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LEASE A BIKE
Need a bike to get around campus?
Click here for lease information and application ...
VOLUNTEER
Would you
like
to volunteer to
help repair, paint, or maintain bikes? Volunteers learn a wide variety of bike maintenance skills and earn access to work on their own bikes. Click here for details.
DONATE A BIKE
We welcome donations of sturdy bikes that are in
good working condition. If you have a bike that you'd like to donate, please
click here for more information. To drop off donated bikes (contact us first
please) here's location information to the MSU Bikes Service Center.
"Where there is a wheel there is a way."
Motto of the Good Roads Movement, early 1900s
INSPIRATIONAL PHOTOS
(click
photo for more inspirational photos)
COMMENTS FROM HAPPY CAMPUS BIKERS
"I loved having the bike… although I never got the rest of my
department to use it. It was very convenient to be able to leave
my car and go to meetings on the bike. Campus is a pretty easy
ride so it wasn’t too challenging to get almost anywhere.
Congratulations on the project. I hope it explodes."
Paul McConaughy,
MSUE Family & Consumer Science
More comments...
Service Center Hours
Ph: 517/432-3400
  Yes, we accept Spartan Cash, Visa and MC! |
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 The winning 'grocery-getter' bike by David Mahan. It becomes a shopping cart that you can take in the store. |
 Check out the MSU Office of Campus Sustainability web site here. |
 Aerial photo of the northern underpass on Farm Ln. during the grand opening ceremony. Click for story and more pics. |
 Check out the "The Trail Atlas of Michigan". |
 Pics from the 2009 MSU Homecoming Parade! |
 What's this? It's a panoramic of the new "pump track" that was recently built in Meridian Twp. |
 Tim working on a resident's bike at the July bike clinic. Click here for more photos from the Aug. 4th clinic. |
 Tim & Jon-Marc teaching the 4H class. Click photo for more... |
 Phys Plant takes lead in biking. |
 Check out our Facebook fan page here. |
 Click the pic above for more photos of these bikes. |
 Come out for a peaceful demonstration bike ride Friday evenings thru April; meet @ 6 pm at Beaumont Tower. Click pic for more pics from the 4/17/09 ride. |
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 A couple Wolverine SC members in the 70's; click to enlarge or here to view the "Catch the Wind" trailer. (photo courtesy of the WSC web site) |
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 Riding your bike thru the winter?? Click the pic or here for winter riding tips. |
 Photo of the conference participants at UC Davis. Click photo for more and here for other photos from the rest of the events that weekend and some videos: Video 1 | Video 2  1st Conference for Campus Bike Programmers |
 One of our used bikes currently for sale in the Center... |
 MSU Bikes - Share a Bike hosting Day of Action - Sat. 9/27/08 |
 Cover of the 2008 College Sustainability Report Card; click to view. |
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 Tim works with a student and parents on fitting a bike; read the article. Photograph © Dave Trumpie |
 Construction management senior and bicycle mechanic Mark Wiedbusch repairs a bike Wednesday afternoon at MSU Bikes Service Center in Bessey Hall. Photo by Jason Chiou, The State News |
 Go to the new Fixed Gear Fever page for more info.... |
 Easy Access Around Farm Lane Construction Click here (JPG) to see a rough map of where this pathway is located. Click here to see a larger map of campus (PDF). |
 The Minneapolis Greenway Bike Bridge over Hiawatha Avenue; a gorgeous example of engineering. |
 One of the newest indoor/ covered parking options at the Kellogg Center Parking Ramp; access the bike rack via this entrance/ exit or via the pedestrian entrance/exit facing the north towards the Center. |
 "Signs of MSU spring" - bikes floating downriver... |
 The new Michigan Trails Finder |
 Here's some of the MSU Bikes' staff wearing the new t-shirts. Click to enlarge. |
 Sheldon "CaptBike" Brown 1944 - 2008 |
 One of our green bikes towing a unique trailer with the "Be Spartan Green" campaign poster in the Homecoming 2007 parade. Click photo for small B&W PDF. |
