The Bike Church, a student-run campus institution that originated in the Domes Sustainable Living Area, chose to leave campus last year after failed talks with Student Housing regarding renovation of their location.
Bike Church organizers vowed to continue educating people on bike repair and starting an off-campus location.
Four-and-a-half months later, Bike Forth has opened its doors. Located at Fourth and L Streets, this new iteration of the Bike Church will hopefully serve the community as well as the on-campus version.
While it’s a shame that organizers had to move off campus, this allowed them to continue providing service to the community. We applaud the organizers for keeping the bike education and self-repair group alive.
Moving off campus may even provide benefits for Bike Forth. In its new location, non-UC Davis affiliates will feel more welcome. The fact that it is still student organized retrains some of the independent sentiment that the original location had.
One hopes that the Bike Church will find a way to open up on campus once more. Although welcoming community members is commendable, this student-run service should be easily accessible to on campus residents with a broken bike. Pushing the bike over a mile to Bike Forth’s location is not feasible.
Despite this praise, there is still one item of confusion: the organization’s name. The Bike Church name was fun, and the fact that volunteers were known as ministers added to the humor. However, the new name simply causes confusion as to whether it is related to the Bike Church or not. Additionally, the title of minister no longer makes sense.
This quibble notwithstanding, we applaud Bike Forth and hope to see it return to campus soon!
