyclists riding stationary bikes in the cold, and stripping their clothes off for donations. Sound crazy/awesome? This of course is not happening until we have more drunk college students and some absurdly dedicated volunteers.

-Having a welder and lots of bike parts is inspiring. Next crazy custom bike idea: a bicycle sidecar.

SIGNING OFF

Thanks for tuning in to what's happening at the Athens Bicycle Co-operative. As ever, our aim is to promote and facilitate cycling in Athens and beyond. Ride safely this winter.

____e c

THE ATHENS BICYCLE CO-OPERATIVE

37 South May Avenue

Athens OH 45701

athensbikeco-op.blogspot.com

Winter Activity

2009-12-03T10:27:00.000-08:00

Bike Taxi Production!

November schedule

2009-11-05T06:19:00.000-08:00

Announcements from the early Novembuary meeting:

Anyone want to loan us a space heater?
A list of e-mails is to be compiled for sending out of an e-newsletter each month.

Friday the 13th - Half-Masst Bike Pirate Attack - meet on College Green
Friday the 20th - Athens Alleycat Race - meet on Fern Street by the Bookstore
Friday the 27th - Critical Mass - meet on College Green

Costume Contest/Race Results

2009-11-01T18:45:00.000-08:00

Thank you all who participated in Friday's events!

Here are the Winners:

Critical Massk

Best Costume - Bobb as a zombie

special mention - Cayce as Rosie the Riveter

Scariest Costume - Brian as a pro wrestler

special mention - Trevor et al as immortals

Funniest Costume - Emily as a garden gnome

special mention - Cait as a unicorn/fairy

Best Bike - Eric's italian gondola

special mention - "wheels of steel" tandem

Great Athens Bike Race

results are missing, sorry!
What's important was that Lex Luthor gave accurate directions.

Critical Massk/Great Athens Bike Race

2009-10-26T13:56:00.000-07:00

second ever Great Athens Bike Race! CM will start earlier than usual, so be ready at the Civil War Monument at 5pm with or without a costume. We'll do a few laps on Court, and go down to Camp Campbell (17 Campbell St, between BP and KFC on Stimson) where there will be voting for the best costumes and prizes awarded. From there the GABR will begin at 6pm and take racers on a checkpoint course all over Athens, with multiple drinking challenges facing each team of 3-4 people. Please pre-register for the GABR on facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=160126401495&index=1

There will be a $3 entry fee per team.

Thanks, Backdrop Magazine!

2009-10-24T07:50:00.000-07:00

Hell, yeah. Awesome spread on the Athens Bike Co-op put forth by the OU student publication Backdrop Magazine. Pick yourself up a copy in one of OU's many buildings and read all about us. Special thanks go out to Shane Barnes for penning the article and to Tyler Sutherland for snapping those sweet pictures. Way to go!

Mows by Muscle

2009-10-03T20:39:00.001-07:00

I made this:

It's a reel mower/bicycle hybrid. I call it Mose Allgrassin. I landed this reel mower that was all rusty and broken, so I spent a few days combining it with a 24" Huffy that had one of those "spray it like you stole it" paint jobs done to it. It took a few tries to hone the geometry, as a 70ish degree head tube angle turned tadpole trike tends to make the thing lean to the OUTSIDE of a turn. (Great if you wanna fall over with every steering correction.) Instead, the head tube angle has been made near vertical. Even a bit of caster (or anything greater than 90) helps more for leaning INTO turns. Even so, I had a hard time controlling the above version, because of the tall, narrow handlebar, and the hard front wheels that were too close to each other. Also, I needed to have adjustable height. Below is the newer configuration, with the bike's original handlebar added a little lower than its original height, a pair of 10" balloon tires welded outside the rims to widen the mower's stance and add pneumatic suspension, and pivoting sleeve-tubed bracing bars for changing the cutting height.

I'm still getting used to maneuvering this thing, but it's hella sweet. The old lady next door to me could hardly believe it.

Customized Bikes

2009-09-25T10:01:00.000-07:00

Here at the Bike Co-op, we enjoy diverting ourselves sometimes to make wacky custom bicycles. Here are a few of the mutants we've turned out.

Tallbikes, Choppers, and Lowriders, oh my! There ought to be enough for a mutant bike troupe by now...anybody wanna get together for some wild freak-bike rides?

We sold Bikes!

2009-09-22T05:18:00.000-07:00

above pics by ~Kelly Krivicich
kk268006@ohio.edu

A whole dozen!