 Our new head mechanic, Jon-Marc Eyer, posing with his awesome K2 MTB outside the Center. Jon-Marc joined us from working approx. 20 yrs. in the bike industry, most of them in Florida. Yes, he's enjoying the snow! More staff photos here... |
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 (L to R) Hsu Li Rou (Lillian), Chuang, Hsueh Fang (Tiffeny), Hsu Li Ying (Joseph), and Hsu Wen Chung (James). (back) Tim Potter – MSU Bikes Service Center, William Eubank, Instructor, VIPP. |
 Photos from the 3rd Annual Lucinda Means Advocacy Day Ride & Parade |
 MSU Bikes Hosts Area Police Bike Patrol Officers |
 Construction blues? Bikes are the answer! Click the logo above for current alerts... |
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Bike Lockers on Campus?  Click the photo to get on the list for a locker! |
There are a couple cartoonists out there nationally generating some great stuff that you might enjoy following. One is by Jef Mallet called "Frazz". Frazz is a young custodian at an elementary school and rides off-road and also does some triathalons which all gets mixed into the strip regularly. Jef is a Lansing, MI, native, triathelete and ex-road racer, and friend of Tim's. Jef published a very successful book a year or so ago about road bicycling titled "Roadie: the Misunderstood World of a Bike Racer" and has just released his newest book about the life of triathaletes , Trizophrenia (great gift ideas BTW). Another delightful one is Yehuda Moon, about the life of mechanics, customers at the Kickstand Cyclery. Rick Smith hits the bike shop culture dead center with his strips.
10/22/09, by Katherine Noren, Phys. Plant newsletter
Dennis Hansen, construction landscape architect and author of "The Trail Atlas of Michigan" (first published in 1977), works with other trail enthusiasts to support funding for the trails in Michigan. Hansen is a charter member of the Department of Natural Resource’s Trail Advisory Committee. The committee reviews and recommends funding request proposals submitted to the DNR that are funded with state and federal dollars. The funds are used for trail maintenance, law enforcement, new construction, design and signage of trails in Michigan. Read full story.... | Note: We have a copy of the Trail Atlas in the Center for people to check out.
Fall 2009 - This PDF map shows the exact locations of all the newer loop-style bike racks installed around campus. This map does not include the older style movable "toaster" racks which will eventually be entirely replaced with the newer style. As of this fall the only remaining "toaster" racks to be replaced are near the residence halls.
Additionally, here's a couple links to other bike parking info. in neighboring communities:
Aug. 2009: The Transportation Tech. Team (one of MSU's Environmental Stewardship teams) released an 11 pg. executive summary of the results of a transportation survey of 5300 MSU faculty & staff in mid-August. The data is quite compelling re: existing bike commuters and perceptions and intentions re: bike commuting for those who have or are actively considering it for their transportation to work:
• Here's the survey itself (in case you weren’t a participant).
by John Frawley, Physical Plant newsletter staff, July 30, 2009
MSU Bikes recently teamed with the University Apartments Council of Residents to make a positive difference in the MSU community. On Tuesday, July 14, they conducted a bike clinic at Cherry Lane. The event provided free repairs, safety checks, and even pizza.
The clinic was the second in a series of three, the first held on June 30 at Spartan Village Community Center. According to Marketing and Sales Coordinator Tim Potter, who worked at the clinic, between 30 and 40 people attended. The next clinic is scheduled for August 4 at Spartan Village Community Center. Read full article here....
Check out this bike safety video that a group of MSU Comm. Arts students (directed by Katelyn Patterson; they were all volunteers on this project) created for this past summer's AOP bike tours (the first year we did these; we loaned 20 green bikes to AOP to run 2 groups of bike tours of campus each evening; they were booked up every day).
Hopefully you'll find it entertaining and informative as well. Yes, there are some gaps and things I’d probably done differently but all in all I believe it’ll help educate more MSU students on the more important bike safety topics.
