Bike Repair Shop Opens in Rec Center
06/03/2011
By
Sarah McAdamsBicycling — it’s good for the body and good for the environment. And let’s face it: It’s a lot more fun than sitting in traffic.
Figuring that the easier it is for students, faculty and staff to get their bikes on the road, the more bikes there will be on campus, the Campus Recreation Center staff recently opened a bike shop called Fix My Ride.
Managed by Outdoor Adventure Graduate Assistant Lance Jackson, and staffed by student mechanics, the repair shop offers discounted prices on services and parts to the UMass Lowell community.
“Our prices are typically 25 percent below market rates,” says Peter Murray, director of campus recreation.
Fix My Ride, located on the second floor of the recreation center, is open by appointment during the summer, and five days a week the rest of the year. Single-day turnaround is typical.
“We can fix any type of bicycle,” says Murray, adding that the shop has repaired 20 bikes since it opened in April. “In addition to repairs and tune-ups, we salvage neglected bikes, fix them up and get them back to students who need a bike.”
To that end, he encourages anyone with an adult-sized bicycle collecting dust to donate it to Fix My Ride.
The team also maintains University Police Bikes and Rec-Cycles — the latter essentially a free, bicycle-lending library for full-time students, faculty and staff members.
“It is our mission to promote the development of healthy lifestyles and bicycling as an attractive and sustainable mode of transportation for the UMass Lowell community,” Murray says.
“We strive to accomplish this by providing high-quality cycling equipment and services that will encourage an environmentally friendly commute between campuses as well as throughout the city of Lowell.”
Rec-Cycles is a collaboration between the School of Health and Environment, the Facilities Department and the Department of Campus Recreation as part of the Healthy Campus Initiative.