I recently caught up with Beth Wacks from Velocipede, a Baltimore-based bicycle co-op which has been making waves around town and helping launch the city’s emerging bike scene.

TB: What is Velocipede and how did you get involved in it?

BETH: Velocipede is a bicycle recycling and education project. Basically we get bikes donated to us that have been languishing in people’s basements or meant for the dumpster, and we either fix them up and sell them for cheap, or allow people to claim them and fix them up for themselves in return for volunteering. We also have tools and a ton of used parts and people can come in to fix their own bike in return for volunteering at the shop.

I’m one of the founding members, so I’ve been involved for a long time. I was a bike mechanic at Light Street Cycles and saw too many people come in with old bikes that would cost more than they were worth to fix them at the shop. I wanted to give people an option to fix those bikes up in an affordable way. I was also shocked at how many people who rode bikes around had no idea how to even pump up a tire. Bikes are simple enough machines that it is easy to do most of your own repairs. I wanted there to be a place for people to learn how to take care of their bikes so they would be empowered to ride them more. Also Velocipede has a social aspect as well. It’s a place for people who are interested in biking and the environment to meet and interact and make connections.

Where are you getting your funding?

Most of our funding comes from the sale of used bikes and parts as well as membership. I was being paid to do administrative stuff by a Open Society Institute fellowship, but that finished up in April of 2008. Now I’m working a second and third job, and we are slowly spreading the tasks that I have been doing around to different people. We may seek funding to pay a different person or persons eventually, but for now we are going back to all volunteer.

What have you learned from it, why are you leaving and what’s your next project?

I’ve learned too many things to really quantify. It’s been an intense experience and I’ve definitely learned a lot, from how to build an organization, to book-keeping, to how to identify a Swiss-threaded bottom bracket. I’m not leaving exactly - at least not yet - I’m just not getting paid to do it any more. So I need a job, which doesn’t allow me to focus as much on Velocipede. So I’m trying to make sure that my responsibilities are being spread around. I am planning to go to Guatemala in the Fall for a couple months to volunteer at a bike collective there. They make labor saving, non-electric machines out of bicycle parts. I think that in America we can learn a lot from that kind of project. Non-electric devices are going to be more and more important as conventional fuels gets more and more expensive and hard to access. Alternatives like solar and wind power will only solve some of the problem. The real solution is just to use less energy overall. There is no need for thing like electric can openers or coffee makers. There is no need to use an electric or gas powered lawnmower on your postage stamp sized lawn. French presses and push mowers are going to come back into style just like bicycles are all the rage now.

Who’s taking your place and what can we expect to see happen with the project in the future?

Velocipede is collectively run, and we are going to try out spreading the responsibility around so no one is overwhelmed. We are going back to all volunteer-run for at least a bit. I think this will actually be good for us, because it will give more people a feeling of ownership of the project. I’ve put a lot of energy into Velocipede, but it is not my project, it belongs to the people of Baltimore. And that means we all have a responsibility to make sure it sustains itself as well as continues to provide us with the advantages of having a resource like this in our city. If you have come to Velocipede and value the resource of Velocipede - you should think about getting involved as a collective member. That means staffing the shop, doing PR, teaching classes etc… We always need more people to be involved.

Why is Baltimore a good place to live and ride bikes? (Assuming that it is, of course!)

Well Baltimore is small. It’s really easy to get almost everywhere you need to be on bicycle. The problem is that it people are not so friendly to bikers in this town and once you get out of the downtown area, certain streets are really scary to bike on - like Northern Parkway for instance. The downtown area can be rough as well, with traffic, road rage, and pot holes, but I find that I can usually find a low traffic route to anywhere I need to go, and the traffic tends to be pretty slow.

Basically Baltimore is not a bike friendly town, but it is getting better. They have just started putting bike lanes in around town, and fixing some streets. We have a long way to go, but it’s a welcome start. As gas prices rise and more and more people can’t afford to drive everywhere I expect that it will get easier and less scary.

Has the city government of Baltimore been of any help in your endeavors?

Well… They haven’t been unsupportive, but they haven’t really given us anything either. At least they seem to think that biking is a good thing for the city. They seem to want to help, but are too mired in red tape. For instance, the bike racks that have been popping up around town: they’re basically just one loop of metal bar bolted into the ground. I’m glad to see them, but they don’t really allow for much bike parking.

However, our new mayor is actually is a biker herself and I have seen a shift in policy since she’s come into power. The bike lanes that we were supposed to start seeing years ago have finally started showing up, and the new bike planner actually rides a bike occasionally (and doesn’t drive into work everyday.)

What’s something concrete you’d like to see happen in Baltimore, either related to biking or otherwise?

Now that bike lanes are coming around, we really need a comprehensive education campaign to make drivers aware of bike safety. This means adding a Share The Road unit to driving classes, radio and tv ads, billboards, etc… I’d also like to see people with poor driving records or people who get into accidents with bikes to be required to take a bike safety classes. There also needs to be a campaign to educate bikers of proper safety techniques when riding, from riding on the right, using hand signals, and proper dress to be seen. These skills should be taught in schools, driver’s ed, etc. Also more biking facilities besides bike lanes, like protected bike parking and showers would help a lot too.

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TB: Thanks very much to Beth for working with me on this interview! While you’re at it, also check out my interview with Baltimore Free Store’s Matt Warfield, another cool progressive project in town.