By Amber Rozzisi, Physical Plant Newsletter, 6/30/09
MSU Bikes had an opportunity to work with the 4-H Exploration Days development program this summer. Marketing and Sales Coordinator Tim Potter and Laborer II Jon-Marc Eyer ran four sessions of “Bikes Maintenance” classes from June 24 to 26. “We are trying to give the kids information and advice about maintaining their bikes,” said Potter. Changing tires and tubes, adjusting brakes and gears were just some of the skills taught during the sessions. Full story>> | More photos & videos
By Katherine Noren, Physical Plant Newsletter, 6/4/09
In an effort to "Be (more) Spartan Green,” the MSU Physical Plant looks to its bike fleet as an alternative form of transportation. The bike fleet has been active for years, but the movement for green energy has brought it renewed attention. Jim Fashbaugh, service manager III, confirmed that the MSU Physical Plant bike fleet has 17 bikes altogether and is the largest bike fleet on campus. Of that, six bikes are regularly assigned to full-time employees for their everyday use. Full story>>
We've recently launched a fan page for MSU Bikes on Facebook; check it out here and stay up-to-date with upcoming events, or chat with other cyclists in the MSU community.
We're proud to offer these officially logo'd MSU green and white cruiser bikes for sale this year. Come on in and test ride one today! The men's bike comes with flat-black fenders. A 3-speed option is available (on request/ special order). They are priced at $279.00 (plus sales tax) and come with a lifetime manufacturer's warranty.
Aug. 5 - 8, 2009 - The 4th International Fixed Gear Symposium is on for this summer (Wed thru Sat) in Traverse City, Michigan, USA; " A Celebration of Cycling Simplicity - A Gathering of New Friends". It's the only fixed-gear festival that we know of in the entire country and it's here in Mich! Be there!
July 17- 19, 2009 - Michigan Speed Challenge - this was a weekend of incredibly fast & unique Human Powered Vehicle technologies on display while the owners (oftentimes the builders of their own machines) were the racers/ riders. Check out some photos and a forum of results and discussion.
July 11 - 12 - The 1st Annual Americane' Vintage Track & Road Bike Festival was a blast. Here's the official report w/ lots of details. It was hosted at the Bloomer Park Velodrome in Rochester Hills, MI, only 90 mi. from E. Lansing. It featured a swap meet, vintage bike displays, track riding & racing, road racing & riding. Here are some pics from the event and more pics from the 3-day NAS-Track Pro action. For further info. about the events see the official Press Release.
May 28 - Lucinda Means Bicycle Advocacy Day, started here, 9 am
On May 28th, LMB and bicyclists from around the state joined forces for a Ride and a Road Rally to the State Capitol building. Our goal was to take our concerns about bicycling and the safety of bicyclists on the roadways in Michigan directly to our state legislators in Lansing. This event was free. If you ride a bike and want to improve cycling in Michigan, come join us next year! Photos from the event area here. Bookmark this web page for info. on the 2010 event when it's available.
May 20 - Ride of Silence, started here
Thanks to everyone who came out for the Ride of Silence events (ours and
Haslett's) last Wednesday. We had perfect weather and about 65 cyclists (incl. approx 10 police bike patrol officers from the MSU Police, Lansing PD, LCC PD and Mich. St. Police Capitol Patrol) ride with us in memory of bicyclists hit and killed or injured by motor vehicles on our roadways.
Down at the Capitol steps, our destination, we listened to several personal stories of family members, friends and team mates who had been hit and killed or seriously injured. Go to our RoS page for pics, videos, news reports, etc. from the event.
The Detroit Wolverine Sport Club has been the ruling powerhouse bike racing club since the 1930s to the present day. It's produced most of the champions to have come out of Michigan, not only in bike racing but speed skating and XC skiing as well. The club was long coached by Mike Walden who insisted on all of the club members to compete and train in all 3 sports to be well-rounded athletes. Anyway, a new documentary movie, "Catch the Wind", was shown in Oct. '08 in Detroit and the DVD is now in the MSU Bikes' library! Watch the trailer and see other info. about it here. Here's a longer featurette that you'll enjoy as well.