Paw-Paw Fest plus Bike Co-op

2009-09-20T18:29:00.000-07:00

6 volunteers were at the Paw Paw Festival this weekend, as were a number of bicycles and tricycles from the bike co-op. The truckshaw and the grocer's trike helped take out the trash and deliver goods into and within the festival grounds. The rickshaw did a little bit of joyriding, and people borrowed the tallbike, unicycle, and chopper for some fun (and falls.) The local bike polo league (the Cougar-Bats) set up an exciting bike polo tournament of three teams. I broke two mallets within an hour. Our table for the bike co-op dispelled information, and we also managed to sell a few T-shirts, comic books, and pieces of bike jewelry. On the whole it was a success and a great time for all.

2nd annual Fall Bike Sale

2009-09-16T08:07:00.000-07:00

Here comes teh Fall Bike Sale!

We will be on the College Green next Monday with our bikes for sale on display. Come by anytime from roughly 10AM to 5PM and try out some used bikes. Prices start at around $30 and go up to around $100. If we have poor weather, the bike sale will continue in the West portico of the Templeton-Blackburn Memorial Auditorium. All bike sale proceeds go toward our endeavors to promote and facilitate more bicycling in Athens, so it's a good cause. Plus, you'll be recycling a bike that someone else didn't want! It's a good deal all around. At last year's bike sale, we sold all 11 bikes we had plus 2 more that were donated on the spot. It was a pretty big success and we hope to have similar results this year. We might have closer to 15 bikes this year, I hope, so come early for best picks!

Fall Schedule

2009-09-08T12:55:00.000-07:00

Here's a list of events happening in September:

Planning Meeting: Saturday the 12th

Half Masst: Friday the 18th

Paw-Paw Fest: Saturday/Sunday 19th & 20th

Fall Bike Sale: Monday the 21st

Critical Mass: Friday the 25th

In the Future, Planning Meetings will occur every first Sunday of the month, at 4pm.

Summer at the Bike Co-op

2009-07-15T14:52:00.000-07:00

Summer always sees us a little less active at the garage, though most of the workshops are still being manned. Some new things have been happening since the mig welder got worked with. A fellow from Arkansas moving through offered a welding workshop and helped to build a stacker tallbike. A chopper also got welded that day and since then I have built another tallbike of a different variety on my own. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures at the moment, but if you need visual stimulus, click here:

http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Tall_bike

Other news: possibly the co-op will set up a table at the Wisteria Cornstalk festival. Stay tuned.

Bike Pirate Video

2009-05-20T18:38:00.000-07:00

Video by Francis Tatem.

Bike Month and Bike-To-Work Week

2009-04-29T14:59:00.000-07:00

May is Bike month and the 11th through 15th is Bike to work week! Here's what's going on:

Friday the first is a Pedal Patrol event. Patrols are going to start happening the first Friday of every month from now on. When we go on patrol, we basically spread out looking for some specific way to interact with the community and promote bicycling. This upcoming patrol will basically involve posting and handing out the flyer above and telling people that it's bike month. In the future patrols will involve things like administering fake tickets, applying subversive stickers, tagging sexy bikes, or giving kudos to other cyclists.

Friday the 8th will be Half-Masst, only because Friday the 15th is National Bike-To-Work Day.

Details on Half-Masst are here: http://athensbikeco-op.blogspot.com/2008/11/yarr-bike-pirates.html

Monday the 11th will be the first Bike After-Work Beer Ride, in which we'll either ride to our favorite bar for a beer or take some beers with us somewhere to enjoy. The same will occur every day that week, culminating in Friday's Ride, which will be the first annual ATHENS BIKE SHUFFLE. It's the only way to celebrate National Bike-To-Work Day in the Athens style.

Friday the 22nd we will hold the Athens Alleycat Race, which takes place on Fern Street. Tournament-style heats of two will determine the first Alleycat Champion in this town.

Friday the 29th is the last one, so that means a traditional Critical Mass ride, which one can learn about by going to http://criticalmass.wikia.com/wiki/Critical_Mass

FOR ALL OF THESE EVENTS the meeting place is the Civil War Monument on the College Green and the meeting time is 5pm.

Have a good Bike Month!

Truckshaw!

