[YellowBike] Origins of Community Bike program at Hampshire

[Chuck Connell]

Hello Adam and NSS,

I promised to write something about my involvement with the Community Bike
program at Hampshire. My family is leaving for China in a week to adopt a
baby girl, and I doubt I'll have much free time when I get back, so here
goes...

I entered Hampshire in January 1977. Soon after I started I met Peter
Askin, who had entered a few months earlier. We quickly discovered our
shared interest in bicycles and all things mechanical. Peter remains one of
my closest friends, 25 years later. Peter taught me to be a better bike
rider, since he had a background in racing, which I had never done. We also
began repairing bikes for other students. Our "workshop" was the 1st floor
hallway in Merrill B. We would do a complete overhaul, down to the ball
bearings, for $10. Even at the time, this was a low rate of pay for all the
work involved, so we never made much money. We also completely blocked the
hallway for any students trying to get to their rooms, and I'm surprised
no one got mad at us.

We wanted a better workshop and we approached the assistant master of
Merrill. I think his name was Tim Dietz. Tim was a clever guy and didn't
want to loan us college property for free, so he suggested a trade. He
would let us use a room in the basement of Merrill, if we would create and
maintain a fleet of "community bikes". He had heard of a program like this
somewhere else and wanted to start one at Hampshire. We agreed, and set up
shop in a good-sized room directly under Merrill B. (Near another basement
room that was the woodworking shop.) We glued some blocks of wood to the
ceiling, so that we could install hooks and ropes to hang the bikes. Tim
found some abandoned bikes and we got them in working order. I think we
painted them orange. At its height, we probably had 6-8 bikes in the
program.

I am happy to hear that Community Bike has been revived by Adam Shapiro,
Eric Porges, and Jared Benedict. Peter Askin can now be found at
www.SpecialtyMechanics.com, still involved with cool mechanical objects. I
work at www.chc-3.com and ride my bike to the office on nice days. Peter
and I agree that some of the best rides we have done in 30 years of biking
are through the rural towns around Hampshire.

Chuck Connell


----- Original Message -----
From: <ais99 at hampshire.edu>
To: "Chuck Connell" <connell at chc-3.com>
Cc: "peter askin" <peterska at sprynet.com>; <yellowbike at lists.hampshire.edu>
Sent: Thursday, May 23, 2002 2:19 PM
Subject: Re: [YellowBike] Origins of Community Bike program at Hampshire


> Hello there.
>
> I must say, its great to hear from you, i've been asking damn near
everyone I
> can about how i might find more information about you folks.
>
> Since I started to work on this iteration of the yellow bikes, I've hard
> rumblings from faculty and staff members to whom i've spoken about the
history
> of such programs at hampshire, but none have been able to offer the
slightest
> clue as to what exact year it was, or who exactly started it up.
>
> You read the second article that was written about us...the first was in
the
> april 14 Sunday NY Times.
> I wanted to take the opportunity to complain that journalists are a
simple
> lot.  I have told each and every one of them about the previous
iterations of
> the hampshire community bikes, and not one has seen fit to include it in
their
> article.  I have another article possibility lining up, in the "rails to
> trails" publication, and I'd be excited to send them your way, to get a
more
> complete story.
>
> Please be in touch as soon as you have time to write about your program.
I
> would also love to speak with you, so as soon as I have a stable phone
number
> (I am floating around a bit since school just got out.)
>
> Thanks,
> adam shapiro
> ais99 at hampshire.edu
>
> Quoting Chuck Connell <connell at chc-3.com>:
> Hi everyone,
>
> This is Chuck Connell, Hampshire 1977. I enjoyed reading the article in
Non
> Satis Scire about the yellow bike program. I congratulate you on doing
this
> and think it is a great resource for the college community. Just one
small
> thing.... Peter Askin and I actually started this program in 1978! We had
a
> workshop in the basement of Merrill where we built the bikes. I think we
> painted them orange instead of yellow. I will write a longer article
about
> how we started, and why, with more details a little later. My family and
I
> are getting ready to adopt a baby from China, so we are a little busy
right
> now.
>
> Best wishes,
> Chuck Connell