Whoosh! It is a sound that freshmen will have to get used to and sophomores, juniors, seniors, and grad students alike know all too well at the University of Massachusetts: the sound of a bicycle riding to the dining commons, to class or to a dorm.

Luckily for bike owners, there is a place right on campus that services bikes. The Bike Co-Op is a student-run business located in the Student Union that takes on the job.

“The co-op is student-managed,” said Ethan Jackson, a recent UMass graduate and longtime Bike Co-Op employee. “All employees are co-managers with equal say in all affairs.”

However, students working at the co-op are not completely alone in their business venture. The Center for Student Businesses helps out in various ways.

“The Bike Co-Op works with an undergraduate Isenberg School of Management student whom we call a consultant,” said Rosemary Schmidt, the director of the CSB (Center for Student Businesses) at UMass. “In turn, the CSB provides resources to the consultant as well as computers, financial advice and oversight to the co-managers of the Bike Co-Op.”

By no means does this imply that the students of the Bike Co-Op are not the main sources of management in this business. “They do their own hiring, bookkeeping, purchasing, advertising and run their business all at the same time,” said Schmidt.

In addition to running the business, the students of the Bike Co-Op are getting down-and-dirty to fix the bikes of the UMass campus themselves. The co-op Web site advertises a $35 tune up and a $10 flat tire repair.

According to Jackson, not only can co-op co-managers fix bikes; they can build new bikes, rebuild bikes, and do single-speed and fixed gear conversions. The Bike Co-Op also strives to have the ability to work with an array of bike styles, whether old, new, or custom.

“We can’t work on every bike because certain ultra high-end bikes need special tools, as well as super old bikes made before our fittings, nuts, bolts, etc., were standardized, but we can sometimes finagle a solution,” said Jackson.

A bike can really come in handy on a large campus such as UMass, which covers 2.29 square miles, with buildings spread out every direction.

The large number of bikes on campus is not just a means of business for the co-managers. They are something to be appreciated.

“We believe in bikes for transportation and joy, not money,” explains Jackson.

The love of bicycles surrounding the Bike Co-Op makes it not just a great place to get your bike fixed, but also a great place to learn something new.

“I think people should know that while we are a business we are a collective first, and education is our biggest kick,” said Jackson. “We love to teach people how to fix their bike and their friends’ [bikes], even though it ultimately loses business.”

Bike Co-Op employees are also willing to share their space and supplies to help out fellow bike riders. “In addition to education, we offer our tools to people so long as they work in the shop and treat the tools and everyone around with respect,” Jackson said

The quality of their workmanship, derived from the time and effort of their employees, has created a massive demand for the student-run business.

“They are so busy that they constantly overflow into the hallway because they don’t have sufficient room for the repaired bikes,” said Schmidt.

The success of the Bike Co-Op has not gone unnoticed. One thing that Schmidt describes as “critical” about the co-op is that “despite being a small business, they have grown financially and organizationally in the last three years.”

The Bike Co-Op will be accepting applications and holding interviews during the beginning of the semester. “Those best qualified are hired depending on how much help we need to take on and [we] train them as required,” Jackson said.

The business will also help to sponsor a bike race in the fall to help raise money for the Food Bank of Western Mass and to support the student business dinner that takes place in the spring.

The bicyclists of UMass are part of a community all its own, and the Bike Co-Op is there to help through every bump in the road.

Eden Univer can be reached at [email protected].