Friends Bike Clinics are free weekly bike repair gatherings in Ithaca NY April to September. YOU bring your bicycle and a willingness to get your hands dirty. WE bring air pumps, chain oil, tools and expertise. Friends Bike Clinic is a project of the Earthcare Committee of the Ithaca Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and it is supported by the New York Yearly Meeting Witness Activities Fund, Ithaca Generator and Boxy Bikes. Contact info@friendsbikeclinic.org.

Parade Pictures

30 May 2013 by Laurence Clarkberg

Friends Bike Clinic joined the Ithaca Festival Parade this year, first by doing a security sweep by bike and then by marching with the Ithaca Generator makerspace. Thanks to Xanthe Matychak for most of these photos. More photos here.

Ethan and Laurence show their FBC pride.
Ethan and Laurence show their FBC pride.
Parade prep.
Parade prep.
Dan heroically rides the tall bike.
Dan heroically rides the tall bike.

The streamers disolved when it started raining.
The streamers disolved when it started raining.
Jasper, Rosie, and Thea doing parade security.
Jasper, Rosie, and Thea doing parade security.

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Wrenchin’ and Rockin’ at the Ovid Plant Sale and at Bike to Work Day

20 May 2013 by Laurence Clarkberg

Our latest bike clinics have been well attended, with several people coming to the downtown clinic last week and half a dozen people attending the meetinghouse clinic yesterday. We’ve also been holding clinics at various events. Last week I traveled to the Ovid Library where my friend Shannon O’Connor was managing their annual plant sale. I enjoyed their hospitality and I helped several people fix their bikes. And last Thursday Friends Bike Clinic hosted a breakfast station at the meetinghouse for 40 people or so who biked to work for national Bike to Work Day.

A side note: I am starting an electric bike cooperative at Ecovillage with my friend and fellow electric bike enthusiast David McCobb. We held an informal gathering at Ecovillage yesterday that was well-attended. David and I combined our fleets of electric bikes so that we had almost a dozen bikes of various sizes and capacities for people to try.

-Laurence

Biker boggled by the plethora of oatmeal topping options at our Bike to Work Day breakfast station.
Biker boggled by the plethora of oatmeal topping options at our Bike to Work Day breakfast station.
Proud bikers at Bike to Work Day.
Proud bikers at Bike to Work Day.
Professional bike activist Kartik Sribarra gives an impromptu lecture about transportation issues at Bike to Work Day.
Professional bike activist Kartik Sribarra gives an impromptu lecture about transportation issues at Bike to Work Day.Kartik Sribarra gives an impromptu lecture about transportation issues at Bike to Work Day.

Helpers helping fix bikes in Ovid.
Helpers helping fix bikes in Ovid.
FBC's mountain chopper in action.
FBC’s mountain chopper in action.
More chopper.
More chopper.

Electric bike gathering at Ecovillage.
Electric bike gathering at Ecovillage.

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Off to a Good Start

07 May 2013 by Laurence Clarkberg

Friends Bike Clinic is off to a good start this season. We’ve hired two interns, Rosie Altucher and Andrew Lem, to staff two weekly clinics. We’ve forged a good relationship with Ithaca Generator, a makerspace that recently opened in downtown Ithaca. Ithaca Generator welding students have constructed several projects for Friends Bike Clinic, including a cart, a tall bike, and a chopper bike. In April we helped a troop of boy scouts prepare for an extended bike tour, and we’ve held several mobile clinics, including one at Ithaca College at the request of Bomber Bikes and most recently at the Streets Alive! festival in Ithaca. Stay tuned for more friendly bike clinic action!

Boy scout Tommy Murphy hams it up with a bike wheel at the Quaker Meetinghouse clinic.
Boy scout Tommy Murphy hams it up with a bike wheel at the Quaker Meetinghouse clinic.
Intern Andrew Lem helps out at the Bomber Bike clinic at Ithaca College.
Intern Andrew Lem helps out at the Bomber Bike clinic at Ithaca College.
Welding student Ben Kornblum prepares parts for the cart.
Welding student Ben Kornblum prepares parts for the cart.

Lukas shows off the cart we made.
Lukas shows off the cart we made.
Welding students Thaddeus Grady and Dan Hawkes transport bikes donated by FBC to construct the tall bike.
Welding students Thaddeus Grady and Dan Hawkes transport bikes donated by FBC to construct the tall bike.
The tall bike was assembled on this framebuilding jig.
The tall bike was assembled on this framebuilding jig.

The tall bike that we'll ride in the Ithaca Festival Parade.
The tall bike that we’ll ride in the Ithaca Festival Parade.
Dan Hawkes displays the chopper bike that we'll ride in the Ithaca Festival Parade.
Dan Hawkes displays the chopper bike that we’ll ride in the Ithaca Festival Parade.
Laurence constructed this bike shop in a box for mobile clinics.
Laurence constructed this bike shop in a box for mobile clinics.

Intern Rosie with Jasper and FBC Assistant Director Scott McCasland.
Intern Rosie with Jasper and FBC Assistant Director Scott McCasland.
Bike mechanic guru Greg Rothman helps out at our Streets Alive! mobile clinic.
Bike mechanic guru Greg Rothman helps out at our Streets Alive! mobile clinic.

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FBC Garners Favorable Media Presence at Streets Alive Festival; Final Few Clinics

24 September 2012 by Laurence Clarkberg

Friends Bike Clinic manned a booth at the Streets Alive Festival last Sunday, and bicyclists were lined up several deep to get help fixing their bikes. In spite of six tireless mechanics (thank you Larry, Lauren, Jeremy, Mark, Scott, and Steve) there was a 10-minute wait for people to get help during most of the three-hour festival. Meanwhile hundreds of happy pedestrians and bicyclists roamed a 10-block stretch of Cayuga Street which had been blocked off to car traffic. Our booth also had a collection of electric bikes for people to try, and Steve Austin wowed the crowd with his fancy electric bike. And the next day Mark and Larry were lauded in the Ithaca Journal by a reporter who had learned about their noble car-freeness.

