Cal State University Long Beach alum Allyson Clark is gearing up for the opening of her bicycle club, the H.U.B. Bike Repair Cooperative, on Saturday, April 3rd from 12 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Visit the Long Beach Cyclists website to view the grand opening events.
Many old bikes have already been donated to the bicycle club from locals and bike shops. Those bikes will be tuned up by volunteer mechanics and then sold by Clark's club. For bicycle owners who are looking for a tune up, the mechanics are ready to help.
"This is a DIY center. The mechanics show you how to do it yourself. It's not that hard," Clark said.
Clark received her B.A. in environmental science. The bike club is a way for Clark to help the community become more environmentally conscious.
"I was into [bike] maintenance," Clark said of her interest in creating a bike club. "I sat on different committees, trying to get [CSULB] more bike friendly. They seemed to focus mainly on cars," she said, concerning CSULB's transportation.
Clark also considers transportation around CSULB to have a lot of "bottlenecks." The term comes from the idea that a narrow pathway slows water from pouring out of a bottle.
"Transportation at Long Beach state is stop, go, stop, go," she said.
The CSULB Cyclists is a major group that supplies volunteers to the bike club. And if there's an event, members are alerted right away.
One of the lead mechanics at the Bike Co-op is junior recreations major Alex Tiberi. He donates old bicycles from his work, Pasadena Cyclery.
He also commutes to school on his bicycle. He begins his route at Studebaker Road.
"They have a bike route, but it's funky. I just ride in the right lane rather than the bike lane," Tiberi said.
One group of people that are using Clark's bike club are Cambodians. They left several rickshaw bicycles at the H.U.B. to be tuned up for the 6th annual Cambodian New Years Parade held on Anaheim Street April 4.
The community benefits from the H.U.B.'s programs: With the bike donations program, the price of a bike is reduced 25 percent, but that discount must be worked for by "being a wrench" or picking up trash at the H.U.B. The Earn-A-Bike program allows youth, homeless people and people who can't afford a bike to get one inexpensively.
"We make deals, but it's not free," Clark said.
Parts that are donated to the bicycle club are about one third of the retail price.
"It's $10 here compared to $30 at a bike shop," Allyson Clark said.
Clark has been trying to receive grants from local level committees for her innovative club. She has yet to apply for larger state grants such as the California Endowment grants because state grants are more likely to have a lot of applicants.
At the local level Clark goes to meetings and actually talks to people so they can get to know her and what she is doing for the community.
The H.U.B. is currently under minor construction, but it is still pushing forward and fixing up bikes. The Bike Co-op is located at 1740 Long Beach Blvd. They are open daily from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.
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