Bicycle Composition

"The act of composition is performed by all of us"--Sidney Cox, from, Indirections for those who want TO WRITE.

Composition of a bike, from scratch, for example. Here in Missoula, if you want to build a bike you go to FreeCycles. FreeCycles, part of MIST, Missoula Institute for Sustainable Transportation, is "a nonprofit...providing bikes, parts and help to the community." And they offer, for just attending one Bike Well class and 4 hours of volunteering, all the tools and parts you need to build your own bike.

They require volunteering so that you don't just build a free bike and then treat it as if it isn't worth anything. You put time into your bike, you put time into the shop. Volunteers are encouraged to come during their Wednesday volunteer night to help sort parts, clean and organize the shop or help with any number of special projects going on. All the staff is volunteer and they keep the lights on by fixing and selling bikes at the local resale shop, The Sports Exchange.
This is what is meant by a "grassroots" organization.

Not only does FreeCycles have all the nuts and bolts of bicycle building, they have a small library where I found this gem, "Bike Ways (101 Thigs to Do with a Bike) by Lillian and Godfrey Frankel. This small treasure of a book, published in 1973, sings the praises of bicycles and why we are drawn to ride them. The Frankels cover such topics as, "Bike Clubs and Community", "Bike Camping", "Trips and Tours" and "Having Fun with your Bike." They also cover other basics like how to select and ride a bike to safety and repairs.
In the introduction, they say we are drawn to bikes for stress reduction, a sense of achievement and an open field of vision, "without dirty windshields and noxious fumes." The most profound line, for me, was; "You are the source of power quietly and confidently (sic)." This line goes well with the quote I used from Sidney at the beginning of this blog, about composition. We have the power to not only move our bikes, but to compose them. There is much responsibility and connection there.

We lose this connection, I think, when we drive too much and forget that we have 2 legs that can get us everywhere we want to go if we just use them and have a little bit of patience. Our automatic cars require these legs too, but only to push down levers that make our vehicle start and stop. In a manual transmission vehicle, we have a little bit more interaction (especially in older vehicles, say, made before 1970).

Interaction is what I'm talking about here, not car verses bike. I drive a car, I ride a bike. And now I am going to build a bike. One piece at a time.