Student bike repair shop to open

Tired of paying for someone to fix those pesky handlebars or adjust your bike seat?

You’re in luck. A new bike shop opening in the new year will be available for students and employees and will allow them to make use of the tools and workspace needed for bike repairs.

The reception was held Friday 14 december.

Inspired by Montreal, Canada

The University Post caught up with Peter Lange, a landscape architect student and the mastermind behind this operation, to find out what got him thinking about this project.

»I thought it was a good way to get all students, Danish and international, to team up,« he says.

In 2010, Peter had accompanied his girlfriend to Montreal. He saw a number of student run bike shops, and immediately wanted to bring the concept back to Copenhagen. When he returned from Montreal, he got onto the student council and proposed the idea to Studiemiljøpuljen, who then offered him DKK 15,000 to start his project. Since receiving the money in April, he has been planning what to do, where to do it, and where to get money for the equipment and tools.

Open 2-3 times a week

The more he and his friends talked about the idea, the more projects they discovered the could do with it. For example, Peter hopes further down the road to find old bikes and restore them and then loan them out to international students, at a fraction of the cost that students buy bikes for.

When the bike shop opens in the new year, it will be open for students and employees at the Faculty of Sciences, and the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences to begin with. But in the future it will be open for all, he hopes.

The bike repair shop will likely be open 2-3 times per week for 4 hours per time and usually in the evenings. The possibility of having workshops on the weekends, where those really into bikes can teach other bike techies, is also being looked into. There is no cost for dropping in and using their tools, and you will eventually be able to buy bike parts for much cheaper than the cost in a normal bike shop.

See our photo guide to Danish cycling etiquette here.

universitypost@adm.ku.dk

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