2009-04-14T13:05:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Mr. Ron Linkers, the Bike Co-op now has use of an authentic rickshaw cargo trike from India. There are also three other rickshaws owned by Ron, one deluxe and two regular passenger models, that may be put to use as well. The truck will be for carrying our mobile workshop to the Farmer's Market, providing delivery services, and carting around bikes when the need arises. We'd like to use the pedicabs to provide chartered rides as part of the Athens Yellow Bike Taxi Service sometime in the future. The biggest obstacle to these endeavors is, of course, the topographical nature of our city. Besides lowering their gear-inches, some electrical input may be necessary if we want to take these beasts up anything over a %5 grade. If anyone in blogland can offer some engineering expertise as far as making an electric assist happen, that would be swell. I already have a solar panel trickle-charger that would be useful for recharging. Ideas for the pedicabs included installing a sound-system like Cory's pedal-powered one, so that passengers could plug in their iPods and bump their tunes while being carted around. But, without major funds to make these improvements, we'll have to keep the rickshaws in the low-lying parts of Athens, mainly the bike path. If you're interested in this project want to make money doing deliveries or driving pedicabs, let us know!

Sign-up Docaments

2009-04-07T15:54:00.000-07:00

Links to pdf files of our sign-up sheet, release form, and user guide:

http://www.mediafire.com/?o1oznnhdj3t

http://www.mediafire.com/?ukdgzmfdxe5

http://www.mediafire.com/?lqy0nmmzudd

Now members can view and print these forms at their own convenience, before bringing them into the bike co-op to sign up. (Be prepared for ad bombardment when downloading these files from MediaFire.)

Launch Week

2009-04-05T16:38:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who came out to the sign-up and launch party events. We even had the special honor of signing up Paul Wiehl, the mayor, to our program. The poker run was a great time for everyone involved, and we got to thank most of our sponsors in person for their help. The winner, with five kings, received a certificate for a custom-painted frame and decided to give it to a friend of his who recently lost a bike to theft.

At the moment, taxis are still being shuttled back down to the bike co-op garage for some final touches. Half the fleet still needs baskets, a few more ads need to be placed, and some mechanical kinks need to be ironed out. This week I will be getting things going with a "rolling start" by focusing on one bike at a time, and e-mailing our new members in the order that they signed up as each taxi is completed. I'll ask them to come down to the garage, review the manual, get a copy, give their donation if they haven't made one yet, and make their $10 deposit on the key. Then I'll hand over their key and let them ride away on a fully completed bike taxi. This way I can still say the program is underway as promised, but it will be a while before all 25 taxis are out and all members have their key.

One week 'till AYBiTS Launch

2009-03-28T17:06:00.000-07:00

I've set a date for our program to really get rolling. This Friday (April 3rd) there will be a sign-up event on the College Green from 10AM-4PM. I plan to bring most or all of the fleet if possible and hold orientations for new members and go over the user manual with them.

To join the program, members need to provide their name, phone, e-mail, and license number, sign a liability waiver, sign that they've read and will abide by directions in the manual, and make a donation. I'm suggesting $20 from every new member.

I want to bring one Taxi that has every part slightly loosened. Then I can show what to look for when performing a bike-check, which is part of their duty as members to keep the fleet maintained.

Also, Cory is letting us use the stationary pedal-powered sound system to draw some attention while we're there.

The day after, on Saturday the 4th, we'll be having the launch party. We'll take the first 25 members who want to participate in a poker run and go to all of the sponsor locations. Each person collects a playing card or two at every location and whoever has the best 5-card hand will win a custom-painted frame from the Bike Co-op, either their own bike or one of ours. I'm thinking of allowing others to participate as well, but they have to provide their own bike to do the poker run. Non-AYBiTS members will have to donate $5 in order to get a chance at the prize.

And after that, I imagine we'll move the party indoors and celebrate. By Monday, the Taxis will be spreading out and begin fulfilling their duty, unless I'm still waiting on padlocks, which haven't been ordered yet and may hold things up.

In the meantime, though, we've got some work to do finalizing the fleet. Many of the bikes are still in the decorating stage, and 4 of them are still in the paint removal stage.

Since last November, this program has been slowly dwindling the Bike Co-op's treasury. Now, however, it is beginning to regenerate some revenue. I have been doing a lot of legwork seeking sponsorships from local businesses, offering them ads in return for donations. So far, we have the Farmacy, the Import House, the Athens DIY shop, Mike's Tree Care, and Meagan's LGBT organization making monetary contributions, while the University Courtyard Apartments have donated bicycles, the Minuteman Press has been donating and reducing price on copies, the Village Bakery has set up a donation box for us, and Athens Paint and Decorating has donated 33 yellow sheets of 18"x24" coroplast. These will become cargo boxes, like the ones Independence and the Road Mistress are wearing.

