Every day, hundreds if not thousands of bikes are ridden to and around WashU campuses. Nearly 30% of the WashU student population commute by bike, benefitting from the health, financial, and environmental benefits offered by this active and fun mode of transportation.
Over the past few years, WashU – a Bike Friendly University at a Silver level – has made some significant strides in improving accessibility, convenience, and safety for people biking and using alternative transportation.
Tips and resources for bikers displayed on one side of the new bike repair stations.
“Bike fixit stations” have been part of the WashU landscape since 2012, with two stations at the School of Medicine and four on the Danforth campus, allowing riders to perform maintenance and simple repairs to their bikes. This fall, the university upgraded this infrastructure, replacing all four aging stations with new, more robust stations, and adding a couple of new stations, including at the Athletic Center.
Users can now expect to find working air pumps across campus, as the new stations include bike pumps designed for the outdoors, with high performance metal pump heads that accommodate all types of valves (Presta, Schrader, and Dunlop).
Each bike repair station also offers screwdrivers, box wrenches, a pedal wrench, tire levers, and Allen wrenches. Using these retractable tools, riders can conveniently detach and reattach wheels, change a flat, fix a chain that has fallen off, perform maintenance on brakes, and much more!
Not sure how to do any of this? No worries! The “quick repair guide” available for download by scanning the QR code displayed on the stand provides detailed, illustrated instructions on how to perform each of these repairs. The guide is also available online: