A Biking Cooperative and Its Community
Common Cycle’s rise and its impact on Ann Arbor’s biking community
—By Grant Wakeland
It was a brisk, sunny afternoon in February as I rode my bike to Common Cycle. “Perfect timing,” said Nate Phipps, president of the biking cooperative as we simultaneously parked our bikes in front of the entrance. Phipps opened the large garage door to reveal the workshop that many bike riders frequent for repairs and cherish as a community space.
Bike ridership has increased in Ann Arbor since 2019. The creation of separate, two-way bike lanes has allowed more residents to comfortably commute by bike. With new bike riders and interest in biking comes an increased need to support the biking community. Common Cycle is uniquely equipped to do just that.
Located at 416 West Huron Street in Ann Arbor, Common Cycle’s well-equipped, large garage is filled with many workbenches and specific bike tools. It is here where bike riders get together to learn how to repair their bicycles.
Phipps discovered Common Cycle like many Ann Arbor residents first did, at the Kerrytown Farmers Market. “That was their main weekly gig, and I just saw a couple of cool bikes, a couple of cool bike stands, and some tools. And I was like, okay these are my people.” Phipps began volunteering with Common Cycle and found a close-knit social group that shared his interest in biking.
What is the co-op system?
What comes to mind for many who hear the term co-op are businesses like REI or local grocery stores with “co-op” in the name. Cooperatives are typically categorized as “member-owned” businesses, in which members of the cooperative who work for the company or are customers own shares and make decisions about the company’s future.
Common Cycle looks at it a little differently. Phipps states that the biking cooperative operates as more of a small non-profit while offering the benefits of a cooperative system. “It’s access to tools, workspace, knowledge, and empowerment.” Its goals lie with the education of bike riders and creating a community as opposed to turning a profit.
The mission of Common Cycle
Since its founding in 2010, Common Cycle has been a place that seeks to provide bikers with access to tools and the knowledge to fix their bikes to keep them on the road. Starting from a small operation at the farmers market, Common Cycle has greatly expanded with the acquisition of their community workshop.
“From 2010 to 2018, every Sunday, we pulled hundreds of pounds of tools from one of the neighborhoods In Ann Arbor, over in different people’s houses and garages. It would take about an hour to pack and ride. And then set up. And then we’d be up open for four hours. We’d do it all again every week,” Phipps said.
In 2018, the community workshop space opened. “Establishing this space has been the most enjoyable experience with Common Cycle. We were able to fundraise. And get this space. And this has been like the biggest change and biggest impact for our organization since we were founded,” said Phipps.
Since opening the community space, there has been an increase in the number of bikers interested in fixing their bikes and in the community found through Common Cycle. “We are at a point where…on a daily basis people are offering to donate bikes to us. We’re getting multiple inquiries a week to volunteer with us. We routinely have back lines at our public hours, more people than we can help at a given time.”
Challenges
While there has been high interest in Common Cycle, the biking community center has not been immune to the challenges that face many non-profit organizations. “We have no paid staff. We have occasionally had paid staff through grants but those have been very short stints,” says Phipps. Common Cycle is run mainly by knowledgeable volunteers who give their time to teach other bikers how to repair their bikes at the open hours on Sunday afternoons from 12-3 pm. For bike riders who repair their bikes during that time, there is a suggested donation that goes towards keeping the space open.
In addition to donations and small grants, Common Cycle occasionally holds a bike sale to raise funds for their space. “We’ll sell a ton of bikes and that helps support our operations. It’s not something we like to do often; we are not a retail operation, and nor do we want to be seen as a place to buy bikes because that’s incidental,” States Phipps.
Common Cycle stands out as a unique space for Ann Arbor bikers. It strikes a delicate balance between being a trusted space for bikers to gather and learn to repair their bikes, while also implementing enough fundraising to stay open without becoming a traditional bike shop. “We really want to be an education-first organization and an empowerment-first organization. We don’t want to be a place where you go to get a cheap bike.” Says Phipps.
Outlook for the future
With the success of an established community space, Common Cycle has turned its attention to expanding its community even further. Recently, they have begun education campaigns to teach riders about how to ride in accordance with the rules of the road. “The one other thing I’m really proud of is we’re starting education around safe cycling,” Phipps mentioned events Common Cycle has with other Ann Arbor organizations that promote safe cycling and hopes these will increase overall bike ridership around town.
Another initiative Phipps was excited about was their bike light sets giveaway. Phipps outlined the importance of bike lights, especially in the darker winter months, and believes visibility to be one of the most important factors for a biker’s safety.
One area in which Phipps believes Common Cycle can improve is its connection with the university. “We would love to have a Common Cycle chapter on campus,” With so many students able to commute a small distance by bike easily, Common Cycle has great potential for expansion on campus. However, compared to other universities, the presence of an on-campus bike cooperative is lacking. “MSU has a student bike shop, it’s totally embedded in the campus and they do actual retail. They’ll sell new helmets, lights, locks, they have a bunch of used bikes,” Says Phipps.
Advocacy
With many passionate bike enthusiasts involved in Common Cycle’s community, there has been great potential for members to get involved in related groups that advocate for better biking environments. Phipps personally is involved with the Bicycle Alliance of Washtenaw, a group that aims to coordinate existing groups of bikers to improve and create safer biking conditions.
While there is great potential for advocacy, Phipps seeks to strike a balance and emphasizes the main goals of the Common cycle space. “Common Cycle doesn’t shy away from advocacy, but we try to stick to the education, but that involves education around rules of the road and how to operate safely. But as an organization, we really support the infrastructure and want people to understand how to operate it safely, and we want the city to understand what it means to be a cyclist because even though Ann Arbor has come a long way, there’s still a lot of improvements.”
While the main goal of Common Cycle is to empower individuals, they do work with the city through projects like the Bryant Park project and the carbon neutrality initiative A20. Bryant Park is one of the only low-income neighborhoods of Ann Arbor, Common Cycle has done bike distributions around the neighborhood to give away free bikes. The city of Ann Arbor is also supporting the neighborhood to become carbon neutral through A20, a group that Common Cycle is a partner with.
Common Cycle has come a long way from their farmer’s market stand. Their community space has empowered riders to fix their own bikes while creating a community that organizes effectively to increase biker safety. “it’s not like every place in the world can do this, but in Ann Arbor, you can reasonably commute by bike most of the year and so we want to support folks who are interested in that.”
Feature photo: Repair Demonstration, by Common Cycle