New Signage

2009-03-25T16:20:00.000-07:00

A couple of new signs have appeared around the garage, to make it easier to find us and make things easier for those who live upstairs.

Trip Conclusion

2009-03-22T09:58:00.000-07:00

Yep, I made it back. No great news to report, except that self-contained touring by bike is a great experience. I enjoyed the routine of riding all day, stopping where I chose, and seeing new and different things while meeting new and different people. Biking is amazingly calm and carefree when your path is devoid of automobiles. I didn't make the Summit, I had it confused for a different event (Bike!Bike!) that is actually intended for cyclists, and not just suits. Book sales were low, as would be expected in the absence of thousands of enthusiastic cyclists. The greatest joy was planting geocaches, in the form of easter eggs, at various points along the return trip for a group of Athenians who are making the same journey now. They are in for a few surprises is all I can say!

Eric Goes to D.C.

2009-03-10T10:35:00.000-07:00

Hey friends of the bike co-op. This is Eric posting from Columbia Heights in Washington, D.C. I've just completed a 300-mile bike journey to get here. Starting in Boston, PA, I rode the Allegheny Trail to Cumberland, (with a significant road detour because of a closed tunnel) and took the C & O Canal Towpath from there to Georgetown. Here are some pictures of the trip:

The purpose of the trip was supposedly to attend the National Bike Summit, but in fact may just be an excuse to take a long bike ride, visit the founders of the bike co-op, Erika and Keith, and maybe try and cover the expense of the trip by shamelessly peddling copies of my book to any bike-minded people I find. Either way, it was worth the ride!

Queen of the fleet

2009-03-02T16:35:00.000-08:00

Here is a piece of literature I wrote to a very special bike taxi, while she was being refurbished.

Independence

One of those mornings...
Dreams I cannot fully remember
yet there seemed so many.
One always stays with me,
its feeling remains prominent.
I would let it go by lunchtime.
But this one made my pen dance
for it was the one that crossed over.

I remember you carried me through dirty streets
littered, infested, polluted, hectic.
Your character was joyous, against odds.
Your condition was mediocre, rickety even.
A jalopy disrespected.
I conjure the image of your loosened handlebar.
I could remove it with a tug, but ride unaffected.
We were so happy, the four of us.
Me, my girl, and two piece of shit bicycles.
We laid in a discarded mattress, for refuge
from the big, dirty mess of a city.
I'm sure there was more to this dream...
a destination, more cohorts perhaps.
But the feeling was tantamount.

It didn't even make it 'till lunch, though.
I forgot you during the morning rituals.

My canine leashed, I ambulated.
For some reason, the river of waste
known as East State was to be crossed.
The opposite bank, near the visitors center
I checked the bike rack out of habit.
Two derelicts, one chained.
I didn't even have to decide what to do.
I pulled you from the rack, imagined your gasp.
How long had it been?
In relative terms, it could have been months.
But in the absolute, so little separated us.
Funny thing about the absolute, though...
it can be inches from your nose
and escape your notice.
It can be the air you breathe,
but your respiration remains involuntary.
And so, I didn't even recognize you.

We crossed back. I dared to get on -
knowing little more could harm you at this point,
and that much recovery was ahead for you.
You could say I was surprised, and delighted
that this amalgam of rusted steel and cracked rubber
could still turn its wheels to the tune of bionic rhythms.
Your voice was weary, but you sang still.
Flattened tires, seized brake, bar askew,
it mattered not, for your name is Independence.
You were there for the ride.

I placed my prize indoor to thaw.
I would return after work to cherish you more.

And then, going about my travail,
the epiphany struck - two met its twin -
The DREAM! The BIKE! Could it be?
Imprecise, but likeness such that I could not disregard it.
You did it somehow.
You had crossed between the realms.
I dare not try and explain it,
But it suggests importance.
It strengthens my purpose.
Yes, I can rebuild you.
I can make you stronger, faster.
You will sing in full voice again,
one with experience, but more beautiful than ever.
And I cannot help but share you with the world,
So you could bestow your glorious feeling of Independence upon us all.
You are so humble, so eager to give.
Your sole function is to liberate.
You will be given the perfect opportunity.
You shall become the poster child of a movement.
Your duty is scarcely begun, for now you rest in a coma,
awaiting this new life.

