The MSU Bike Project held its first public fund-raiser bicycle clinic at Demonstration Hall Tuesday, in response to a growing demand for bikes.
The bike project has been organizing public bike clinics each semester and accepting donations, but this is the first year it is officially working to raise funds.
The 2-year-old project, a subcommittee to the University Committee for a Sustainable Campus, repairs donated bikes and leases them to the MSU faculty and staff. Starting this year, the project will also lease bikes to students.
"There is so much demand and we couldn't provide enough bikes," said Tim Potter, an information officer at the MSU Alumni Association, who coordinated the clinic. "It's to provide better service."
Volunteer mechanics were on hand for the two-hour event in the basement of Demonstration Hall, which was filled with tools and old bikes.
Suggested donations for most specific repairs were listed for less than $5.
"They are almost half the prices of local bike shops," Potter said.
No specific fund-raising goal has been set, he said, adding that the money collected will be used to get parts and renovate the old bikes.
The primary funding source for the Bike Project has been a $20 donation for each bike leased and there have been few other fund-raising events including a bike tour in May.
But the bike project is still short of funding, he said.
In July, the bike project received a grant from the Dick Allen Lansing to Mackinaw Committee of the Tri-County Bicycle Association. The money is to be used to buy parts necessary to recycle bikes and bike locks.
"It will be a big help," Potter said. "It'll give us ability to get all the things we need."
MSU Bike Project released about 100 bikes this summer, which is still not enough to catch up with the demand, said Terry Link, director of the University Committee for a Sustainable Campus.
"Demand is outstripping the donations," he said.
Bikes have been increasingly popular as an alternate transport among MSU students.
According to the Department of Police and Public Safety, about 3,500 bikes were registered last year, compared with about 2,900 registered bikes in 2002.
Numbers for 2004 are not yet available.
"It's definitely worth not having to deal with all the traffic," said history and geography senior Shannon Smith, a member of the Michigan State Cycling Team and volunteer for the bike project. "You are not polluting, not sitting in the traffic, and it's easier to get to places."
The MSU Bike Project is planning two more clinics this semester in September and October, Potter said.
"We just want to keep it going," bike project volunteer Mike Lang said.
