Every Wednesday, volunteers open the South Bend Bike Garage to the public for service.

People bring in their bikes, to be fixed, repaired or just adjusted and sometimes like a puzzle, like, okay, so you figure out first what's wrong with it, and then then secondly, what's it going to take to bring it back to speed?

So to speak, so we can get back on the road.

We have about ten mechanics that have great experience.

Kind of feel like we can fix just about anything and each of our work stands, we've got a, poster that gives a breakdown of all the key points on a bike that you want to work with.

Some people will start at the front of the bike and work back.

And then I usually start the back of the bike and work forward, you know, check the seat, seat post, you know, check the brakes, come back down, check the front derailer, check the chain rings and check the bottom bracket on that.

And then up to the, headset checking, make sure everything is tight and adjusted on that and also straight with the wheel and then go through the brakes on that.

So that's kind of the zigzag that we were talking about.

So the people that that bring their bikes to us really range from anybody that, you know, kind of hardcore road bikers down to people that have had a bike sitting in their basement for 20 years.

We've seen it all.

And so we do the service, we don't actually charge labor.

So the service is for free.

The group accepts donated bikes, brings them back to life, and sends them back out into the community.

All of the bikes that you see back behind me and then throughout the rest of the space are donated to us.

So everything we basically live on donations.

I think that most garages have at least 1 or 2 bikes in them that aren't used, which is kind of a pity, but when they aren't used, it might be because there's a flat tire, or there might be something out of adjustment, or it just as plain hard to ride so it doesn't get used because it's not fun.

It varies from something that, you know, tires are falling off the rims, to truly nice, relatively new bikes that just kind of need to be dusted off.

We basically pull it out, we give it a quick check, see if the shifters, derailers are working, brakes are working, what condition the tires are, and again, will form an assessment what it's going to take to get refurbished so that we can put it out here with the others that we have for sale.

So for someone to come in that thinks they might want to get into cycling and doesn't really know how much they're going to get into it, you know, this is a great alternative to buying a brand new bike.

It's more fun to find out what the person wants right from the get go because there's, you know, at least, you know, various types of bikes.

You do.

They want a road bike, do they want a mountain bike?

Do they want a hybrid bike?

Do they want a city cruiser or they want a beach cruiser?

I mean, we'll get Notre Dame professors.

They'll come in and we'll get families with kids.

We have them take it out and test ride and go all over the city if they want.

A lot of times they just go in the parking structure here and test ride, and it is a nice feeling when they come back in and said, I liked it, I like it, I'll take it.

I found that children, when they come in, it doesn't matter much what it's like.

It's the color that sells it.

Their work doesn't stop at the garage door.

These cyclists show up wherever the road takes them.

We have a what we call the mobile bike garage.

It's basically a trailer that's all tricked out with all the materials that we need to go around the community and kind of, expand the footprint, if you will, of of the bike garage, rather than just being down here downtown on Wednesday nights.

We can do other nights of the week, other locations.

Most recently, we've been involving our junior mechanics more and more.

The idea is that we can kind of teach the next generation of mechanics, if you will.

Some kids are more inclined to work on bikes than others.

We've taken them under our wing and again, kind of teach them the basics.

Changing tubes, cleaning chains, changing chains, tuning, basic kind of minimal tune ups, things that they can do any time, anywhere.

Basically, I find it very exciting for the young people to be here.

And when I'm at a stage in life where I say, in 20, 30 years, I won't be around to teach anybody.

So any of this knowledge that I have, if I'm ever going to pass it on, I need to do that now.

So the junior mechanics that have advanced from kind of the very basics to being able to work on their own, that, is honestly a little tough for me to talk about because I get very emotional about it.

It's there's little that's more gratifying than that.

The group of volunteers are bound by a shared passion.

Their love of cycling.

Biking is it's it's an addiction.

Once you start biking, you kind of enjoy doing it.

And, I know I do.

I like to get lost in my head as I'm out on a nice long ride, and it gives you a lot of not just physical activity, but mental rest.

As you're doing this, it prepares you for the rest of the day.

I think bikes are magic.

There's something about being on a bike that, you know, number one, you never see anybody frowning when they're on a bike.

And one of the things we do is give away helmets.

Our helmets are mostly purple.

And so to drive around town and from time to time see people with a purple helmet on, you know exactly where that came from.

It's just, puts a smile on my face.

I mean, for some people, biking is a necessity just to get to work.

For others, it's relaxation.

And, and and all points in between.

Everybody has their own reasons for riding a bike.