Summer 2009
If you’re a bicyclist (or pedestrian) parking at the Commuter Parking Lot the closure of Farm Ln. is a major inconvenience (unless you're taking the bus). Well, a temporary pathway/ shortcut for pedestrians/ bicyclists from Commuter Lot 89 thru the Ag Expo fields to Crescent Rd. (near the MSUFCU office) is open which provides a shorter and safer route to campus than walking/ riding Mt. Hope to Harrison/ Hagadorn Rds. Click here to see a rough map of where this pathway is located as well as a cut-thru to the sidewalk on the east side of Harrison Rd via the parking lot on the west side of the Manly Miles Bldg. Being a temporary pathway it is NOT paved; it's also NOT lighted, so beware and use a head-light if you have plans to use it at night. Click here for photos of the construction project underway.
For the summer months you can also park at the student commuter lots on Service Road and the lot at the corner of Kalamazoo and Harrison Rd.s. Click here for a map showing these lots.
You may have heard the news already: there was some great news for bicycle commuters inside the $700 bil. bailout bill in the form of the Bicycle Commuter Act. Starting Jan. 1 "employers can offer their employees a tax-exempt transportation benefit of $20 per month for purchasing, maintaining or storing a bicycle "if such bicycle is regularly used for travel between the employee's residence and place of employment." MSU Bikes is pursuing information with MSU's administration to figure out whether MSU bicyclists will be eligible and will post info. here and to our Yahoo group listserv when/ if we find out. In the meantime, here's more details from the League of American Bicyclists who've been the key group to lobby for this over the past decade or so.
Nov. 1-2, 2008: MSU Bikes was proud to partner with our colleagues at the UC Davis Bike Barn to organize and host the 1st-ever conference for Campus Bike Programmers in N. America to be held in Davis, CA. Here's some of the better photos from the weekend of events, plus a couple videos I shot of bicycle traffic on their campus between classes: WOW! Video 1 | Video 2
- Go here for more info. about the Campus Bike Programmers network and a full report on the conference.
If you're in the market to buy a used bike stop by and check out our selection or click here and see what we've got as of 11/12/08. We've also got a number of frame sets for sale that we haven't photographed, so stop by and check them out. We've also got a number of frame sets for sale that we haven't photographed, so stop by and check them out. We’ve also now got inexpensive 700c flip-flop wheel sets & colored 1/8” chains for sale in the shop and have some Japns. keirin (track) rubber grips coming soon. For those DIY’ers, we’re now stocking more home-mechanic grade tools too (pedal & crank wrenches, chain-whips, other chain tools, etc.).
A small group of bicyclists joined Tandems for Touchdowns! on Fri. Oct. 3rd and rode in the MSU Homecoming Parade. Check out the pics for some of the action.
We joined 2300 groups around the nation with Day of Action events on Sept. 27th. We (3 volunteers from Share a Bike, plus 1 from MSU Bikes) had about a dozen people stop by, 1 media rep. (Ch. 6), and about 8 bikes donated plus some misc. bike parts. Photos coming soon...
Aug. 28, 2008, from the Office of the Vice President for Finance and Operations: The Sustainable Endowments Institute ranks the universities with the 200 largest endowments in the U.S. in several categories related to sustainability. It released its 2008 College Sustainability Report Card. The full report is available here; see pgs. 21 & 102 for transportation related info.
Here is a quick synopsis of the MSU rating:
· MSU received an overall grade of ‘B’ which is a full letter grade above last year (‘C’)
· MSU was recognized as a leader in the following categories: Transportation, Endowment Transparency, and Investment Priorities
· MSU received ‘Bs’ for Administration, Climate Change & Energy, Food & Recycling, and Green Building categories
· We received an ‘F’ for Shareholder Engagement
The State News, 8/28/08: "Campus bike use doubles, reduces lot permits", by Thea Neal
Bikes are gaining ground across campus as more students are trading in their car keys for a new set of wheels.
