BikeBike Conference ’07 Wrap Up

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The community and cooperative bike shop movement reared its very cute head this weekend (August 10-12) for the 4th Annual BikeBike Conference. BikeBike started four years ago in New Orleans, and has since traveled to Tucson, Milwaukee, and in 2007 was hosted here in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania by the Free Ride Bike Coop. The idea of the conference is to gather all of the community and recycled bike shops to learn, share, and network to help make our movement stronger and more organized. According to The Bicycle Collective Network, “collectively we can improve a bigger wheel as opposed to re-inventing smaller ones.” Over 250 people from 70 plus organizations converged in the rusty steel city to talk about rusty steel bikes as a means to social change.

Folks from San Francisco, Tucson, and Chicago started trickling in at the beginning of the week in order to lend a hand and set up for the conference. By Thursday there were hundreds, many of whom showed up to Free Ride to help build bikes and spruce up the shop for the rest of the weekend. A bunch showed up by bicycle, riding from Philly, DC, Chicago, and Fort Collins, CO. At the end of the day, the out-of-towners got to experience a local cycling hangout, Thursday Night at the Bloomfield Bridge Tavern for the traditional $1 beers and pierogies.

workshopsWhile waiting for Denver's Derailer Bike Collective to arrive on Thursday evening, my house got hit by a tornado which caused us to lose all power, phone, and a window. Despite these difficulties, the conference started as planned on Friday morning, bright and early. The space, Pittsburgh Filmmakers, filled up quickly. The first day of the conference was dubbed “Bike Shop 101,” and was used as a way to help the newer and up and coming shops learn some of the basics of running and organizing a collective recycled bike project. Workshops included such titles as “Hey you got pegs?: Staying Sane with Kids in the Shop,” and “Legal Shiznit It’s Really Better if You Deal With.” Friday night we took the masses to Pittsburgh's famous hills on bike ride that showed off of our myriad of bridges. We ended under the Bloomfield Bridge where we relaxed the night away under the lights of a projector (which took five extension cords to power from a friend's house) and showed a bunch of short bike movies from across the continent as well as the feature documentary, Six Day Bicycle Race.

Saturday was the largest day of BikeBike, when it really kicked into gear. The classrooms were over capacity for many of the workshops. Topics on Saturday included “Conflict Resolution,” “Race, Gender, Class, and Sexuality in the Biking Community,” “Shufflin' that Loot-Finances and other Monstrosities,” as well as many more.

partySaturday Evening was packed with activities. Pittsburgh Alleycats organized a brutal race for folks called Ride YR BikeBike. Free Ride also organized another tour of the city highlighting some of the trails that have been built over the past few years. Both the race and the ride ended at the shop for a SPANDEXXX Party where we were enlivened by the sounds of locals Flotilla Way and Kill the Unicorn. Jazzercize Troop Radical Pittsburgh, a dance crew obsessed with ‘80s workout videos, got the dance party started and DJ's Pete Spynda, Chickpea, and the Baglady kept it going until 4am.

A bit groggy from the festivities, we got going at 9 am on Sunday for another day of workshops. Carlos Marroquin of Maya Pedal in Guatemala was on hand to demonstrate how his organization takes bikes shipped from the U.S., and turns them into pedal powered machinery like grain mills, water pumps, tile makers and blenders. Dave Peckham of the Village Bicycle Project in Ghana gave a presentation on Bike Repair in the African Bush, highlighting some of the DIY techniques people use to repair bikes when resources are next to nothing. bicimaqImagine stitching several 20-inch tubes together to make a 26-inch tube and you'll get the gist. Another discussion that took place was to improve and expand upon the Bicycle Collective Network (BCN), an online resource for shops to share knowledge and expand the movement.

The final session on Sunday was in the graffiti strewn ruins of a building where we plotted how to keep the momentum, and more importantly who will take on the task of BikeBike '08. San Francisco, Minneapolis, and Chicago all volunteered to host, but in the end, the Bay Area’s Bike Kitchen and Santa Cruz’ Bike Church won because it was decided that it's time for the conference to visit the West Coast. We officially ended BikeBike '07 with a midnight ride up to Pittsburgh's Observatory Hill to partake in three of natures best inventions, a meteor shower, beer, and rest.

-Erok Boerer
Free Ride

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