1990-91: The Shoppe consisted of a Park Consumer Stand for holding bikes, and a toolbox outside of Greg "Speedo" Kalish's office. Bob Corletta was the senior mechanic. 1st Court fountain, working at the time, proves useful in locating tube punctures.
1991-92: Greg Kalish quits NC, leaving our famous Christmas lights. The Shoppe claims his office as its first real space on campus. Bob Corletta is largely retired; Casey Mirch takes over as the senior mechanic and true founder of the shoppe we have now. Blackburn mini stand and blue bench vise are added. A few maintenance classes are given to aspiring mechanics and those who merely wish to be a little more self-sufficient.
1992-93: Despite increasing population density, shop hangs on to Pei 109, former residence of Greg Kalish, for one more year. Space committee meetings accomplish little. Matthew Hall starts hanging out in the shoppe, a valuable future mechanic and crusader for the shoppe's rightful place (soon to be in danger) on campus.
1993-94: Shoppe moves into the Parkview garage. PRS-1 repair stand added, finally a real, solid, stand, increasing the number of stands in the shoppe to 3. The wonderful hospitality of the Parkview Counseling Center staff is enjoyed immensely. Old desks and nails in walls and ceiling prove useful for shoppe activities. Work is often done under inadequate illumination of various clip-on lamps and ugly table lamps. Valiant mechanics brave a broomcloset full of roaches and lose pints of blood to mosquitoes. Problems of the Shoppe's future home once again loom, as plans to beautify and expand Parkview threaten to leave the bike shoppe once again homeless. Campus bureaucracy is waded through by the ever-diligent Casey Mirch and soon-to-prove-valiant Matthew Hall. Full-time mechanics swell to 4, with the addition of Joe Bauder and Ari Weinstein. Shoppe readies for the fight of its life in Fall of '94-'95 against a dodgy Dean and campus planners looking for all the space they can get their hands on.
1994-95: A demonstration is organized in front of Dean Schenck's office during which students ride around the circle in front of Cook Hall, where Schenck's office is located. Beastie Boys are played on the Wall equipment. Schenck invites angry mob of bicyclists to have a beer with him. "Ill Communication" indeed. The space behind the Fitness Center is finally won, after a skirmish with Fitness Center Director Judy Roningen, who wants the whole space for storage. The dimensions are fought over in Space Committee meetings with the aforementioned Fitness Center Director. Everything owed to Matt Hall, who fought the good fight and won. Details are worked out with Rick Lytle of Physical Plant. Shoppe not open regularly for the first time since 1990 as the space is finished and modified. Shoppe mechanics spend more time in Home Depot and in painting than in class. Much concrete dust. Ben Harth, graduate, hiker of the Appalachian Trail, and carpenter, builds the massive workbench. Sawdust. 10 lucky passers-by push the bench into place in a giant press-fit operation. Bench bolted down into the floor, and there may she stay for eternity. Bench painted Park blue over spring break. The shop finally opens, after mechanics are forced to work in "under construction" conditions, breathing the aforementioned sawdust and concrete dust. At the Grand Opening party, the bench is christened with a champagne bottle. Dean Schenck pumps the keg for New College Dean Mike Michalson, a transcendent moment for all present. The first baccalaureate exam ever held in the shoppe, for -atriarch Casey Mirch, is a success.
1995-1996. Casey stays on for the beginning of the year, but the Shoppe is down to three full-time mechanics and trainee and bike nut Scott Hilderbrand in the fall. Shoppe sees an unprecedented amount of business, saving N.C. students vast amounts of money. Shoppe SAC allocations start to go down as it becomes more self-sufficient. In the spring, we're down to two senior mechanics. (Joe and Matt) Ari doing off-campus semester. Matt, after neglecting his work in the protracted battle to give the Shoppe a home, hunkers down to his thesis, with little time to work. Joe, the Shoppe grunt, trains new mechanics and puts in many hours (as usual while trying to work on a thesis and work part time at a local organic farm). Julie Allen and Hugo Brown, future Senior Mechanics, are present, as well as Seth Cloues and Dylan James. Matt graduates; Ari comes back for the summer and works on a world-record-breaking women's RAAM (Race Across America) team, "Gale Force."
1996-1997 Joe withdraws, burnt-out and frustrated with New College, after staying on to make sure Shoppe is on its feet for the new year. Ari, Hugo, and Julie take up the slack. Scott returns to the friendly confines of the Shoppe after spending the fall semester in Germany. Ari completes his thesis and graduates while Julie's shoppe hours dwindle as she begins to write her thesis. By the end of the spring semester, Hugo, Scott, and Seth are the only mechanics working regular hours. Shoppe members debate whether or not they should be paid, based on the poor performance of other SAC-paid positions and on the hours required to run the Shoppe. No paid positions are asked for, none received; the issue will remain in semesters to come . . .
1997-1998 Hugo assumes formal command of the shoppe. Ari, Kari, and Scott are always in the shoppe, "keeping it real," as the kids like to say these days. First-year student and Green Bay Packers phanatic Chris Limburg starts learning the fine art of bicycle mechanics, and becomes the youthful future of a shoppe full of graduates and thesis students.