The MSU Department of Police and Public Safety reported that since 2003, bike registration increased 273 percent on campus. Riders registered 858 bikes between July 1 and Aug. 24, 2003. In that same time frame this year, 2,346 bikes were registered. Full article here.
8/13/08: A reporter with a local webzine called Capital Gains interviewed Tim Potter recently; check out the article here. Then, a local talk radio host, Walt Sorg, with WILS 1320 am, happened to catch that article and did a phone interview with Tim; if you missed it on the air, you can listen to it here (6 mb MP3).
Our friends at the League of Michigan Bicyclists, a state-wide advocacy group to promote and protect bicyclists' rights to the roadways, have been working with Representatives Andy Coulouris (D-Saginaw) and David Palsrok (R-Manistee) on House Bills 6299 and 6300, which enhance penalties for moving violations causing physical injury or death to bicyclists and other vulnerable roadway users. They were introduced on June 29 and need your support. Details & sample letter are here....
Senator Tom George (R-Kalamazoo) has committed to introduce Senate companion bills with the same language. (Bookmark this page for future information, including Senate bill numbers and co-sponsors.)
A teen on a bike deserves the same protection as one driving a tractor. These bills will make Michigan roadways safer for bicyclists and all vulnerable users of our taxpayer-funded road system.
These FREE events will be a combination ride and workshop led by Melissa Stewart, Asst. Coordinator for MSU Bikes. Our first one on May 6, 2008 (click here for pics) went very well and was well received. We'll be scheduling others for the spring. If you'd like to be on our list for future events please R.S.V.P. to Melissa Stewart, Asst. Coordinator for MSU Bikes and let us know the longest distance you’ve ridden comfortably; this will allow us to tailor the route to experience levels.
By the growing numbers of fixed-gear bikes around MSU you'd think there's a revolution going on! Well, we might actually be behind the trend and are just catching up with the big city culture of fixed gear mania. Here's a new page of some links to sites we've collected that might interest those of you into this or exploring getting into it.
Nate Kerr, a staffer for the Midtown Greenway Coalition in the City of Minneapolis, visited our Center the weekend of Feb. 23rd to observe one of our classes & our operations. He then gave a great presentation (PDF, 6.5 mb) to a group of interested cyclists and MSU staffers. The Greenway Coalition is in the process of converting an old warehouse alongside the Greenway (a converted rail bed, which traverses thru the southside of the city some 6 miles) to a bike center which, in partnership with a local bike shop, will provide bike repairs, rentals, accessories and also serve as the new home for the offices of the Coalition. Their new bike center is scheduled to open mid-May.
With the assistance of Jim Rogers from the U of WI - Madison (who's working on plans for a new bike center in a new building on their campus) a new email-based listserv for university and community bike programs in N. America was launched on Feb. 26th. A group of contacts collected by us over the past few years as we prepared to launch MSU Bikes was the basis for the first subscribers; the list is now over 60 strong (late Mar. '08). Those contacts with info. on the various programs they represent can be seen here (small Excel file). If you'd like to subscribe, send a blank email (no subject line required) to: join-campus-biking@lists.wisc.edu
Mar. 26, 2008 - The newest covered/ indoor bike parking racks have been installed in the Kellogg Center Parking Ramp and the Wharton Center Parking Ramp. See the photos to the right for more information on locations. Click here for more info. & pics...
You know springtime is just around the corner on the MSU campus when... bikes are floating down the river, of course! (see pic to the right) Took this of a bike floating by the Center the other day when the ice was breaking up. Click here to view more spring-time bike photos. Send us your photos or phrases via email with "Signs of MSU spring" in the subject line!
Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance announces the new Michigan Trails Finder. This is a new online resource for planning your next trail adventure. It is a digital map of trails, bothsingle and shared-use, linked with information you need to know . . . before you go! You will find the following features: Length and Surface, Allowed Trail Uses, Interactive Links to Individual Trail Websites, GPS Coordinates (where available), and contact info. etc. The database runs as an interface with the convenience of Google navigation to help you get there. Check it out! (It is a product of the Connecting Michigan Project, part and parcel of the GIS Trails Database and Website Task Force, one of the ten Connecting Michigan task forces, and Michigan State University RS and GIS Remote Sensing carried out the work of setting it all up. It was paid for by a grant from the People and Land Program of Kellogg Foundation. )
You too can wear one of the MSU Bikes' staff t-shirts and spread the bike love at MSU! Check out this staff photo of the different colors and styles available only in our Center. The shirt features a graphic by the awesome NYC cycling artist Taliah Lempert (her website: www.bicyclepaintings.com) and our logo on the sleeve.
On Feb. 3rd, Sheldon "CaptBike" Brown, aka "The Bike Mechanic's Mechanic", passed away after suffering a massive heart attack. On more than one occasion Sheldon helped us with various technical
challenges we've encountered here at MSU Bikes for which we've been very
grateful. He was extremely generous with his knowledge of bicycle mechanics
and also mixed a very clever/ creative sense of mechanical humor within his
site. More Sheldon tribute info here....
We're excited to be supporting the campus-wide campaign, "Be Spartan Green" that kicked off last fall. The latest issue of the Phys. Plant newsletter features a photo of one of our green bikes towing a unique trailer with the "Be Spartan Green" campaign poster in the Homecoming 2007 parade. Click here for the article (small B&W file, PDF) or here (large, color PDF) or the photo to the right. More photos of our green bikes pulling the trailers around campus can be viewed here....
Nov. 26, 2007 - We're happy to have a new head mechanic, Jon-Marc Eyer. Jon-Marc was raised in the Lansing area, so he's enjoying the fresh snow we're getting now. He's spent approx. 20 yrs. in the bike industry, mostly in Florida, so the change of temperate zones is no small thing! On top of his years in the business, he's an experienced bike racer (in most every form), former bike race team owner and extensively trained at Barnett Bicycle Institute and United Bicycle Institute as well as a certified mechanic from the Campagnolo School of Mechanics in northern Italy.
Oct. 17, 2007
A new web-zine, Capital Gains, has recently launched in the Lansing market and did a nice write-up on a few local cyclists who are commuting and or helping folks commute in the area which is where MSU Bikes comes into the picture. Check out the article here.
Last Fri. (10/12/07) the MSU Bikes crew and a number of other bicyclists & tandems including one "boneshaker/ highwheeler" (Eric Phreed) proudly rolled along in the MSU Homecoming Parade. Our theme was pro-bicycling / non-moto for fun, better health (yourself and the environment), save $$, etc. Click here for pics from the parade. Click here for pics from the 2005 parade ( we won the Best Org. award).
The new MSU Bikes trailer (made by Bikes at Work) with brand new banners made its debut in the MSU Homecoming Parade (10/12/07). We're considering offering a new mobile advertising trailer service and will also use the trailer (minus the signs and Mel [the person hiding in between the signs]) to create a mobile instructional unit which we'll haul around campus to offer free bike maintenance/ safety seminars. See the photo to the right of MSU Bikes' staff Mariame and Mel all set for its maiden voyage around campus. Here's some more pics of our trailer in action both as a mobile bill-board and as a mobile repair/ instructional vehicle.
The Big Ten Network crew stopped by last week before the big football game to film their host Andy on one of our canoes on the Red Cedar River. Ben, our lucky mechanic who happened to be working that morning, was interviewed and also got his big national debut singing our fight song! Watch the segment here; view more photos of the session here. Our Asst. Coordinator Mel Stewart and student Kristen Pennington can also be seen paddling along with one of our student mechanics, Jared Dorvinen (who jumped in with the photographer).
The MSU Physical Plant newsletter has been featuring a column on MSU Bikes' news and information for the past couple issues. The latest issue, Summer 2007, features a column about our former head mechanic, Matt Jaglowski, moving on to bigger & better things in Iowa plus a few other bits of news from the summer months. Take a look at that page here (PDF format). The rest of the summer issue can be seen here (PDF, 30 mb).
