Spoke’s on you

Mechanic teaches clients to repair and
care for their own bicycles

by CHRIS BARRY

Name: Kevin Brown

Age: 26

Occupation: Volunteer bicycle mechanic/statistician

Bio: For six years, this personable Mile-End stud had been volunteering with Santropol Roulant’s Meals on Wheels program while studying at McGill to become a statistician, work he now does for the provincial government. So when it came time to fix up his junker of a winter bike last fall, he instinctively knew to visit the organization’s SantroVélo community bike shop, a service originally created as a cheap way for the Meals on Wheels people to keep their delivery vehicles in shape but which has since expanded to serve the general public. One of those brave kooks who bicycles in Montreal 12 months a year, Kevin so enjoyed the experience of “being with these really cool, nice people doing this kind of stuff” that he’s since become a SantroVélo volunteer bicycle mechanic himself.

What SantroVélo will do for you: For a whopping $5 per visit, or $15 for a seasonal membership, the SantroVélo crew will supply you with all the expertise, tools and cut rate parts you might need in order to get your bicycle roadworthy again. “We won’t actually fix your bike for you, but we’ll figure out what’s wrong with it and teach you how to do it yourself. And while it’s way less expensive to do it this way, the idea isn’t so much about saving money, because you pay with your time anyway and it always takes longer than people expect. Most repairs are more complicated than people realize. Just to twist the nipples to put in new spokes so you have straighter wheels, well, it requires a special tool, and the entire process of repairing your bike from beginning to end can take a while for people to understand. But hey, you’re learning to do this stuff, which should be your main reason for coming because it really is a lot of fun.”

Is it hard not to giggle every time he tells somebody they’re going to need to have their nipples twisted? “Oh no, all the innuendo is half the fun of volunteering here.”

Do most people truly pay attention and learn how to fix bicycles themselves or do they more just sort of stand around watching, saying “yeah” every now again while he does everything for them? “It happens, but very infrequently. Everybody kind of gets sucked into the fun of it, you know. Most people who come here already understand the concept of a community bike shop.”

Do other, less community-minded bike shops ever give the much more affordable SantroVélo grief for existing? “Not really. We have a different clientele than those shops anyway. The people who come here do so because fixing bikes is fun. I mean, these are people who understand that there are so many reasons to bike. It’s healthy, it’s fun, and just the bike itself is a beautiful thing; simple, a little mechanic-y, it’s got gears, it’s got hubs and spokes and tires and it can be light or heavy, or it can have fenders—or not. Yeah, they’re pretty cool.”

Last book read: The Road, by Cormac McCarthy.

Musical preferences: Saïan Supa Crew, OMC, Erlend Oye.

Words of wisdom: “Don’t lock your bike up outside at night. Host your bike in your apartment after dark.”

Comments: dimwit@hdot.net