Yesterday Scott and I went out on a hunt to find me a new bike. This summer I’m going to spending quite a bit of time in Colorado and don’t want to bring my bike with me (won’t be able to get it back for a month or so after I get back home) so I decided that I needed to find a new (vintage/semi-cheap) bike.
Going into this I had the idea of going to the Tempe Bike co-op, or Bike Saviors. A few years ago Scott and I went to the bike co-op to get our first bikes (together). I remember going into the backyard of this old house and walking into a bicycle junkyard (essentially). I also remember there being a ton of people there and feeling completely overwhelmed. In the end though Scott and I got neat, vintage bikes that we restored ourselves, with help from the volunteers at the co-op, and only had to pay $35 a piece for them.
Since then our bicycle collection has changed and grown. Neither Scott nor I have the bike that we restored at the co-op, and both have different bikes that we love (she-one, him-three).
Love my bike!
Ok back to the present co-op, so since 2008 the co-op has moved out of the backyard of someone’s home and has moved into a nice, semi-big, building off of Mill and Ash’ish in Tempe. Last night Scott and I went to the new co-op with the intent of picking out a bike and fixing it up together. Well, since last night was “ladies night” they wouldn’t let Scott stay with me (kind of lame), so we decided to leave and look around at other bike shops in the area.
After looking around two different bike shops I decided that the co-op as ultimately the best way to go, in large part to Scott’s encouragement (it’s hard for me to do things alone, especially in large crowds. Anyone else feel this way?). Anyways, we ended up going back to the co-op where Scott dropped me off (he went and hung out at Cartel Coffee Lab) and I went in and started to repair a cute green vintage cruiser bike.
I stayed at the co-op for about an hour and a half and only ended up getting a small amount of things accomplished. I have plans to go back Sunday with Scott (YAY) and hope to finish the bike so I can take it home.
Also, I just found out that tomorrow Scott is going to visit the ASU surplus place where there potentially could be a used bike with my name on it (unlikely, but it could happen). If he does end up seeing something I might cave and just get one there.
Anyways, here’s to hoping I have a second bike by Sunday!
Ok, time to get ready for interview day tomorrow at school!
-Chels xoxo
PS Have any of you ever had any experiences with bike co-ops? If so, what was it like?