Riverside just got a bit friendlier for cyclists.
The village and Riverside Junior Women’s Charity held a joint ribbon cutting ceremony April 11 to mark the installation of a free self-service bicycle repair station to the east side of the village’s train station south of the train tracks, a collaborative effort that began last year.
At the short ceremony, Riverside Juniors members joined Village President Douglas Pollock, Trustee Jill Mateo, former Village President Ben Sells and Pollock’s wife Jennifer to celebrate the addition to the village. Riverside Parks & Recreation Director Ron Malchiodi was also present to take pictures for the village. The honor of cutting the ribbon went to Sarah Magner, the Riverside Juniors member and former president who first had the idea for the bike repair station.
Malchiodi said Riverside Juniors provided funding for the bike station while the village handled its installation. He said the station was installed March 28 and the ribbon cutting was held later so Riverside Juniors members could attend.
The station is situated next to the existing bike racks and comes complete with elevated bars to rest bikes on, an air pump for refilling tires and seven tools — including a Phillips head screwdriver, a flat head screwdriver, a set of tire levers and four kinds of wrenches — that can be used to repair the bicycles of any passers-by. The station also comes with a QR code linking to online instructions on how to use each of its tools. Best of all, the station is free for all users.
Magner first mentioned her idea for the bike repair station to Riverside Juniors about 11 months ago, Riverside Juniors President Andrea Kitamura said. In September 2023, Magner told the Landmark she had had the idea during a group bike ride in 2022 when someone’s bike malfunctioned.
“We thought of how Oak Park and Brookfield and the surrounding areas have bike repair stations, while Riverside does not have any,” Magner said in September.
Kitamura said Riverside Juniors embraced Magner’s idea after she brought it up to the charity.
“[Magner said] Riverside in general is sort of looking for ways to be more health-conscious, more nature-conscious, to embrace this beautiful green space that we are known for in the area, and so, doesn’t it make sense for us to have something that a lot of our sister communities have?” Kitamura said. “And of course, a lot of Riversiders bike, and it makes sense, if something happens, that they have this resource to help them continue on their way, and I think we all really liked that idea.”
With Riverside Juniors’ approval, Magner reached out to Riverside, which is when Malchiodi got involved with the project.
“[Riverside Juniors’ proposal] was very well put together,” Malchiodi said. “They had examples of what they wanted to do. They had possible locations, so we worked through all of that. I presented it to the village board. They, of course, approved the project, and we settled on the location near the train station in the middle of town.”
While both the village and Riverside Juniors were enthusiastic about the bike repair station, Malchiodi said the project took nearly a year from start to finish due to the amount of coordination involved in the installation process.
“We have to work with Public Works and their schedule to get it installed, so once we were kind of up against winter, it was pushed till the new year, but the project was approved in short order,” he said. “The length of time was really just the end of fall and winter.”
Malchiodi said the bike repair station will be helpful for the many cyclists in Riverside who either live in town or are just passing through.
“We have a bike shop in town, Gears 2 You, but not everybody needs that level of service,” he said. “There’s quite a bit of bicycle activity in Riverside, so to have something like that, accessible in the middle of town for minor repairs and just putting some air in your tires, I think is greatly beneficial.”
