Exploring a different kind of "Open Shop"

Winter 2016

Exploring a different kind of “Open Shop”

March 9, 2016

Article by Elyse Samuels
Photo-slideshow by Elyse Samuels

West Town Bikes in Humboldt Park hosts weekly workshops for women and transgender people every Wednesday from 7-10 pm. Cyclists learn one new skill per week. This past Wednesday, participants learned how to change their pedals on a bike.

At the beginning of each session participants have the choice to enjoy wine or other spirits.

Claire Roggeveen, a bike ambassador with the city of Chicago and a bike enthusiast, starts the process of removing her bike pedal and crank.

Roggeveen starts removing her pedal with a wrench, creating a 90-degree angle to the pedal to create leverage.

Roggeveen rotates the wrench clockwise to ultimately loosen the pedal from the bike.

The participants said working together and supporting each other is one of the main pillars of these weekly workshops.

After about 10-15 minutes and a lot of elbow grease, Roggeveen successfully removes the pedal from her bike.

Roggeveen, genuinely excitable and charismatically zany, exclaimed in relief when the pedal finally released from the iron grasp of the crank, which is the mechanism that attaches pedals to bikes.

Confident and proud, Roggeveen poses with her removed pedal.

Next, Roggeveen works to free the crank from the body of the bike. The crank set is the part of the bike that drives the chain, which moves the rear wheel of the bike. Pedals are then attached to the crank set so the biker can mobilize the bike.

Roggeveen continues to rotate the crank bolt, which is the bolt that connects the crank arm to the body of the bike.

The women crowd around Roggeveen to learn the next step of removing the crank bolt.

Jean Carlos Diaz, works in Ciclo Urbano, the sales shop of West Town Bikes. He helps Roggeveen to remove the crank, checking to make sure the crank arm is secure on the bottom bracket spindle. The bottom bracket moves the crank arms in fast circles and the spindle is a rod the cranks attach to and spin on.

Roggeveen threads the crank bolt into the bottom bracket spindle.

Emily Leidenfrost, the main instructor at the workshop, and Roggeveen look over the progress on the bike and discuss next steps.

Diaz, Leidenfrost and Roggeveen (left to right) take a break from the bike to share their own stories.

Roggeveen’s excitement is palpable as she talks about fixing her own bike. Roggeveen said, “I love being able to work on my own, to feel self sufficient.”

Back to work, Roggeveen uses her hands to thread the non-drive side pedals back onto the bike.

She continues to use her hands to tighten greased pedal threads back onto the crank. Leidenfrost said, “As they teach at West Town Bikes; ‘hand tight before wrench tight!” This encourages participants to use their hands to tighten things first to ensure the part won’t be crooked.

Once the pedal is screwed in, Roggeveen looks to find the best angle with her tool to increase the leverage when tightening the pedal back in.

Roggeveen tightens the pedal to the bike.

To ensure her pedals won’t fall off while she’s riding, she uses a pedal wrench to make some final adjustments.

Roggeveen gently tests where the bike and pedal meet to see if she needs to tighten the pedal more so she can ride on.

The mixed aroma of bike grease, wine and a leftover burrito fill the air as seven women work in a small bicycle shop covered with posters of bike parts, bumper stickers and such slogans as “believe in coexistence.” Light laughter and grumbles of focused concentration fill the room.

This is the scene at West Town Bikes in Humboldt Park. West Town, a bike education and training center, offers “Get Your Fix,” a women’s bicycle mechanic workshop series that began running on Wednesdays starting February 24.

On West Town’s website the event page reads: “Need a comfortable place to work on your bike with the assistance of our staff? Want to wield a wrench in a non-patriarchal environment? Then check out Women and Trans[gender] night at WTB! This Open Shop is for the women and trans-gendered bike-lovers ONLY!”

These workshops teach women and transgendered people bike basics. No experience is necessary. In fact, the workshops are meant to facilitate learning in an unintimidating space.

Emily Leidenfrost, program coordinator and instructor at these workshops, explained West Town created these workshops in response to an existing culture in the cycling community.

“It’s a very male dominated space,” Leidenfrost said, “and that’s because a lot of men and boys are taught how to use tools and how to be self sufficient with fixing things themselves. Girls aren’t necessarily taught that in the same way.”

Leidenfrost said many bike shops already host what is known as “open shop,” a time when cyclists can come into the shop to fix their bikes. She said beginner cyclists, especially women, often feel uncomfortable in these spaces.

“Men can kind of be subconsciously condescending,” Leidenfrost added. “They’ll say things like, ‘Oh you don’t know how to use that tool? You don’t know how what a big adjustable is?’”

Other barriers for women cyclists include being catcalled, feeling unsafe on the road, lacking access to a bike, even not knowing how to ride a bike in the first place.

Lauren Crabtree said she agrees that most women she knows who don’t bike are afraid of the physical dangers of riding in the city.

“The perception of danger is higher than what you’re actually facing,” Crabtree said. “I think we can build confidence, we can feel comfortable being on the street on a bike. Women and trans[gender] night does that.”

Leidenfrost said she hopes women and transgender night can provide that confidence for people. However, she admits the group is self-selecting. The women they want to reach out to the most are unlikely to attend.

“This is geared towards women who are already biking for the most part,” Leidenfrost said. “They already have a bike; they’re coming here to work on their bike or learn more about it. They’re already open to that.”

Although the workshops might serve a more insular community of bike-lovers, these women are still grateful. For example, dedicated participant Claire Roggeveen said she takes great pride in learning how to fix her own bike.

“Bicycling means so much to me, I believe it’s a tool for change,” Roggeveen said. “I feel like I need to take responsibility of such an important part of my life. It’s empowering to do that.”

“I think that women’s night is really important because it gives us a kind of sisterhood,” Leidenfrost said. “It reminds us that we can do things together.”

Photo at top: West Town Bikes in Humboldt Park hosts a variety of workshops and youth programs for the community. Women and transgender night provides a safe space for learning. (Elyse Samuels/MEDILL)