Local nonprofit bike shop turns trash into treasure

Building a bike is much harder than learning how to play the trumpet.

Or so Jacobs School of Music sophomores Chris Arkin and Kristen Baisley said. 

Kristen and Chris have been coming to the Bloomington Community Bike Project for three weeks now to build their own bikes out of mostly donated used parts for free.

However, they couldn’t begin to build their bikes without earning it. They had to volunteer for three hours helping around the shop.

Chris and Kristen are participating in the Bike Project’s “Earn-A- Bike” program, in which after volunteering, participants can build their own bikes out of donated bike parts with the help of knowledgeable volunteers.

The Center for Sustainable Living is the umbrella organization for the Bloomington Community Bike Project.

The Bike Project originally began in 1998 and was inspired by the Yellow Bike Project, said Lucille Bertuccio, Center for Sustainable Living president.

Thirty bikes were painted yellow and released into town as part of the Yellow Bike Project. However, the Yellow Bike Project did not succeed because people would steal the bikes, Bertuccio said.

Now the Bloomington Community Bike Project is the Center for Sustainable Living’s oldest project.

It is a nonprofit project funded through government grants and money gained through selling bikes made of used parts. Regular volunteers run the project without anyone in particular in a leadership position.

When Kristen finally had the opportunity to pick out her frame, she was determined to find not just any bike frame but the perfect bike frame for her.

“I was really excited,” she said. “It took me like an hour to decide which bike I wanted to do.”

That hour of searching led her to not just any frame but the frame for her.

It was a teal blue Schwinn Varsity frame with matching handle bars and the Schwinn emblem on the front bar.

Since Kristen picked the frame of her bike last week, she has had to replace the original handle bars and add pedals and the back wheel.

“How is everyone doing? Any one need any help?” a volunteer asked the people in the lot in front of the bike shop.

Kristen finally put on the front wheel. But this wasn’t just another task. For Kristen, it was an accomplishment that will bring her one step closer to her goal, a finished street bike.

“Does this look straight?” Kristen asked Chris, staring at the front wheel.

“Well, it’s just that you’re not going to be able to get it exactly straight,” he said.

In the bike shop, blue bins lined the bottom shelf against the wall full of various used bike parts: pedals, chains, cranks and much more.

The challenge is to find the right part out of these bins to fit on the bike. For both Chris and Kristen this was not an easy task.

“Last week it took me three hours just to find the wheels because every one of them had a problem with it,” she said. “So these were the only two wheels left.”

Luckily for Kristen, the wheels have worked so far.

“It’s a myth to be able to find parts that actually match each other,” Chris said. “I was actually lucky because the pedals kind of look alike.”

He looked on to his partially made bike lying on the cement. Its black “Puch” frame was in pretty good shape. The paint was slightly worn off in a few areas. The only noticeable wear and tear were the small dents on the bottom of the glistening silver chain wheel.

Although Chris faced some typical difficulties that the first-time bike builders have, he said he was actually pretty lucky because he found his bike already partially built rather than just starting with the frame.

“It came with these wheels and I tried them out and they’re pretty even,” he said. “They’re pretty perfect circles. Well, as perfect as a used bike circle can get.”

A rusted chain hung slightly tangled off of the dented chain wheel, and the back wheel had been taken off, as well as the rubber tire.

“Whenever I think I’m done, I go and ask somebody who knows what they’re doing, and they say ‘Oh no, you forgot something,’” Chris said. “We’ll just see where it goes.”

Chris said he’s no expert by any means.

“I’ve ridden a bike before so I have a little bit of an idea of what it’s supposed to look like at the end,” he said jokingly.

Chris might not have been building a bike for the Little 500, but in the end it’s a bike he said. And even though he might not have been an expert, he said it will just feel great when he is able to ride it and it won’t fall apart.

“That thing took a while,” Chris said. “That pedal doo-dad.”

The saying,“It’s just like riding a bike” doesn’t necessarily apply to building one.

“The difficult part is this has to fit with that, which has to fit with that,” he said pointing to the pedals, the crank and the chain wheel.

All three parts were donated from three different bikes.

Although Chris and Kristen build the bikes on their own, regular volunteers are always there to help them along the way.

Many volunteers, such as James Pfister, a senior at Harmony School in Bloomington, have become regular volunteers since building their first bike at the Bike Project.

Before coming to the Bike Project more than a year ago, the only thing James said he knew how to do was change a tire. After building a bike for the first time at the Bike Project, James returned to pay it forward. 

“I came in and started volunteering, and eventually one of the regular volunteers said ‘You know, next week we’re having a meeting, and you could become a regular volunteer,’” James said as he worked to fit a wire through a cable housing with his grease-covered hands. “And I said, ‘That sounds like a lot of fun. I would love that.’” 

The bike he was building was almost finished. Its frame was a faded black color with a few chips in various places. The “GT ALL Terra” label was worn off on the front upper bar.

An old shredded white sticker with black writing on the lower back bar said “Read Books & Make Total Destroy!”

Now a year later, he’s a regular volunteer who helps others to build their first bikes.
The thing about the Bike Project is that everyone helps each other out along the way and not just the volunteers, Chris said.

“It’s obvious that everyone’s here because they want to be here,” Chris said.

***

On Wednesday, Kristen was determined to add wheels and a seat to her blue frame.

“Every week I think ‘Oh, this is going to be the week,’” she said.  “I don’t know because hopefully I’ll get the wheels on today, and then I’ll put the seat on. I don’t think putting the seat on will be that hard. At least I hope not.”

As the last hour began, Kristen went into the shop and started to dig in a large old gray bin full of bikes seats of various shapes and colors.

“Oh Chris, there’s a Power Rangers seat,” she shouted.

“A Power Rangers seat? You better get the Power Rangers seat,” Chris yelled back with excitement.

After a while, Kristen picked out her two favorite seats: a smooth black leather seat covered in dust and cobwebs and a diamond-textured seat.

Everyone worked in the dark of the night with only a flood light lighting their part of the lot.

Kristen tried to fit both seats on her bike. After a little help from James, she was able to fit the leather seat.

“Okay. We’re closing in twelve minutes,” regular volunteer Greg Clarke shouted to the crowd. 

Kristen took a picture of her partially built bike on her cell phone.

“It actually looks like a bike now,” she said to Chris excitedly.

“I know, right?” Chris said back.

Kristen and Chris said they have learned more about bikes during the past three weeks than at any other point in their lives.

“There’s a finish line at the end,” Chris said. “The whole process is fun along with the goal.”

As the bike shop began to close, James brought all of the bikes inside.

Although the shop is open for three hours on three days of the week and two hours on Sundays, everyone is pretty relaxed about the rules, James said.

James said sometimes the volunteers will stay late if they have nothing else to do that night.

Although it was closing time, Kristen still had a while to go. She will have to add a chain and break pads next time she comes.

“It has a seat now, and it’s rolling today,” she said as she rolled her bike inside.

Although Chris and Kristen didn’t finish, they are still excited for what’s to come.

“She’s more excited than I am,” Chris laughed pointing to Kristen.

“I’m anxiously awaiting the day when it’s rideable,” Kristen said. “I can’t wait to go around campus with a bike and be a part of the whole Bloomington culture
and stuff.”