The Bike Co-op

Today was yet another normal day at the Bike Co-op. We sorted bikes to make room for volunteers that are coming tomorrow from Key Bank. It was a pretty boring day, but a nice break from schoolwork. The work is very monotonous and tiring, but at the same time, relaxing. Doing "grunt work" around the bike co-op provides an interesting perspective on life that we don't get much of at school. At school we are always doing "intellectual work," and we often forget that the vast majority of American jobs require much less “intellectual work” than “grunt work.” While, I don’t mind doing much “grunt work,” it does get a bit boring after awhile… Nonetheless, I have still learned much about bikes from doing such work. I hope I get the chance to actually work on fixing up a bike from scratch at the co-op before senior project is over. Seth and I have been thinking about renting out an old vintage bike and fixing it up as a summer project, provided that we learn enough about bikes by the end of senior project. I think that a project such as that would be a good combination of “grunt work” and “intellectual work.”

While sorting bikes today, I did see a variety of different kinds of bikes and was surprised at how many varying kinds of designs there were. There were plenty of common bikes (mountain bikes and road bikes), but there were also many old city bikes and old cruisers. I found those bikes especially interesting, as they were popular back in the ‘50’s. I noticed that bikes from that era were much more unique on an individual level than the mass-produced bikes that many of us are use to seeing and riding. It will be interesting to see what other kinds of bikes we find while sorting tomorrow.

~Joe