Wildcat Wheels Clinics Teach Bikers to Care for Their Own

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 21, 2011) — Warm weather ignites spring cleaning for biker lovers to get ready for spring.

The Wildcat Wheels Bicycle Shop is holding a limited edition bicycle maintenance course three days this week to help people get those frozen, rusty bikes back into shape.

Some people's bikes have been sitting outside for the last three months without moving them at all, said Wildcat Wheels Manager Scott Beckmeyer. "Bikes don't like that," he added.

The spring clinic will teach people how to defeat rusty chains, to fine tune their shifting, to get their brakes working and to clean and maintain their bikes throughout the upcoming warmer months.

The clinics will be run by Beckmeyer and Wildcat Wheels mechanic James Baunach.

The one-hour clinics will be held at 4 p.m. today, Feb. 21, and Thursday and Friday. It’s free to all UK students, faculty and staff.

"The idea is to have a clinic where people can hang around after for our open shop hours and apply what they learned," said Beckmeyer.

Thanks to a grant from the Paula Nye Foundation, the fun doesn’t stop there. An in-shop, five-clinic series Thursday evenings from 4 to 5 p.m. will lead people through the different systems of a bike. The goal by the end is to enable people to diagnose and fix most problems on their own bikes.

Portal bike shops will also be available around campus which will have clinics.

Wildcat wheels is located between north hall and blazer hall on north campus, and is a student run bicycle shop which provides free service and rentals to the UK community.