(Em)power To The People

Remember $4 a gal­lon gas? It wasn’t that long ago and it will likely return. Since then, the peo­ple of the world have expe­ri­enced some chal­leng­ing times but we feel secure in stat­ing that some­times, this can bring out the best in peo­ple. People are going back to basics in good ways that we can get on board with. Tooling around town you see more and more bike rid­ers on the roads. We think this is one of those exam­ples of some­thing good grow­ing from a foun­da­tion of adversity.

Bikers are a breed of peo­ple that thrive on the Do It Yourself (DIY) ethic.  It makes sense, as since this mode of trans­porta­tion is based solely on the bike oper­a­tor with lit­tle else help­ing them along (except, obvi­ously, the bike).  So when it comes to main­te­nance and repair of your bike, it’s best to DIY.  But wait. What if you don’t have the tools to true a wheel or the knowl­edge to fix that derailer?  Here’s a solution:

Head to the Northside neigh­bor­hood and stop in the Mobo Bike Co-op.

The Mobo Co-op is a fully oper­a­tional bike shop with tools and vol­un­teer mechan­ics to pro­vide advice and direc­tion. There is but one man­i­festo, you have to work on your bicy­cle your­self (Were you expect­ing any­thing else?).  The Co-op addi­tion­ally orga­nizes rides and events pro­mot­ing bicy­cling. With every­thing from youth work­shops to women’s night this group pro­vides the com­mu­nity a full cal­en­dar of bicy­cling pro­grams. One of our favorites is their orga­nized ware­hous­ing of donated and dis­as­sem­bled bikes from which vol­un­teers refur­bish old or con­struct rein­vented cycles for kids who need bikes in the neigh­bor­hood.  We find this to be a bril­liant and charm­ing method of recycling.

Check out the Co-op’s video for a quick insight into the organization.

Mobo’s Vision and Mission state­ments are shear per­fec­tion. With goals like these,  all bik­ers in Cincinnati should stop by and share in these won­der­ful sentiments.

Michael Spurrier. HighStreet. Cincinnati