1998-1999 Hugo passes the torch of leadership to Chris. Ari and Kari are still hanging around Sarasota (and the bike shoppe) as Ari begins his prosperous career as a computer dork. Alexis helps around the shoppe, and Ian Hallet continues to break things while riding bicycles, much to the dismay and amusement of mechanics. First-year students Peter Brinson and Erik Rimm become regular mechanics in the fall, and Shannon Dunn enters the fold during ISP. Weekend mountain biking trips begin during this spring, a diversion which will soon become a ritual as a new wave of mountain biking enthusiasm slowly begins to grow. This is also the year of the infamous "butt" photos, in which mechanics (Chris, Erik, and Peter)proudly display their asses for the New College community while wearing nothing but shoppe aprons.
1999-2000 Peter assumes the role of bike shoppe captain as Chris Limburg spends the year in Nepal discovering spiritual enlightenment. Under the direction of Peter and his lovely assistant Shannon, the bike shoppe enters a period of relative prosperity, most of it due to a rapidly developing biking culture on campus. First-year Sho Sakai becomes a regular bike mechanic in the fall, and a number of other students show interest, though no other regulars. Tool acquisitions this year include the Park TS-2 wheel-truing stand. The bike shoppe also gets a new used computer from the Mac Lab (which actually has a color monitor!), and the bike shoppe picks up a new parts distributor, Quentin.
First-year Josh Gange and Peter begin the New College Community Bike Project as an ISP under the sponsorship of David Brain. Peter and Josh remove approximately 25 abandoned bicycles from bike racks around campus, making the bike racks in front of Ham Center usable again and turning the shoppe into a bike graveyard. They get stickers for the bicycles made in exchange for fixing for the owner of a sign shop's 3 bikes. The color orange (a.k.a. "baby-shit brown") is chosen, and on the first day of February, nine free bicycles are released for communal on-campus transportation. By the end of the spring semester, 15 bikes have been produced, and 11 survive. A survey is conducted regarding use patterns and opinions of the Community Bike Project, and the results are tabulated as part of a final research paper.
The Community Bike Project generates a considerable amount of interest in and momentum for the bike shoppe during the Spring semester. Vijay Sivaraman and Ken Williams become regulars and others help out occasionally. Bike Week in the spring is a success, with the main attraction being the First Annual Carlos Wehby Memorial Huffy Toss. Even after about an hour of abuse (including a toss from a second-floor Pei balcony), the bike suffered only slightly more damage than when being ridden by Carlos.
2000-2001 Peter remains at the helm, and the bike shoppe continues to prosper. Shannon continues on as an occasional mechanic, and Vijay and second-year Andrew Jay step in to become kick-ass mechanics, and some relief is also provided by fourth-year Eddie Vasquez. These three alone keep Peter from driving himself insane as the bike shoppe holds more regular hours than in recent memory. Occasionally, Sigismund, Guapo, and Josh appear to fix a bike other than their own. New tool acquisitions for the bike shoppe, with the help of the SAC, include an air compressor (finally), a dremel tool, and a ratchet set. The Community Bike Project limps along, as mechanics can't produce bikes at the same rate as they disappear. Shortly after the one-year birthday of the Project, and with only five bikes remaining, the Project goes into hibernation, to be woken from its slumber in the future. The four-wheel Rhoades Car finally gets fixed and available for student use, although the damn thing doesn't brake too well. The Great Bike Shoppe Clean-out kicks into full swing during the Spring as tremendous amounts of energy from Peter, Vijay, and Andrew go into cleaning, sorting parts, and fixing up old bikes for sale or for the Community Bike Project.
2001-2002 The year gets started off right in early August with the marriage of Ari and Kari, to the delight of all in attendance. The occasion was a sort of reunion of bike shoppe mechanics and managers past and present. Joining Ari and Kari from the mid-90s era are Casey and Joe, whom Peter and Vijay finally have the pleasure of meeting. While in town, Casey shows his infinite wisdom as bike mechanic by managing to fix the brakes of the Rhoades Car, thereby negating the need for sturdy tennis shoes for stopping a la Fred Flintstone. Full-time mechanics for the school year are Peter, Shannon, Andrew, Kit, and Siggy, all of whom have blossomed into fine mechanics. During the fall, the shoppe had its first ever (as far as I know) weekly Ladies' Night, during which time Shannon led a crew of all-female mechanics-in-training fixing bicycles. Unfortunately, the infamous photo session of Chris, Peter, and Erik wearing nothing but aprons and brandishing their buttocks to the world was not duplicated. Seattle Bike Supply is added as a second parts distributor, giving the happy managers more options and better prices for ordering parts. The spring semester saw a bit of trauma with the bike shoppe's computer crashing suddenly. The hard drive was declared dead at the scene, and unfortunately several years worth of inventory and customer histories were lost. At the time, Ari, Guapo, and Siggy were running neck-and-neck for the bike shoppe's "Most Prolific Spender" award. Throughout the year, anticipating the graduation of Peter, Shannon, and Siggy, Andrew is training to become the next manager, and Kit steps up his efforts in the shoppe to ensure a smooth passing of the torch.
To be continued . . .