Google is at it again, this time helping to promote bicycling as the key to human survival. Read all about the "Innovate or Die" campaign that Google, Specialized and Goodby Silverstein & Partners have launched just yesterday (Sept. 24th) on the GoogleBlog in a blog titled "Pour on the pedal power" , or click the image over on the right to view the YouTube movies about it. Pretty interesting; some MSU folks should definitely get into the contest!
Do you ever run errands around campus and have trouble finding parking at your destination or when you get back to the office? Read on...
"Leasing GREEN bikes for our office has been a great investment. We initially leased them as a healthy and environmental alternative to driving vehicles around campus. We have since found that the staff and students ride them because of the time factor and convenience. I found myself utilizing the bike in lieu of walking this summer because it was much easier to maneuver around the construction and detours on the bike. The bike has become a happy medium to walking several blocks or driving around in circles trying to find a parking spot. Whether I’m wearing heels or a suit, it doesn’t matter - I absolutely love it!"
Christine S. Carter,
Office of the Vice President for Finance and Operations (Fall 2007)
Yes, we are a pedal and paddle operation here. Three visiting Korean teachers (Wui-Jun Yu, Jong-Yun Kim, and Sang-Mok Han from the Korean National Univ. of Edu) recently (July 2007) enjoyed a peaceful canoe ride down the Red Cedar River this summer (see photo at right). The English Language Center has been doing the teacher training for KNUE for the past five summers. Click here to learn more about renting canoes from MSU Bikes.
Hsu Wen Chung of Taipei, Taiwan arrived at MSU on June 20, 2007 and enrolled in a summer visiting scholar program through MSU's Visiting International Professional Program (VIPP). Within 24 hours his family was set up for local transportation by Tim Potter and his staff of the MSU Bikes Service Center. "I was so surprised and pleased that I was able to get bicycles for my whole family right away. We ride bicycles everyday in Taiwan and it is great that we can do so here at MSU. Thanks Tim and thank you Bill for helping us with this rental." said Hsu Wen. Chung is a doctoral candidate at National Sun Yat-Sen University in Human Resource Management. Featured here in the MSU News Bulletin (Vol. 38, No. 21 - July 12, 2007 issue).
The League of Michigan Bicyclists held the 3rd annual Lucinda Means Advocacy Day Ride on May 30th with the MSU Bikes Service Center hosting the event. Participants enjoyed a 20-mile ride through the countryside south of the MSU campus and then a police-escourted bicycle parade from the MSU Bikes Service Center to the State Capitol Building. After lunch a bunch of us helped deliver bicycling information to Michigan Legislators around the capitol district. Click here for a full and official LMB report. Click here (or the photo to the right) for photos from the day.
May 24th: The MSU Bikes Service Center was host to a group of approx. 20 bike patrol officers from Michigan State University Police Department, Lansing PD, Meridian Twp. PD, Lansing Comm. College PD and the Michigan State Police. They were here for a "refresher class" (they've all completed a 40-hr. course) where they:
".... work on curbs, tactual slides, dismounts, up/down stairs, officer safety with bikes and how to use the bike as protection, crowd control techniques with bikes. Then we go on a "long" ride this year it was about 20 miles and it ends at the firing range. ...we do an obstacle course that use all of your skills and gets your heart pumping. ... (we) fire rounds and have to hit 3 targets with your heart rate up from the biking. ... we also do a balance box where officers ride into the box and once in it have to balance with out leaving the box or falling for time. "
After a brief tour of the Center the staff gave a demonostration on basic bike maintenance, some field repair tips and wrapped up with our head mechanic, Matt Jaglowski, giving an urban riding show to help officers better know how to overcome obstacles out on their beats around the area. Click here for photos.
