Where are the bikes?

Joel Lehman

Ben Stutzman works on straightening a wheel that was damaged when the bike was intentionally wrecked.

"Destruction by irresponsible students" has driven the cycling club to return all campus bikes to their home in the basement of the Bible and Religion house.

Identifiable by their bright yellow paint scheme, campus bikes have become a familiar addition to the EMU campus. This spring, a record-breaking 18 bikes were released for campus use. Ben Stutzman, junior and co-president of the cycling club, was responsible for the additional bikes this semester. Spending around 50 hours during Christmas break painting and fixing up the bikes, Stutzman managed to add a dozen more bikes to fall semester's fleet of six.

After a brief hiatus from circulation in January due to inclement weather , the bikes were released again when students started commenting that they missed them.

"Unfortunately, some people have chosen not to respect these bikes," said Stutzman. "At first I was naive enough to believe it wasn't EMU students causing the problem. When I realized it was, I was extremely disappointed, yet relieved that I didn't need to feel responsible for keeping the bikes running, as other students were just undoing my work.

According to Stutzman, over a period of a few weeks after reintroduction this spring, six bikes had been damaged substantially. "We were told that some students were ramping bikes off of The Weather Vane distribution box in the quad," said Stutzman. "Another source told us that a couple drunk students were throwing the bikes around."

Responding to the matter, the club decided in a Feb. 16 meeting to pull the bikes from circulation for good until a better plan can be implemented to protect the bikes. "I see it as a complete waste to simply let these bikes be destroyed," said Kurt Rosenberger, co-president. "If we as a community can't appreciate them, there are numerous places which would welcome them as donations."

The cycling club is still hopeful that the bikes can be re-introduced. They are currently working with SGA and Student Life to explore how they can be re-introduced successfully.

The club has brainstormed several ideas for preventing abuse. One idea is to require students to deposit money in order to get a key. This key would then unlock any of the campus bikes, with the expectation that key holders would lock the bikes in designated spots when finished riding them. Stutzman and other club members feel that this option is too cumbersome and that it "defeats the purpose of the bikes, reducing their convenience."

Another idea is to simply create a fine for those who abuse bikes. Stutzman noted, "If you damage a door in Oakwood you are billed for it. Campus bikes are campus property, so it makes sense for those who destroy property to pay for it."