Avid student, faculty and staff cyclists now have a new place in Durham where members can obtain used bikes, attend repair clinics or get their vehicles repaired.
The Durham Bike Co-op, which held its grand opening Sunday, is now welcoming Bull City residents to join the group, said junior Allison Carpenter, who helps run the co-op.
The new organization aims to provide services to everyone-regardless of income-and a philosophy of acceptance is displayed clearly at the co-op's headquarters, which has rainbow-striped iron bars on its front and a large sign promoting equality.
"In a collective structure, people can carry each other by teaching each other about bicycle maintenance, culture and safety, so that everyone learns," said Colin Booy, a third-year graduate student in literature who helped create the group's mission statement.
Providing services to people of all income brackets is a particular goal of the organization, Carpenter said.
Membership fees are divided into three groups-an individual membership costs $35 per year, a household membership costs $50 per year, and a student and low-income membership costs $20 per year. Members who have trouble paying can also provide volunteer time to the co-op to decrease their membership fee.
In addition to providing services to lower-income individuals, Carpenter said the Durham Bike Co-op has three main objectives-skill-share, bicycle recovery and redistribution and becoming "a nexus of the Durham bicycle community."
Through skill-share, the co-op will host regular clinics in order to allow members to gain knowledge about bicycle skills. The co-op will also ask community members to donate bikes, which will be repaired and then provided to members, free of charge when possible.
"It will help improve the climate for bicycles in Durham and provide a way for people who are interested in bikes and learning how to repair bikes to pick up some skills," said Dale McKeel, a Durham cyclist.
He added that one of the best aspects of the co-op is that it provides the opportunity for people who need a bike to get one.
Booy said he supports cycling because it is a more social form of transportation than cars.
"People in this country are increasingly aware of the social, economic and especially ecological costs of the automobile," he said.
Located at 723 N. Mangum St. at Bull City Headquarters, the Durham Bike Co-op is not in an area "where traditionally a lot of Duke students go," Booy said.
But he added that hopefully the co-op's services will attract students to the area in the future.
"There are a lot of useful and interesting projects going on that students can get involved in," he said.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.