TheBikeHouseCoop2015

Introduction/Definition/etc

Since TheBikeHouse years ago, some changes, and impressions from a handful of visits this year...

Body

Disclaimer

First of all, I have a relationship, sometimes rocky, with TheBikeHouse since it's early forming, so like a lot of things, claiming participant observer status...

Updates

TheBikeHouse moved from the Qualia Coffee row house back yard/ patio on Georgia Avenue in Petworth, to Annie's Hardware on Upshur around 13th across from the High School.  Their website has changed to commercial and social NationBuilder software and goes .org to the .coop address...  Also, they have gotten IRS 501c3 status. 

East of the River mobile clinics are running again this summer, after a year off, one of the years in between.

Another clinic site is the Bloomingdale Farmer's Market on Sundays 11-1 or so.  Nearby Big Bear Cafe has french toast with real maple syrup, but they put pepper in the maple syrup, accidentally getting an extra maple syrup without the french toast yet, and being a northerner, I just ended up drinking the extra syrup in the end, kind of like drinking shots or liquid Jello (tm) shooters, without the alcohol, sugar only, and no violence...  And was even more talkative with the extra sugar buzz, afaict...

Clinics are running at Annie's Hardware in the loading dock area on Saturday's 12-3 pm and occasionally some beginner or volunteer classes before and/or after bike clinic.  Annie wanted me to update the address information, as people reading the old writeup would go to the wrong place.  She, really her Ace hardware store, sells some bike supplies at near cost, cables rather cheap at a few dollars each, tubes ($?), chains $10-15 or so dollars, .and a few bike specific tools, Park Tool brand and some others.  And they even got some Sasperilla sodas similar to birch beer and root beer, since had Souix City anyways, I requested sasperilla (sp?), remembering my uncle who liked it and did some carpentry and other handyman and other stuff over the years...  Two of those and I'm talking too much with a sugar buzz while cooling off after bicycling there, sometimes through two Saturday morning farmers markets on the way, (beware: don't feed the bikers, they might return ;-) /ToothlessGrin

Social

Most of their social stuff (volunteer happy hour, etc) is still done at bars, mostly at one that doesn't seem to like me much, afaict but I went a few times anyways and ate some food, mostly papusas and cheesesteaks, even a couple sliders which was just little hamburgers, finding the menu personally limited, for my tastes and not wanting to be there much later in the afternoon when drinking Saturday night starts early...  It is kind of the wind down time from talking to people about bikes for three (3) hours or so, and on the way home anyways, not cooking and isolating sometimes helps...  The support group after the support group, and/or meeting after the meeting....

Jerseys

They have preordered and got some limited run bicycle jerseys of which I've ordered two, trying to help get the per unit price down, prepaid for both and so far received one, the other hopefully being in the second shipment.  Slow delivery, polyester instead of lycra blend, and a little warm, but nice graphics.  My hope is to get through the week without doing much laundry, and some days changing clothes a couple times a day, say out in the early am, and again in the afternoon, showering and changing in between... For me, t shirts just get soggy and wet biking in the heat and sweating. YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary)

Some Impressions

In general, it is one of my favorite bike coop type places, despite the millenial focus, short clinic times on the weekend, I'm mostly learning and helping out occasionally, talking bikes like Forrest Gump on shrimp or something, but also doing some of my own bike repairs, when slow and hopefully learning more.

Oops

I did crash once going to the coop, which was rather annoying, showing up bleeding, hopefully making an early start, was given a spray bottle of hydrogen peroxide to spray my ankle chainring, elbows and knee wounds and Annie found a large bandage for wrapping it up, I took the outside advice to let dry instead...  Duct and Duck tape seemed appropriate, as you can fix anything with duct tape, some people think. /grin

Conclusion

Summary of experience or similar

Not a focus on kids like PhoenixBikes afterschool and weekend youth program PhoenixBikes nor East of the River (Anacostia Wards 7 and 8) summer clinics, so a little closer to what I'd like doing, hobby level, of course...

Much more to learn, shadowing some people and writing up one clinic as host, after the fact,  taking some photos/ video, and even going in the rain and heat and stuff.

The interpersonal part of it is difficult for me, and I'm not that great a mechanic, I've seen much more than I've tried, being mostly a Walmart (tm) greeter type too tired to really do much by the time I got there, most days, with gaps in knowledge, having not tried so much, and forgetting other parts, necessary steps, but can talk thru some things, think about it, and know the names of some stuff (noodle brake part on V brakes, cassette vs. freehub still a little unclear, but learning)...

Discussion

A place for feedback on the page presented

How much do you think is safe to do your own mechanics on bicycles and other forms of transportation?

Is a helping hand (as one VW for the complete novice book back in my early college years (engineering school dropout) mentioned) helpful?  Maybe bounce ideas off of, and some limited teaching of mechanical skills with tools.  Many times it's find and hand tools and help lift things like adjust bike stand clamp for the seat post, while someone is holding the bike up, or combinations of many things like brake cables. relatively simple: how to remove tires with levers for replacing tubes, or find broken spokes for truing (still not good at, an OCD like problem for me)  and other stuff...

Ironically, there are third and fourth hand tools (pull brake cable with just one hand so can tighten clamping nut with another, and compress brake pads together respectively, or reversed, iirc), and some others I've not used much, a master link tool for removing and installing some chains, and mostly specialized tools, advanced stuff like headset press, bottom bracket tools and others.

Volunteers have access to some technical information too, and a bit of a community to talk bikes and what I consider comparative anatomy of bikes, from department store kid bikes on occasion, to vintage Peugot, to mixtie (sp? angular frame usually female lower step over top tube heights) and fixie and most things in between.

License

Creative Commons Share and Share Alike, Non Commercial, Non Derivative, for the whole site's contents unless otherwise explicitly stated

Page History

20150714 Jerry

• update a little, after sending an FYI to the volunteers list,
• found some typos, I've been putting off,
• add a little, clarify?
• added structure/ headers for blobs of text with little focus...
• add pictures of master link, rainy day, or similar?

20150708 Jerry

• Jerry created this page to update a little on TBH...

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