On the path to becoming a more bike friendly university, the University of Central Florida has followed the example of Stanford, UC Santa Barbara, and MIT in installing permanently mounted, Do-It-Yourself repair stands. These stands allow cyclists to raise up their bike and have an integrated pump and tools attached to do many of the most common maintenance tasks. The “Fixit” repair stands are built by Dero, a Minnesota based company that started making functional but artistic bike racks in 1995.

Members of Spokescouncil, the bike advocacy club at UCF, began working in September to get the stands placed on campus. Since then we have worked to collect product quotes, contact other universities for testimonials, secure funding, and choose stand locations. Spokescouncil teamed up with the UCF Student Union, which is funded by the Student Government Association (SGA). SGA recognized the opportunity to greatly increase the bike friendliness of campus at relatively low cost. They helped to provide funding and obtain approval of the installations from the University Master Planning Committee. The entire process, from getting the first quote to getting all the approvals and the stands in the ground, took just over 5 months.

One stand has been installed at the Student Union with another ready to be put in the ground at the Recreation and Wellness Center sometime next week. A third stand is planning to be installed near the Arena by the end of the semester. The tools included are philips and flathead screwdrivers, 8, 9, 10, 11, 15, and 32 mm wrenches, 2 tire levers, a multitool of metric allen wrenches, and a Torx (star) wrench. Assurance of the durability of the stands came from direct contact with other campuses that have had the stands for several years. MIT, who has had the stands the longest said that they have had no problems with theft or vandalism and that replacement of the pumps (a standard Park Tool model) every six months from wear is the biggest upkeep.