Durham Bike Co-op

Overview

The Durham Bike Collective is a (proposed?) organization in Durham, NC for "bicyclists and bicycle culture". They may be affiliated with 305 South Durham, as that address appears together with DBC's email address on the "Alleyrat" poster.

Contact

durhambikecoop AT gmail.com

Mission

The following text was described as "an earlier version of their mission statement":

We propose an open community for bicyclists and bicycle culture in Durham. To this end, we further propose a bicycle co-operative that can function as a nexus of this community. Aside from the pleasure of riding them, we believe that bikes are a vital vehicle for sociality and movement, and that they offer a real alternative to the (economically, socially, ecologically) disastrous hegemony of the automobile. We further believe that in connection with other practices and knowledges there is in bicycling a vision of autonomy that has much to contribute to the creation of new forms of social life. Our practice as a collective will therefore be (at least initially) twofold:

1. Skill-share. In order to encourage self-empowerment through the exchange of practical knowledge, we will regularly facilitate and host gatherings in which skills related to bicycle maintenance, repair, and riding will be communicated in an open, free, and inviting setting.
2. Bicycle recovery and redistribution. We will solicit donations of unused and unwanted bicycles and bike parts, fix these bikes, and distribute them to the Durham community on a first-come, first-served basis. Ideally and budget permitting, these bicycles will be free; although in some cases a donation (money and/or sweat equity put into a bike or into the co-operative, in connection with our first goal) will be asked for the cost of any parts needed to refurbish the bike. All labor done within the collective will be voluntary and unpaid.

Links

• 2006-08-23 Durham's Alleyrat alleycat