Dear Students and Faculty,
This may come as a surprise to some of you, but the Notre Dame Bike Shop is closing indefinitely this semester. It has been wonderful serving the Notre Dame community by working at the bike shop for the past three years. For those of you who haven't heard of the bike shop, it provided free bicycle repair for Notre Dame students and workers. We repaired 331 bikes last school year and also fixed-up old bikes for priests and rectors on campus. All parts we used were salvaged from bikes NDSP collects at the end of the year.
This leads me to two main reasons why the shop closing is such a big loss for the Notre Dame community: sustainability and safety. Our school is making great strides to become a greener, more sustainable family. The bike shop was one of the most sustainable endeavors on campus: all parts were reused from old bikes, all junk parts were recycled and, of course, the shop encouraged riding bikes, the most efficient form of transportation.
The shop was also responsible for promoting safety across campus. A large number of repairs were on broken brakes. I imagine that now most students don't have the resources readily available to fix their broken brakes. Therefore, in the coming months there may be many students speeding through campus without a way to stop for that freshman looking for Geddes Hall or that Jimmy John's driver zipping into campus for a fast drop-off.
It won't take much to restart this invaluable service. All we need is a heated garage where we can store tools and bikes. NDSP is willing to reopen the shop, but for that to happen there needs to be a visible and vocal desire for it. So, I encourage anyone who is reading this to write into the Observer or email me (jschomme@nd.edu) with a positive bike shop experience or even just a wish for this free and friendly service to be available to the Notre Dame family once again.
Jon Schommer
junior
Knott Hall
Feb. 1
