Vintage bikes come to Goshen. SB Bike Garage in new home.
Here are two tales of truly good old bikes. Let's start with the metal horses from 90 or more years ago, then move on to the new home for a local bike co-op.
This week, about 120 people are coming to Goshen from around the country with their vintage bikes ― made in or before 1932 ― like high-wheeled penny farthings and large, carriage-like tricycles.
They’ll parade through town, ride down the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail and hold a swap meet. The public will have a chance to drop in for free for parts of this annual meet of a nonprofit organization called The Wheelman.
This will be a rare chance if you’re simply curious about vintage bikes or if you want to buy one.
You may run into members of the local Carter family, who’ve been riding vintage bikes since 1976. Coming from Etna Green, a small town between Plymouth and Warsaw, they’ve often shown up in parades.
“It’s been a family affair for many years,” says Chris Carter, 39, of Walkerton, who leads the “Junior Drill Team” that rides about to show off bikes. Out of the family’s 15 or so bikes, he helped his parents ― who started this hobby ― to schlep a selection of them to this month’s First Fridays events in downtown South Bend.
His sister, Lisa McConnell of Elkhart, likewise grew up with vintage bikes and now shares them with her three children and two grandchildren. She’s helped to organize this week’s events, which will be based out of Goshen College.
“It’s pretty interesting for people who don’t know about it, who don’t even know it exists,” McConnell says. “The collections are out of this world. They’re really old and in really good condition.”
The national meet visits a different state each year. This year, it begins just as The Wheelmen’s international meet finishes in Indianapolis.
On July 21, the club’s participants will do a century bike ride (100 miles total), starting early in the morning from Goshen College to Abshire Park and going down the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail to Krider Park in Middlebury, then returning. Riders will do this 25-mile loop as many times as they can, earning a medal for 50 miles and 100 miles.
“This will be my 42nd century,” McConnell says.
On July 22, the public can join the swap meet from 8:30 to 10 a.m. inside and outside the college’s Newcomer Center, 1900 S. Main St. (Indiana 15), south of College Avenue. Watch "bicycle games" from 10 a.m. to noon, and peruse memorabilia from 1:30 to 4 p.m.
At 7 p.m. July 22, the riders will demonstrate their biking skills in the parking lot of the Goshen College Music Center (from Indiana 15, go east on College Avenue, then south on 12 Street).
From 9:30 a.m. to noon July 23, costumed vintage riders will do a 10-mile ride for the public to watch, going around the college campus and then making a loop down the Millrace Canal Trail and back.
For more information about The Wheelmen, visit thewheelmen.org.
South Bend Bike Garage
The South Bend Bike Garage bustled in its new digs last week, the site of the old St. Joseph High School, as volunteers worked outside in the sun, in the shelter of a concrete-brick courtyard and downstairs in the lower level.
They wrenched wheels, pumped tires and answered questions from visitors.
It was amazing to see how used bikes from the old site at 909 Portage Ave. ― two garage stalls, plus a parking lot for work ― had filled this much more generous space. Bikes lined up in a series of rooms. Wheels packed a walk-in closet. Unlike the Portage site, this sheltered space will mean that the bike co-op will be able to work year-round in all kinds of weather ― even winter.
Director Dustin New says the arrangement of bikes in the rooms will find their rhythm as volunteers get more settled in the coming weeks.
A small yard sign saying “South Bend Bike Garage” flapped in the wind at the building’s corner, Indiana 933 and Angela Boulevard, where a paved trail connects from the East Bank Trail up to Holy Cross College, Saint Mary’s College and Douglas Road, where you can cross the highway to the University of Notre Dame or link onto the LaSalle Trail.
A good spot indeed for this co-op that started three years ago. Notre Dame staff and students have been regular customers, and sure enough, a few came last week for repairs and to shop for a bike. At the co-op, you can buy a bike or volunteer time to earn one.
A bonus here: a painted figure on one wall, computations on another. This last remaining structure from the school site had been used by the Catholic nuns and perhaps, it seems, by some students.
The co-op also recently gained a newly acquired trailer, with tools donated by Park Tools, so that it can eventually set up shop at remote sites.
“The idea is we can take the Bike Garage on the road to events or even set up in neighborhoods that have a need but it's a little far to the Bike Garage,” New says.
The trailer could also pop up at the bike valet parking (with a free bike cleaning) that he and other volunteers have been holding at First Fridays in downtown South Bend and at Sunday-afternoon South Bend Cubs games. New is coordinating these and other summer-long Michiana Bike to Work activities. New is also active transportation planner for the Michiana Area Council of Governments.
The South Bend Bike Garage opens from 5 to 8 p.m. each Wednesday and at other times by appointment. For more information, visit sbbikegarage.com or call 574-400-6036.
Goshen cycle track
The city of Goshen is testing out a cycle track, a two-way bike lane, as it recently restriped Lincoln Avenue between 5th and 8th streets for the next several months to create a safer route for cyclists.
Now Goshen is seeking the public’s feedback on that temporary cycle track. Add your comments in a survey at https://bit.ly/cycletracksurvey (in Spanish, visit https://bit.ly/ciclovialincoln). For more information and updates, visit goshenindiana.org/cycletrack. For questions, contact the engineering department at 574-534-2201 or engineering@goshencity.com.
Find columnist Joseph Dits on Facebook at SBTOutdoorAdventures or 574-235-6158 or jdits@sbtinfo.com.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Vintage bikes in Goshen and new site for South Bend Bike Garage