You may remember the loosening of cables,
the loss of your brakes, but your heart went still
at the snap of your chain.
In your sleep, you receive a full-body massage,
administered by spinning brushes of wire.
Then comes the spray of tinctures,
the uniform of stickers,
and the smooth green grease of lubricity.
When the links meet again, you shall awake,
and marvel at the bike you have become,
almost not recognizing your own slender, tubular body.
Your colors will radiate.
Your checks will designate you,
you queen of the fleet.
In this dark and dingy quandary,
your hope will be seen to shine,
even when rust lies beneath.

You are strong, Indy.
You have many years left.
But even as years get the better of you,
and you fade and crack once more,
There will be blissful relief.
For your brothers and sisters, your cousins,
children and grandchildren will roll these streets.
They will inundate the waste-filled rivers of asphalt
and turn the tide of ignorance, ineptitude, and ill will.
You stand for freedom, Indy,
more so than any drapeau.
And you roll for joy, Indy,
better than any god-damn four-wheeled toy.

-Eric Cornwell

Making plans with OU's Student Senate

2009-02-15T16:38:00.000-08:00

So it looks like the Bike Co-op may in the future receive help from OU to run bike-sharing programs. After meeting with Student Senate, we learned that they are very eager to monitor our forthcoming AYBiTS program and use its example to prove the potential for bike-sharing in Athens to the OU administrators. Our success in launching the program would increase the amount of funding available to run AYBiTS and help it grow. It could also lead to the inception of a new program that follows the design of a bike library, in which students can loan out bikes for an extended period of time. There are lots of possibilities,
but at present we are concerned with finishing our initial fleet and planning the events surrounding its launch. We need a waiver form and user guide drawn up, detailed expenditure reports, advertising agreements, and so on. There will be a sign-up event, with all the taxis on the College Green and our instructional seminar given to groups of new users. Then comes the big kickoff, and after a few weeks we'll have an idea if our big project is a hit or a flop. Having our users e-mails, we can survey them and get an idea of how smoothly things are running.

Anyhow, Here's a picture:

Roger with a bike taxi dedicated to his friend Andrea in Ecuador

New Arrivals!

2009-01-08T19:32:00.000-08:00

Many thanks to the University Courtyard Apartments for donating their clipped bikes! Today we received our second delivery of bikes from UCA, 13 of them this time! That's almost 30 bikes that they've given us so far, so as a thank-you we will be placing their logo on some of the bike taxis.

Many of them are either Roadmaster or Huffy brand, suitable for taxi service. There weren't any cool old road bikes like last time, though the general condition of this lot is better than the last one.

AYBiTS Explained

2008-12-21T13:42:00.000-08:00

As part of the bike co-op's mission to increase bicycle usage in Athens, we have been working on a new community bike-sharing program.

It's called the Athens Yellow Bike Taxi Service, or AYBiTS for short.

We start with old Huffys, Roadmasters, and Magnas of the rusted variety. They get stripped of parts, (which is not always possible) roughed up with a wire brush, and painted a bright canary yellow.

After a few coats of yellow and a few clearcoats, they get stickered and decorated with gorilla tape. All are given a name and a 3-digit taxi number. A coroplast insert goes in the frame triangle to make it extra conspicuous. Then they are rebuilt, sans derailleur. Setting them up as single-speeds will reduce maintenance and make the bikes simpler to operate. However, they must be geared to climb the steepest hills in Athens, which prevents them from going very fast, unless coasting down those steep hills. They need to have adjustable seats, though measures may be taken to prevent seat theft. The wheel's axle nuts will possibly be secured with threadlocker to keep them on. (though that makes patching tubes difficult) To prevent most flats, tubes will be filled with slime and no-flat strips will be put between the tubes and tires. If possible, we will provide the taxis with a noisemaker, a mirror, fenders, and a cargo basket on the handlebar. For fun we could also give them notepads in zippered bags for people to record their trips, draw pictures, or write random things in.

To help defray the costs of building the taxis, we intend to provide advertising space on the taxis for local business to rent.

Eventually, a whole fleet is produced. At some point this spring, (probably at the beginning of OU's spring quarter) we will unleash these taxis upon the town. Each will be chained and padlocked, all accessible from a set of identical keys.

To use the program, one would first sign up at the Athens Bicycle Co-Operative and provide us with a full name, phone number, and e-mail address. We'd suggest a donation, either in the form of currency or volunteer time. Then we'd give the person a key that unlocks all the bike taxis. From there they can use any available taxi for free. We'd ask them to leave the taxi in a public place and lock it back up when they are done with it, preferably on a bike rack. Initially, when there are fewer taxis we would ask users to keep them within the OU campus area, so that they are easier to find. Once more taxis are produced, we could enlarge their scope of operation to the greater Athens area. For convenience, we would allow users to provide their own lock, with their full name clearly visible on it, and "double-lock" a taxi for no more than two hours in order to keep it from disappearing on them. That way they could be taken to class, store, or eatery and secured for the person when they returned. If a person happens to forget about a taxi that they've double-locked, we can contact them about it and ask them to remove their lock.

