Queen of the fleet

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

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!

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

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

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!

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

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.)