Take A Bike!

Surely you've heard of borrowing books, but how about borrowing bicycles?

Posted June 8, 2009 by Laura Kiniry

The Collingswood Bike Share.

Courtesy of photos.com.

Ryan Cochrane happened upon Collingswood Bike Share last fall at the borough’s Saturday farmer’s market.

A few weeks later the 25-year-old was happily riding a twelve-speed Schwinn Varsity road bike out of the program’s downtown garage; it even matched his 6-foot-1-inch frame. “It’s an older bike,” Cochrane says, “but in great condition.”

Since October 2008, Collingswood Bike Share has refurbished more than 60 donated and reclaimed bikes, completed over 200 free tune-ups and repairs for the greater Collingswood community, and signed upwards of 40 members, each paying a $25 annual fee for unlimited use of refurbished bikes.

“[We use] what universities refer to as the library method,’’ says Bike Share coordinator Rich Everill, 23. “A bike’s checked out, taken home, and treated as the member’s own for a little while. It’s basically an honor system.”

Bikes range from clunky, fender-adorned European cruisers to BMX racers. “We get a lot of diamonds in the rough,” says volunteer mechanic Scott Shannon, 31, “but beneath all the rust and wear is an awesome steel frame.” Some bikes are too weathered to run properly, so the mechanics scavenge parts—mating, say, the seat and fork from one with the frame of another—resulting in what Shannon calls “Frankenbikes.” Each bike gets a coat of automotive-grade green paint to make it program distinguishable.

Cochrane, a recent transplant from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, is hooked on Bike Share. “It makes me feel part of Collingswood,” he says, “even though I’ve only been here a short time.”

For more stories about: Collingswood, Biking, recreation