New Communications Tools

[NOTE: This post was originally made to a "test blog" and was subsequently moved to this location after the re-discovery of a pre-existing DBC blog at durhambikecoop.blogspot.com which dated back to the founding period in 2006.]

The Durham Bike Co-op has two new tools to help members stay informed: a calendar and a blog.

The calendar contains days and times for all open shops, events, and closures. It is hosted on Google Calendars, and can be viewed or added to a users other Google calendars by visiting https://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=durhambikecoop.communications%40gmail.com&ctz=America/New_York. The calendar has been appearing on the website beginning last month.

The blog is also hosted by Google, and offers a means for volunteers to share ideas in new ways. DBC Communications Coordinator Marcilla Smith said she expects core volunteers will appreciate having a means of publishing their ideas to the general membership, while the ability to comment will provide an increased level of feedback and transparency.

What do you think of these new means of communication? What other means of communication would you like to see become available?

"Perils for Pedestrians" episode on Durham

"Perils for Pedestrians" is a monthly television series promoting awareness of issues affecting the safety of people who walk and bicycle. It takes a national and even international look how cities can become more bike and pedestrian friendly. Durham's own Alison Carpenter is interviewed in this episode.

New virtual locations

Please go here for our new webpage, and here to find us on myspace.

A Durham Bike Co-op

We propose an open community for bicyclists and bicycle culture in Durham. To this end, we further propose a bicycle co-operative that can function as a nexus of this community. This co-operative shall be member-driven, member-funded, and most importantly, fun. The consensus-building board of directors shall be open to all members, and membership dues shall be set on a sliding scale available to participants of all income levels.

Aside from the pleasure of riding bicycles, we believe that bikes are a vital vehicle for sociality and movement and that they offer a real alternative to the (economically, socially, ecologically) disastrous hegemony of the automobile. We further believe that—in connection with other practices and knowledge—there is in bicycling a vision of autonomy that has much to contribute to the creation of new forms of social life. Our own practice as a collective will therefore be threefold:

1) Skill-share. In order to encourage self-empowerment through the exchange of practical knowledge, we will regularly facilitate and host clinics in which skills related to bicycle maintenance, repair, and riding will be communicated in an open, free, and inviting setting.

2) Bicycle recovery and redistribution. We will solicit donations of unused and unwanted bicycles, tools, and parts. We will fix these bikes, and distribute them to the Durham community on a first-come, first-served basis. Ideally and budget permitting, these bicycles will be free—although in some cases a donation will be asked for the cost of any parts needed to refurbish the bike. All labor done within the cooperative will be voluntary and unpaid.

3) A nexus of the Durham bicycle community. In addition to the skill-share clinics noted above, the co-operative’s physical location will also serve as a social space in which individuals may work on one’s own bike, work on bikes for others, and share bike building and repair knowledge and skills*. Ideally, this non-commercial location will feature a collective set of tools, a stock of oil and grease lube, several work stands, frame welding tools, and a collection of parts, frames, wheels, etc. Finally, the space will also serve as a repository for information on bicycling in Durham, including topics such as commuting, social rides, races, films, and rider safety.

*Until the co-operative’s physical location is secured, the organization shall build momentum through a series of roving workshops, where members go into neighborhoods with a portable set of tools to offer simple bike repairs.

By way of an introduction...

This website is a working space for a group of bicylists in Durham, North Carolina who share the goal of opening a bicycle co-operative in our city. As such it will document our progress to that end, touching as well on bicyle culture in Durham, and on other groups and practices with which we share an affinity.