Bike repair stations

Have a flat tire on your bicycle? Does your seat need tightening? If you’re on the University of Washington campus, you don’t have far to go to make a quick repair. That’s because of the bicycle pumps and repair stations scattered across the UW.

Transportation Services utility worker Ted Colfax checks on the bicycle repair station just north of Kane Hall.

With five repair stations located throughout campus, plus new pumps installed outside the ASUW Bike Shop and at all six campus bike houses, people can bike to and through the UW with more peace of mind than ever before. All the bike pumps on campus have been installed or replaced within the past year, and the Transportation Services Maintenance team checks on them twice a month to ensure they’re in working order. The maintenance staff also checks on the bike repair stations, each of which is equipped with a set of tools that can be used for quick bike fixes and adjustments.

The Thurston Lane bicycle repair station near Drumheller Fountain.

When visiting a bike repair station, the maintenance staff starts with a check of the heavy-duty bike pump, the most popular of the tools. Problems with the pump valves were once a regular occurrence, but last summer Transportation Services installed much sturdier pumps that have successfully met the challenge presented by heavy use and Seattle weather. “We haven’t gotten any complaints,” says Ted Colfax, one of the utility workers who checks up on the repair stations regularly. “I check the tool lines, and sometimes the cables get frayed. The tools get worn out, but we haven’t had to replace them in a couple months. I try to clean around the station if it needs it.” 

Indeed, since the TS maintenance team assumed stewardship of the repair stations and pumps about a year ago, reports of broken parts have dwindled to nearly zero. There’s been just one, in fact, and the team fixed the issue right away. The new pump at the ASUW Bike Shop has also held up nicely while experiencing heavy use, says manager Kris Skotheim. And when the pump’s head broke one afternoon this week, the TS maintenance team had it replaced by 9 a.m. the next day, barely missing a beat. That pump was installed last fall outside the Bike Shop at the north entrance to the Husky Union Building. It replaced a less-durable pump available to customers inside the shop. “One of the main advantages is that when we’re closed, people can still come use it,” Skotheim says.

The bicycle pump outside the ASUW Bike Shop.

The Bike Shop is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and it offers a great, convenient spot on campus for more extensive bike repairs. Supported by the ASUW student government, the shop offers special rates on bike repairs for students but is also available for faculty and staff.

The self-service bike repair stations installed in 2011 were made possible by a student grant from the Campus Sustainability Fund (CSF). Two additional stations were installed in residence hall bike rooms, with help from the CSF, and the UW Tower Green Team purchased another station for the UW Tower garage.

The Bike Shop and the repair stations and pumps around campus combine to create a nice safety net for people biking through the UW, Skotheim says. “It really adds a lot to making cycling on campus easy and accessible for people,” he says. “I’m really proud that the University of Washington has this really great cycling community. It affects not only our own campus community, but the whole community of Seattle.”

Maintenance needed?

If you notice an issue with a UW campus bike pump or bike repair station, email ucommute@uw.edu with a description of the problem so the Transportation Services Maintenance team can fix it.