In the ongoing effort to make MSU more bicycle friendly, East Lansing residents Rick Brown and Kathy Donahue-Brown have donated money for the addition of five new do-it-yourself bicycle repair stations on campus.
The stations will be in addition to the three that MSU’s campus currently has. One has been at the MSU Bikes Service Center since 2008, and two others reside at the MSU bike garages located in parking ramps 5 and 6.
Three of the new stations have already been put in place — near Snyder and Phillips, Holden and Yakeley halls — with two others set to be made available in the coming months. These will be placed in East and Brody neighborhoods so each residential neighborhood on campus has a bike repair station at their disposal.
As for the Browns, there were several reasons why they made the donation.
“One, my wife and I are both avid bikers,” Rick Brown said. “Also, we live in the local area and are supporters of MSU on many realms, including particularly MSU Bikes. ... And then I have several family members who went to MSU, from my grandparents who met there around 1920 to one of my sons who graduated from the university a few years ago.”
According to a blog post by MSU Bikes Service Center manager Tim Potter, 2014 saw roughly 1,600 bicycles left abandoned and impounded by MSU police. Many of these bikes, Potter said in the post, are left behind for problems that are easy fixes.
The five new stations are equipped with two tire levers, 13—15 millimeter box-end spanners, screwdrivers, Allen keys and air pumps, which can go a long way in helping to decrease that number.
“It helps students out so they don’t have to pay for (the repairs) themselves,” accounting sophomore Elizabeth Michno said. “I crashed my bike before and I actually didn’t get the bike back. ... I probably would have gone to one of (the repair stations).”
As an avid bike commuter himself, Rick Brown says that every once in a while, it’s inevitable students will run into a problem with a bike. And whether it be a flat tire, low pressure or a loose chain, he hopes these new repair stations prove useful to the students and faculty at MSU.
“It’s nice to be able to have a place to be able to stop and have your bike fixed without having to load it in a car or drive it to a repair shop,” Rick Brown said. “Maybe you might not have the tools on you, and you stop at one of those fix-it stations to do some minor repair work and get you back on your way.”
