Work is underway to build a bike repair station in Riverside after the Riverside Junior Women’s Charity donated money to the community to fund its first bike repair station.
Sarah Magner, a member of the Riverside Junior Women’s Charity, said she reached out to village officials with the proposal. She said the idea came to her after she went on a bike ride with a group and one of their group members had a bike malfunction.
“I was on a bike ride with a group of women last October and one of them had a bike malfunction. We thought of how Oak Park and Brookfield and the surrounding areas have bike repair stations, while Riverside does not have any,” Magner said.
So she reached out to officials.
“The department was in favor of the idea,” said Director of the Parks and Recreation of Riverside Ron Malchiodi. “We have a very active cycling community in Riverside. We were interested in serving that community.”
The bike repair station will be free and open to the public. The Riverside Junior Women’s Charity is in the process of ordering the equipment with the goal to have the bike repair station installed at the end of fall so people can use it before winter.
Magner also been working with Peter Janunas, the owner of Gears 2 You, a bicycle repair shop in Riverside.
According to Magner, Janunas is closely involved with Cycle Brookfield, a group of citizens of Brookfield and surrounding suburbs who love cycling and want to make a difference.
“Gears 2 You have brought up this idea in the past of a repair shop and we had a conversation about this and it was valuable getting to understand the maintenance cost, use and where to look for the equipment for bikes,” Magner said.
Riverside Junior Women’s Charity will be donating about $1,500, which will cover the cost of the materials. The Village of Riverside will pay for the installation of the bike repair station.
The bike repair station will be located downtown on the south side of the train tracks near the existing bike racks and will be adjacent to the Riverside Metra train station.
“We wanted to pick something in the center of town, something focal, we wanted something that if you are driving through town you see it and it’s there,” Malchiodi said.
Magner thinks that this repair station is important because it is a resource that can be used that will attract many bikers from outside of the Riverside community and will encourage people to stay and enjoy some of the Riverside businesses.
“I think one of the interesting aspects of this project is that it’s a joint effort between the village, charity, and a local business,” Malchiodi said.
