The Freewheel Bike Collective is one of the longest running projects out of the Brick House, serving Old Louisville and Louisville in general for several years and facilitating interaction between a diverse range of individuals from the Old Louisville community. Our mission is to serve as a community resource base for empowerment and learning related specifically to the bicycle and its many uses, especially for communities traditionally under-served through the unjust allocation of resources. We seek to emphasise the connection between transportation choices and socio-ecological problems facing us today, such as climate change. Our vision is to do this by providing a space stocked with the appropriate tools with which to work on bikes, a library of bike-relevant information equipped with an Internet kiosk, a consumer co-operative of new parts sold at cost and classes offered along a “communiversity” model in affiliation with local neighborhood and Louisville residents and the Louisville Intercommunal Network for Education (currently based out of Old Louisville), offering classes such as “how to build a tallbike”, “how to fix a derailleur”, “how to true a wheel”, etc., on a regular basis.

Currently we are open twice per week for three hours each day, and staffed by usually two to three individuals. In the past we have sponsored house parties and bake sales in order to generate funds for our operations. Our long term vision entails facilitating more diverse community interaction and discussion around bikes, biking, and alternative transportation while also serving as a social space (and safe space) for folks to come and relax. We are hoping to also create a kids program whereby youth are encouraged to come by once a week for classes on bike maintenance. We seek to do this in affiliation with Engelhard Elementary and other neighborhood schools such as Noe, Manual and Meyzeek and also looking to work with other service organisations to promote a homework help program that would operate simultaneously.

We are seeking to stimulate community interaction around bikes via movie screenings connected to the work we do and the promotion of “bike art” that is constructed using unsalvageable pieces of bike found in our shop. River City Welders have already expressed an interest in this project and we are hoping that we can provide them with enough mangled and interesting parts/pieces to potentially even generate a small revenue flow for the collective. We see this as a community benefit as well, hoping that it would raise awareness for the welding shop, the work of the individuals there and the potential reuse of metal materials commonly discarded.

We have established relationships with 1st Street Bikes and the Bike Courier Service located at 1st and Market. They have supplied us with parts, information and expertise in the past that has proven very helpful to the development of our venture. We are hoping to partner with them again, and to become more closely linked with the mayors Healthy Hometown Movement. We also have an established working relationship with Kirby Coleman and are developing a relationship with the city through Bike Louisville.

Whit F.
Collective Leader
Freewheel Bike Collective

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