Community bikes being refurbished at The Clinic.

by Gene Perry

Tate James found inspiration for the Norman bike co-op from near and far. He’d seen the bike library and community garage at the OKC Infoshop in downtown Oklahoma City, a similar program in Atlanta where his cousin worked, and, on a recent trip to Israel, a communal bike shop at a Kibbutz.

“I was super inspired by [the Kibbutz],” James said. “In US it is usually young people, but these older people had been doing it all their lives. It wasn’t really about bikes. It was more about people.”

He believed Norman was well-suited for a similar venture.

“There’s a massive bike community here that’s not really a bike racing community,” he said. “It’s close, compact, flat… it’s just perfect.”

So last July, James and another friend, Chris Bowles, opened “The Clinic,” a bicycle co-op. James, Bowles, and occasionally a few other volunteers provided free repairs, parts, bicycle maintenance lessons, and even a bike library. Working out of a residential garage for 2-3 days per week, 3-4 hours per day, they helped whoever dropped in to do anything from fixing a flat tire to building a new bike from scratch.

“We tried to teach them the whole process,” James said.

Kate Thompson is one person who learned to build a new bike from the frame up at The Clinic.

“Tate showed me how simple bikes are,” she said. “There are only four tools specific to bikes.”

Beside repair skills, she also learned the cost of parts so she will be more knowledgeable when she does go to a repair shop. She even learned how to ride more efficiently.

“I’ve been riding bikes seriously for 4-5 years, and I never knew these things,” Thompson said.

Jonathan Contreras started hanging out at The Clinic to learn how to repair bikes, and eventually he was able to help others do the same.

“Mostly people don’t have the tools in their homes,” he said. “It’s so easy to have them bring it by. Very few people service their vehicles in their own homes, so I guess that mentality spread to bicycles.”

A fully built community bike. Photo by Jared Flaming.

Besides helping people work on their own bikes, The Clinic refurbished about a half dozen community bikes. They stripped donated bikes and parts, repainted them bright yellow, and added a “clinic community bike” stencil. Then they loaned them without charge to whoever needed one.

“One guy moved here from Philadelphia. He was in town for three months doing research at OU,” James said. “Somehow he heard about us and got a library bike for those three months.”

Another family who had just moved from Michigan came to The Clinic to find a bike for their son.

“People were responding to it really well,” said Contreras. “The community was really, really supportive. I had never lived in a place that bikes were so important.”

James said they had to buy only one or two tools, and all of the other parts, tools, bikes, and garage space were donated. But despite the enthusiastic support, The Clinic had to close down in September because they lost their garage space.

They are currently searching for a new permanent location. James said they had a few offers to use space for a month or two but would rather find something long-term.

“It’s hard to move all that stuff,” he said. “People were just figuring out where the shop was after we’d been open four months.”

James also hopes to find more supporters interested in developing The Clinic as a formal non-profit organization that could accept tax-deductible donations and put more resources into building library bikes.

“We’re really looking for people interested in the idea, getting it planned out and established in Norman,” James said. “It was a spur of the moment idea. To really work it needs some serious planning.”

When they get it operating again, James plans to continue advocating for bikers with the city government. He said the Norman city council and the city bike committee had expressed interest in what they were doing.

Previously The Clinic had encouraged bikers to write to the Norman Mayor and City Council in support of bike lanes. James said there was an assumption in city government that Norman bikers didn’t want bike lanes because they had voted against them in the 1990s.

“We need to let them know we want this,” he said.

At The Clinic’s website, they also began mapping locations of a type of storm drain that is dangerous for bicycles, because a wheel can easily get stuck in them.

James said the city wants to replace these drains but “either didn’t know where they were or just hadn’t gotten around to it yet.”

The larger goal is to increase bicycle awareness and safety for both bikers and drivers. They had helped people coming into The Clinic learn more about the road laws applying to bicycles.

“We have a huge community of bike-friendly people, but also a large community of people who don’t know how to deal with bikes on the road,” James said.

[Full Disclosure: Tate James has recently begun blogging for Voices of Oklahoma.]