May is "National Bike Month" and it's right around the corner. Time to get the bikes out and get ready to ride! There's a host of pro bike and other non-motorized transportation activities going on in the area many of them fall under the local "Smart Commute" events which are all listed on this page. The MSU Bikes Service Center is one of the sponsors of the Smart Commute events and is providing 3 of our Green bikes as prizes for the Smart Commute '07 Challenge as we did last year. Consider challenging your office/ department to participate in the Challenge and see how many miles you can accumulate by bicycling or a host of other modes of "Smart Commuting". We'll also be offering a class on Bike Commuting on May 12th in addition to the other events noted below (Ride of Silence, May 16th, 4th Annual Farm Daze Tour 2007, May 19th, 3rd Annual Lucinda Means Advocacy Day Ride, May 30th).
April 26, 2007 - The Michigan State University Committee for a Sustainable Campus has released its second Campus Sustainability Report, a report that finds MSU is making improvements in areas such as traffic safety, employee injuries and crime. The report shows improvements not only in those areas, but also in new efforts to reduce the university's environmental footprint through the expansion of recycling efforts; receiving ISO 14001 certification for National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory, which recognizes the facility's efforts to be more environmentally friendly; joining the Chicago Climate Exchange to reduce greenhouse gases; and switching to biodiesel fuel for all diesel vehicles and equipment. Read the full report here...
The MSU Fisheries & Wildlife Club has been organizing the volunteer manpower behind a twice-a-year river clean-up (fall and spring) based out of the Canoe Rental Shelter for the past 9 years. Last fall the MSU Bikes Service Center helped continue the tradition and again this spring on April 21st. A record 114 volunteers helped out this year. A list of the "treasures" pulled out this time are here (Word file). Photos of the spring cleanup are here.... The State News ran an article on 4/23/07 about the clean-up. An article about the fall clean-up appeared in the MSU Physical Plant Winter 2007 issue here (PDF).
While most of campus was celebrating the MSU Hockey team for their national championship, MSU Bike's Tim Potter and Rich Moeller, Exec. Director of the League of Mich. Bicyclists, were being interviewed on MSU's student radio station, Impact 89 FM's Exposure show. They covered a bunch of bike topics. check out the podcast in their archives here.
With the construction of a new storage facility in south campus the MSU Bikes Service Center is able to offer summer storage services for those who need a safe indoor place to store their bikes til they return in the fall. $20 will store your bike all summer indoors away from rain and thieves.
Three universities in California (UC Davis, Stanford and UC Santa Cruz) were visited recently by Gus Gosselin (co-founder of the MSU Bike Project & Director of MSU Building Services) and Tim Potter (MSU Bikes Service Ctr. Coordinator) to gather information on best practices and get more ideas on how to improve MSU for bicycling. Check out our photos here. Read some highlights of what was observed here (Word file).
There was an informational meeting about the Collingwood Entrance and Vicinity Reconstruction on Thursday, March 15. The purpose of the project is to 1) improve safety for pedestrians, cyclists and motorists; 2) improve traffic circulation in the Collingwood Entrance area of campus; and 3) enhance the campus landscape at this prominent campus entrance. Click here for the full press release (Word file) and here for the project map (PDF, 1 mb).
RHA TV has a regular 30 min. news feature called "Focal Point" produced by MSU students that covers newsworthy topics around campus. Their first show of 2007 features a short segment on the MSU Bikes Service Center (at about 14:50 minutes) produced by Sharisse Thompson. Click here to check it out.
Construction season is never far away and a source of major headache for motorists who get caught in detours and long lines. Consider getting your bike commuting equipment ready sooner than later (we've got a lot of commuter accessories in stock now by the way).
Here’s a helpful web page w/ campus-area construction alerts for your reference.
Related to that is a separate page for detours around the messes.
Happy cycling past all those idling cars!
Come air up your bike anytime at the MSU Bikes Service Center. Two new hoses on the outside of the Center are available anytime. Just press the big green button to activate the air for 3 minutes. The hose on the left is for tires up to 60 psi for the average mountain bike/ cruiser, etc. and the one on the right is up to 125 psi for road bikes. Click the photo for more photos of this new air option; click here for other air pump options on campus.
(For 3 season cyclists) Just learned that the MSU Family Resource Center has created a very handy car pool database to help connect folks on campus. Check it out and sign-up!