We’ve only got two more bike clinics planned this season: Saturday October 6th 10am to noon at the Farmer’s Market gazebo, and Sunday October 28th at the Quaker Meetinghouse 1 to 3pm. This fall and winter on Tuesdays from 2pm to 4pm we’ll be warm and cozy inside the meetinghouse basement painting the workshop, stripping junk bikes for parts, and fixing up bikes to sell or give away. If you’d like to help out with that please stop by.

1 comment | Categories: Announcements, Clinics, General, Local Events |

New Project Hours; Cornell Hours; Ebike Club Hours; Upcoming Clinics

18 September 2012 by Laurence Clarkberg

porchfest1
porchfest2
porchfest3


Our recent clinics at the AIDs ride and Porchfest were of course great successes as these photos show. Our Porchfest presence included the largest collection of electric cargo bikes on the East coast (as far as I know) and a bicycle powered lawn mower created by FBC directors Scott McCasland and Larry Clarkberg.

Friends Bike Clinic “project hours” are changing from Wednesdays to Tuesdays 2 to 4pm. Project hours are when the shop is open for FBC members who are working on long-term projects. Members are expected to put in time helping out around the shop and staffing clinics. To become a member simply show up on a Wednesday and start working on a project and helping out.

Friends Bike Clinic will be lending our mobile tool collection to the Cornell Bike Collective on Tuesdays after our project hours. The CBC shop will be open Tuesdays from 4:30 pm to 6 pm. So fix your bike on a Tuesday: if you miss us at the meetinghouse 2pm to 4pm you can catch us at the CBC shop on the Dilmun student farm from 4:30 to 6pm.

If you are interested in electric bikes, note that FBC director Larry Clarkberg’s electric bicycle company (Boxy Bikes) is creating a “Maker Biker Club” for people who want  to tinker with ebike technology. On Wednesday afternoons Boxy Bikes will open its shop to people who want help with their ebike projects.  Boxy Bikes’ shop has tools for welding and electronics. Contact Larry for details.

Lastly, note a couple of upcoming clinics:

  • Friday 9/21 all day: occupy a parking space in College Town. Exact location to be determined.
  • Sunday 9/23 from 1 to 4pm : the Street’s Alive event. I’ll have my mobile bike clinic set up in the Ithaca High School parking lot. Also some electric bikes for people to try.

1 comment | Categories: Announcements, Clinics, General, Local Events |

Bike Workshop Underway; Lots of Bike Clinics Coming Up in September

21 August 2012 by Laurence Clarkberg

Welcome back! How was your summer? What’s happening? Lots!

Friends Bike Clinic is currently doing a bike repair workshop in partnership with Ithaca College’s Bomber Bike Initiative. All are welcome to join us. It’s on campus at Ithaca College at the entrance of Peggy Ryan Williams Building that faces the Business School (weather permitting, otherwise the rain location will be Job Hall 161). Times are from 4pm to 5pm Tuesday 8/21, Wednesday 8/22, and Thursday 8/23. See here for details.

We’ll also be doing our regular fourth Sunday (8/26)  clinic at the Quaker meetinghouse 1pm to 3pm and our regular first Saturday (9/1) clinic at the Farmer’s Market gazebo 10am o noon.

Lastly, we’ll be doing a couple of extra special clinics in September: will be supporting the AIDS Ride on Saturday 9/15 (location to be determined) and we’ll be frolicking with our bikes in some way at Porchfest on Sunday 9/16 from 1 to 5pm at the Quaker meetinghouse. Please let me know if you can help out at the clinic in either of these events. Your support will determine whether the Friends Bike Clinic is able to continue having a presence at these events.

-Larry

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FBC Rocks the Parade

01 June 2012 by Laurence Clarkberg

Friends Bike Clinic once again startled the Ithaca Community with it’s hard-hitting bicycle activism in the annual Ithaca Festival Parade. Proudly displaying provocative statements such as “cars are costly”, Friends Bike Clinic and friends of Friends Bike Clinic paraded before their fellow citizens. We demonstrated that bikes can be “kinda cool”, and that electric bikes can be even cooler. Our group featured riders on several of the Clarkberg’s electric bikes and riders from Eco-Village on several of David McCobb’s electric bikes.

Debut of my experimental passenger bike fresh off the assembly line.
Debut of my experimental passenger bike fresh off the assembly line.
Preparing to march.
Preparing to march.
Spreading a radical message.
Spreading a radical message.

Our banner in action.
Our banner in action.
Dan surges forward on the Stoked Big Dummy.
Dan surges forward on the Stoked Big Dummy.
Passenger bike prototype.
Passenger bike prototype.

Pat and Larry on the passenger bike.
Pat and Larry on the passenger bike.
Jasper the crowd pleaser.
Jasper the crowd pleaser.
Jasper flutters through broken light.
Jasper flutters through broken light.

Adoring onlookers.
Adoring onlookers.

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Join Us in the Ithaca Festival Parade

21 May 2012 by Laurence Clarkberg

Hi all. The Friends Bike Clinic invites bicyclists of all stripes to march with us in the Ithaca Festival Parade at 6:30pm on Thursday May 31st. The parade is traditionally a wild and wacky event. Join us! We will be at the corner of Utica and Lewis at 6pm in preparation for the parade. Please let me know at larry@knowledgetown.comif you plan to join us. Let me know if you need to borrow a bike or you will be bringing your own.-Larry

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