if you haven't been to Good Life Bikes before i suggest you check it out, it's a pretty cool place. it's located in Eau Claire Centre downtown. i heard that Eau Claire is going through a revitilization with new developers moving in to utilize the space better. i hope Good Life stays amongst all these changes. Good Life is a nonprofit, community bicycle repair, education and resource centre. it focuses heavily on the community aspect and is almost fully run by volunteers. a very cool concept.
from their website:
Our Goals:· To build community in Calgary· To make it as easy and fun as possible to choose biking· To empower Calgarians by offering skills and accessible, affordable and healthy ways to get around· To reduce environmental impact by encouraging cycling over driving and rescuing bikes from the waste stream.
i was expecting a full class since i was informed their last class was full (i think they only take 7-8 people per workshop). but i show up at 7pm and there's only me and this other girl. i guess the nice weather outside made everyone skip? i get introduced to Shannon, our instructor for the night, who is very personable and an avid biker. she leaves it up to us on what topics we want to cover since there's only 2 of us. the other girl is a triathlete so she's had some experience with basic bike repairs... me on the other hand, not so much.
we start off with brake replacement since that's a common job most people eventually have to do. we pick 2 really old bikes to work on and set them up on the bike stands. Shannon runs us through which tools to use and where everything is located in the shop. i cut the rear brake wire, take off the housing, replace the wire and housing, rewire it all back up, tighten all the screws - done! took about an hour with helpful guidance by Shannon. after all was said and done, it was pretty rewarding doing it myself i must say. i went to the workshop straight from work so i was still in my work clothes but thankfully they had some aprons there to keep my semi-clean. bike repairs can get pretty messy. brakes were messy enough, i can't imagine changing the cassette or bottom bracket. the whole workshop was only 2 hours so we didn't have much time to go over much else. i was wondering about chain and gear maintenance so we went over chain cleaning. there's a small plastic device you can put over the chain with some degreaser solution that does the job. there's also some special brushes you can use to clear the crud from the gears. after the cleaning we went over just some general questions and cleaned up our area.
overall, the session was quite informative and a good confidence builder for when i ever need to work on my own bike. youtube is a great resource for bike repair information but it's hard to get that "hands on" experience over the internet. now that i'm a member of Good Life (membership is free btw) i can bring my bike in there and use their space and tools at no charge. great for people with no garage or that don't have the right tools. i really wouldn't want to spend $30 on a tool i would only use once. this is a great place for bikers... go check it out one day when you're at Eau Claire.
No comments:
Post a Comment