To maintain the service, our users are encouraged to know how to look for problems and inspect the bikes as they are using them. In case of a problem, they can contact us and give us the taxi number, its problem and location so that a volunteer can be dispatched to either fix the bike on-site or bring a bike trailer to haul it back to the co-op for repairs. It may also be necessary for volunteers to relocate taxis from low-lying areas up to the hilltops, which they will tend to gravitate away from.

To launch the program, we hope to have at least 25 taxis. The idea is to stage a steeplechase-type event in which participants sign up to race the taxis to each advertiser's location and pick up a spoke card, bringing all of them back to the starting location and winning prizes.

We really hope this program will be well-received and effective in getting more Athenians into practical cycling.

WE NEED:

Volunteers!
Bike Donations!
Funds for parts, paint, sticker paper, chains, locks, etc!
Materials! like sheet metal, pet toy squeakers, coroplast signs, thin plastic, or anything else we may find useful
Advertisers!

If you want to help in any of these areas, please contact us at athensbikecooperative@gmail.com

Winter break

2008-12-18T11:29:00.000-08:00

Not much activity in the Bike Co-op over winter break, except bike taxi production. Chris made an awesome lowrider/frankenbike. Here are some recent taxi builds.

#110 the Road Mistress (the lowrider behind it)

#109 Yugo Wye Notteh

#108 Uba Unobtanium

#107 the Grasshopper

Yarr! Bike Pirates!

2008-11-05T04:51:00.000-08:00

Ay Ay, Bicycle Buccaneers! It's the second ever Half-Masst event!

Here are the rules:

1. Every player starts with a bike, and their choice of safety-approved pirate weaponry. Players are encouraged to wear clothes that distinguish them as a pirate, such as a striped shirt, vest, eye patch, bandanna, sailor's hat, or three-corner hat. Excessive jewelry is not recommended.

2. Players have a half-hour to collect treasure flags and their cans of ballast within four square blocks of uptown Athens. Flags are worth a point, cans two, and tall cans three. Flags will not be found anywhere on the main streets, but in alleys and parking lots. Flags will always be reachable from street level.

3. Players may form teams of up to two people. Solo pirates are awarded double point values.

4. Players may attack their opponents to gain their treasure, or send them back to the College Green if they have no treasure. Combat is only allowed in off-street areas, like alleys and parking lots. The Green is a combat zone, except for the monument circle.

5. No hitting with anything besides your weapons, in their intended fashion. No headshots with melee weapons. No intentional ramming while on your bike.

6. After a skirmish and subsequent plundering finishes, the two players must lose visual contact with each other before they may engage again.

7. Approved weapons include:

A. Foam melee weapons (or boffers) no longer than 3 feet from hand to tip

B. Any single-shot foam projectile shooter (including pistols, rifles, shotgun, bows, and crossbows) as long as it fires safely padded bullets or arrows and can only be used once without reloading.

C. Large "sock bombs" made of no less than 8 socks. Only one sock bomb per player is allowed.

All weapons will be checked in before the game and scrutinized for safety standards.

8. You may dismount at any time for fighting, collecting, or hiding, but remember that pirates steal bikes, too! Stolen bikes must be brought to and retrieved from the statues on the Green.

9. At the conclusion of the game, players must return to the monument circle for their treasure to be counted. Results will be tallied and the pirate(s) with the most loot will get to open the treasure chest and see what bounty they've won.

Half-Masst is always halfway through the month, either on the second or third Friday. This month's game will be Friday, November 14th, starting at 5pm.

West-end Bikes in the Basement

2008-11-03T04:59:00.000-08:00

Announcing our newest bike co-op location! 40 1/2 Smith Street, with entry to the basement on Foster Place. (Foster place is a short one-way street that begins on West Union where the Rio Grande mexican restaurant is.)

Photoz

2008-10-22T05:48:00.000-07:00

Our Garage!

the first two Yellow Bike Taxis

Docta Peppy

A growing fleet

Workspace

A happy mass!

CM on Washington Street, May 08

Bike hold-up shot from April's mass

Posterize!

2008-10-22T05:30:00.000-07:00

Let's add some color to this blog! Here are some current and past posters and flyers for the co-op and related events.