by Stan Brinkerhoff
Freeride Montpelier lends its existence prominently to the garage-like area we occupy at 87 Barre Street. For the timid or inattentive, the “around the back” note on the flier, and lack of sign can be barriers to entering the “transportation underground.” At Montpelier’s community bike shop, offered by a dedicated group of close knit volunteers, underground is figurative but almost literal. Once inside however, the Freeride Montpelier Coop hosts a large variety of parts, tools and knowledge dispensed freely by the head mechanics who keep tabs on the shop.

In a Starbucks and bottled water world, we have perhaps become ambivalent to some basic manual tasks we no longer have a simple grasp on the technology that has become strung through our lives in such complexity - bicycles, for example. The Freeride Montpelier Volunteers provide training at the most basic of levels: explanation of simple physics involved in biking, the mechanical advantage of brake levers, how to replace tires and tubes, basic bicycling safety and repair. We are most visited by members of the local economy who lack the means of having their bikes professionally maintained, yet they rely on these simple machines for their access to food, home, and work. They will often come in when their bike is down to one or two gears, tires warn, brakes questionable, and without access to basic tools.

The membership is designed around this divide, as are most prices. Those who are in most need to the tools and parts are given steep discounts, or often have their costs waived by a caring volunteer head mechanic. Frequently an exchange of services occurs - a derailleur replaced in exchange for helping the shop clean and organize the massive collection of various vintages of components. Our build-a-bike program has provided members of our community with a chance to not only learn essential biking skills as they assist the shop with various duties, but then build up a bike from our various components, learning the entire way along everything from evaluating components, rebuilding wheels, and skills that will help them maintain the bikes throughout their ownership, which could last a number of years.

With the price of gas rising exponentially and local farmers becoming more and more viable compared with local super markets, the need for local transportation needs becomes stronger and stronger. The people who dedicate their time and ambition to helping both the organization and the community survive are amazing individuals who are most appreciated. Keeping those who rely on bike transportation safe, as well as introducing low cost bike options to all members of the community is the goal of the organization, and seeing so many people on the roads with the bikes that once stood donated against the garage door in various levels of disrepair, now fully repaired and propelling them around town brings a smile to my face and hopefully is promoting our community to undertake a level of understanding that will benefit it for years to come.

Stan Brinkerhoff is a resident of Montpelier, a Head Mechanic at the Freeride Montpelier Coop, and a technology evangelist.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 11th, 2008 at 4:11 pm and is filed under News, Uncategorized. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will be moderated but will appear as soon as humanly possible.