Greasy Fixin's

    Like most people, there was a time last year when I had upwards of half a garage full of old bikes, bike parts, and other bike-related objects lying around. I wasn’t using them; I didn’t know what to do with them. Then one day, some industrious folks came and took the bikes away and put them to good use. Enter Greasy Fixins.

    Greasy Fixins is a group with the idea that more people should not only own bicycles, but more people should be able to maintain, fix, and continue to use their own bicycles. The group takes old parts, chassis, and entire bikes and molds them into usable machines that go to folks in the community who need them.

    David Smuhl, one of the founding members of the group, said that, “One of the most important things we’re trying to do is give people a sense of ownership. We don’t just want to hand them a bike and have them throw it away if the brakes go out or they get a flat tire. We want them to be able to fix it and really feel like it’s theirs.” He said that the goal of the group at this point was to get more people on bikes, and to try and spread a sense of autonomy.

    The group is working on meeting bi-weekly. Smuhl said that one of the hardest things the group is trying to concentrate on at the moment is getting people’s schedules aligned, keeping momentum up, and making sure everyone is on the same page. There are four core people in the group who split responsibilities between mechanical work, organization and grant writing. Everyone involved has multiple projects that they’re working on outside of Greasy Fixins, so finding the times that work best for everyone is one the most immediate focuses of the group.