The Better Block Project: Tonight and Tomorrow!

Between 4-9pm tonight, regular commuters of Douglas, within Hydraulic and Kansas Avenue will be presented with a temporary, refreshing, and hopefully, more scenic arrangement of the downtown sidewalks. The Better Block Project, captained by Jason Roberts of Dallas, Texas is a unique concept that transforms grey, run down, pedestrian-sparse areas into comfortable sidewalk seating, bike friendly lanes, pop up coffee shops, food vendors, and virtually anything that will draw a crowd to the street. 

Unlike most city planning, the slow upstart of quaint sidewalk businesses, or the dredging of ordinances, The Better Block Project bypasses the endless project proposal meetings by giving the public as well as city officials the hands on experience - all over the span of a weekend. On top of the "street renovations," many volunteers and patrons are encouraged to display public art. Even the city 

If you don't have tonight to experience the enhanced crosswalks or night time lighting, the temporary set up can also be experienced on Saturday between  9am and 1p. 

If this description isn't filling your awesome meter to max, then the amount of bike friendly amenities should surely tip the scale. Considering The Bike Cave is burgeoning with bicycle enthusiasts, we are especially thrilled about a bike track separating bicyclists from traffic by a median, a bike lane separating traffic from parking, a bike rack, and even a bike-in theater. 

May is Bike Month

Hello! The Bike Cave has some very exciting events coming up for Bike Month!
*May 2, 2012 is when our retail location at 115 1/2 S. Pattie Wichita, KS 67211 will be open. Shop hours will be Wednesday thru Sunday 10:00 am to 6:00 pm.
*May 5, 2012 The Bike Cave is working with the Parks and Recreation Department with a Safety Clinic for kids at Linwood Park, 9:00 am to 4:00 pm.
*May 9, 2012 The Bike Cave will be hosting a Maintenance Clinic at our shop, 115 1/2 S. Pattie 67211, from 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm.
*May 12, 2012 The Bike Cave will be at The Farm and Art Market in Old Town doing a Maintenance Clinic for people who ride their bikes to the Market. 9:00 am to 1:00 pm.
*May 18, 2012 The Bike Cave will have an Open House event at our new retail location, 115 1/2 S. Pattie 67211, from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm. We invite you to come and go as you please.
*May 26, 2012 The Bike Cave will be at The Farm and Art Market in Old Town doing a Commuter Clinic for people who ride their bikes to the Market. 9:00 am to 1:00 pm.

Thank you everybody for all the support and love. We have been working very hard these last few months to have an awesome and organized place for people to work and learn on bikes.

Grand Opening!

Well devoted followers, it looks like dreams are finally becoming a reality. After four long years in the making, The Bike Cave will finally be moving in to a retail store front this spring! If all goes well, we will be opening for business at Douglas and Pattie, between Red Sea Tattoo and Notes and Noises Records at the beginning of May. Huge thanks to Chris Trenary of Notes and Noises and longtime Bike Cave supporter, for renting half of his shop to our organization. The plan right now is to be open Tuesday through Sunday 10-5 starting in May.

In light of this, we are going to need lots of volunteer support to make this happen. The shop space is going to require a great deal of construction work to get useable and stay open and we need all the help we can get. If you are interested in volunteering please get in touch via facebook or email or call 530 CAVE!

January update

Well, The Bike Cave isn't quite yet open (though I admit the weather has been nice!), but that doesn't mean the staff isn't working!
We've been contacting various organizations for assistance in gaining that magical 501(c)(3) and having meetings every week (well, when we can). Though progress is slow, we're all optimistic and eager to advance.

In other news, we have a lot of donations sitting in the garage and will be reconditioning them for sale as we have time.














Maybe one of these days this won't be full of bikes... but hey, where's the fun in that?

Also, eventually we'll get through this pile.

We ordered a whole stock of 27" tires, along with a stack of new tubes and rim strips.



















Though we haven't officially started open shop hours yet, we're still eager to help out - so if you need something to get you through this (mild) winter, holler at us on our facebook page and we can make a special appointment to get you sorted out.
http://www.facebook.com/groups/82943390258/

Update your bookmarks!

This blogs url has been changed to http://bikecaveict.blogspot.com. Real website at http://bikecaveict.org coming soon.

In other news, the BikeFightsICT team had our first successful trial run last night at the Anchor. All we need now is a dedicated laptop to run it and a projector. Oh, and YOU to come out and race! Event schedules will be posted as soon as details are hammered out. 

A great end to a great season

The bbq yesterday was a smashing good time, thanks to everyone who came out! Big thanks to Ryan Windham for playing for us (and congrats on winning that killer Ninnescah messenger bag!).

It's been a fantastic season and we're eternally grateful to everyone who's made it possible. Even though the shop will be closed for the winter, there's lots of work to be done until the springtime. I'll try to keep everyone updated on our progress via this blog and our facebook and with any luck at all we'll be re-opening next year in an actual storefront!

Success!

Thanks to the valiant and unstoppable efforts of The Bike Cave's incomparable volunteers and staff, the mountain of junk bikes in the back yard is GONE! Two Sundays of sorting, three trucks and one Honda Accord full of scrap frames and wheels later and the Bike Cave is about 2000 lbs lighter and our cash box is $141 heavier! Thanks everyone who helped out, and a big thanks to Bogue Iron, we couldn't have done it without you!

And another success story: After nearly five years in the making, The Bike Cave is now officially a Kansas recognized not-for-profit corporation! It gives me great pride to welcome Derek Werner, Charli Lauer, Alec Jahn, and Jarrod Acquistapace and myself, Michael James, to the founding Board of Directors. We look forward to serving the Wichita cycling community for years to come.

And one last success story: The Bike Cave has it's best summer yet. We raised over $1000, sold and fixed countless bikes and had a lot of fun along the way. To celebrate the end of the season, we'll be throwing a party this Sunday. Normal open shop hours from 11-4, then we'll be grilling and jamming out to the Michael McDonald-inspired smooth grooves of local acoustic wizard Ryan Windham. $5 suggested donation will go towards renting a commercial shop space in the spring. A bike or box of bike parts will also be accepted in lieu of $5. Food and drinks will be provided but supplies will be limited so BYO is strongly encouraged. Hope to see you there!