Bike Repair

Liveability

A crowdsourced repair stand takes up the slack in a town with no bike shops

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The town of Milwaukie borders Portland just to the south, and it’s a lovely place to live. Besides its river views, great parks and gorgeous Craftsman houses, Milwaukie’s enjoying newfound popularity thanks to the recent arrival of the new Orange Line -- a light rail project that whisks residents to downtown Portland car-free in under 30 minutes. What it doesn’t have is a bike shop.

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For a community so perfectly suited to low-car living, this is kind of a problem. According to local group Bike Milwaukie, the number of families using bikes to get around has shot up in recent years, but they have to head north for repairs and tune-ups. So Bike Milwaukie had an idea: they might not be able to start up a new bike shop, but wouldn’t a publicly accessible bike repair station be the next best thing?

 

Through a successful Kickstarter project, Bike Milwaukie and 33 (mostly local) donors banded together to raise $2800 for a high-quality bike repair stand, built by Minneapolis-based Bike Fixtation. The stand, purchased through Huntco, features Allen keys, screwdrivers, tire levers, pedal, headset and cone wrenches, and a heavy duty pump: everything you need to conduct basic maintenance and quick fixes. Better yet, the organizers at Bike Milwaukie worked with the local government to get the stand installed in a high profile location right in front of City Hall.

 

Even though we didn’t build this particular piece of infrastructure, it’s nice to be reminded how the right amenity in the right place can do more than just fill a need — it can help focus an entire community.

 

 

Quick Tips

Bikes-giving! Portland donation center round-up

Photo by Richard Masoner CC: License

Photo by Richard Masoner CC: License

Got an old bike languishing in the garage? Here's a quick round-up of spots in PDX to donate your old wheels/parts.


Community Cycling Center

We operate a full-service bike shop, and we love helping riders build their skills and confidence. Our programs and projects benefit underserved communities allowing kids to ride to school, adults to ride to work, and many people to ride for health and recreation.

 

BikeFarm

Bike Farm is an all volunteer-run collective dedicated to every aspect of bicycle education, from safe commuting to repair. Our mission is to provide a space where people can learn about the bicycle and build community around promoting sustainable transportation. We strive to demystify the bicycle in order to impact the city in a healthy and positive way.

 

Bikes 4 Humanity

Bikes For Humanity PDX (B4HPDX) is a local, public charity project providing affordable refurbished bicycles to riders of all economic backgrounds.