Basic Bikes with Mike

After our recent car incident, I decided to become more reliant on my bike for transportation. I've wanted to start riding it more, and now I've decided to ride it to and from the loop everyday for work/bar study classes. But, to get it in a ridable condition, I really needed to get a tune-up/overhaul for it. The brakes were moderately functional, the front wheel was slightly bent and wobbly, and the gears were sticky. Catherine's bike was in much the same condition. But, we didn't have the money to have them both tuned up, so we found out about a bicycle workshop in town called West Town Bikes.


They offer bike mechanics workshops in addition to youth programs (the bulk of what they do). Once or twice a month, they offer a class called Basic Bikes with Mike. Mike's a volunteer for West Town Bikes and teaches this class to familiarize you with all the basic parts of the bike as well as how to perform a basic tune-up. There were only four of us "students" there last night, so it was a great chance not only to learn the parts of a bike but to get some individualized instruction, too.

So, for a donation of $10 apiece, Cath and I both got bike tune-ups (we did it ourselves) and learned how to maintain our bikes (at least a little) on our own. If you own a bike in Chicago and want to become more reliant on it (Bill), I'd highly suggest this class.