But for the past year and a half, he has held a full-time gig as the marketing and sales coordinator at MSU Bikes Service Center.

After getting his first bicycle at the age of six or seven, Potter said he was on his third Schwinn — his bike of choice — by the time he was 12 years old.

While delivering newspapers in Okemos around that time, he said he was intrigued by watching a neighbor fix his bike.

“It really started getting me interested in repairs and working on my own bikes,” he said.

At about 16, Potter and his best friend invested $500 into purchasing about 100 bikes one by one at an auction. After hauling them home, they took over his parents’ basement, flooding it with bikes in need of fixing.

Then, they bought all the tools and parts from a local bike store that was going out of business and set up shop.

“We just started fixing up those bikes and selling them,” Potter said. “And then we also started doing some repairs for other people who would find out we had this shop in our basement.”

High school and college came with more bike jobs, including working at the now-closed Gene’s Raleigh and Denny’s Schwinn in East Lansing, and working for a bike rental company on Mackinac Island for a summer.

At the age of 19, he did a work-study program in Japan through Lansing Community College, where he quickly met his future brother-in-law at a biking track.

Potter came back and attended MSU in the early ’80s, but didn’t graduate, although he said it’s still in his plans.

“I hope things will slow down a little bit (at the service shop),” he said. “It’s been so hectic and busy getting the shop up and running. It’s been hard to get back to working on the degree.”

When Gus Gosselin and Terry Link started the MSU Bike Project in spring 2003, Potter was quick to get on board.

Potter consistently volunteered to help fix up old bikes — first in a lean-to on south campus and then in Demonstration Hall.

The university-funded MSU Bikes stemmed from the volunteer project and hired Potter on full-time in 2006.

In the time Potter has been involved with the Bike Project and MSU Bikes, many people around the country have contacted him about wanting to start their own bike programs.

Recently, he helped start a North American e-mail list for university and community bike program managers, which he said will help connect people who are working on projects similar to MSU Bikes.

Potter said the most rewarding part of the job is helping people to stay riding.

“(I like) seeing fewer bikes just abandoned,” he said. “Seeing all the abandoned bikes crushes my heart.”