The Bicycles of Oberlin College
by Benjamin Rosielle
Illustration by Sylvia Cottrell
I’m a bit of a cycling fanatic. There’s no greater joy than biking through the streets and trails of Minneapolis at night, riding glasses on, The Replacements blasting out of my bike speaker. At Oberlin, my ride of choice is a beater bike purchased from Elyria Craigslist during my freshman year move-in. Despite the bicycle's monetary worthlessness, it’s a more than nice ride, a virtually untouched gem of a vehicle from the heyday of Japanese bicycle manufacturing in the 1980s. I’m not the only Oberlin student who feels strongly about bicycles. This campus is cluttered with them, from tandems to clown bikes to DIY art bikes. Wanting to learn more about the diversity of Oberlin bikes, I set out to interview a variety of cyclists in order to shed some light on a variety of rides.
The following interview excerpts have been edited for clarity.
Ari Newman - Woody
The thing that stands out to me about your bicycle is “The Bike Bucket” attached to the side of your bike. Can you tell me about “The Bike Bucket”?
There is a small store in Portland that sells bike buckets specifically designed to attach to the sides of bicycles. You could theoretically just go to Home Depot [for a bucket], but it’s supporting a small business. I think it’s really convenient to store stuff in, and I like the idea of having a bucket attached to your bike.
Micah Zhu-Kircheis - unnamed (Silly Tube Bicycle)
What cargo is your bike carrying today?
My bag, four cans of coffee, two pride flags, a mini pump, one leaf, my umbrella, one beer, six more cans of coffee, two different pairs of gloves: one for taxidermy, one for [other] dead animals.
Which Beatle would your bike be?
A chrysolina cerealis.
Can you explain the “silly tubes” on your bicycle?
After winter break, I got two or three tubes onto the bike. All six weren’t on until the final project of BadArtCo. I’d like to get eight tubes onto it, but I don’t think I have any more space. Maybe if I found smaller tubes.
Anything else to add?
Small dogs really like to bark at the bike.
Viv Tullis - Jimmy
What’s your bike’s life story?
I built this bike myself. It’s a full [Bike] Co-op bike. I found the frame in the graveyard in the back of the Bike Co-op, and thought it was cool. Besides from one part, everything on it is just from the Bike Co-op, which is really cool.
Tallulah Ahrens-Siegel - The Celsius Bike
What’s your bike’s life story?
Last year me and my friends had a surplus of flex dollars. We were trying to figure out what to do with them, and then we saw that the raffle for the Celsius bike was happening. We invested probably hundreds of flex dollars into buying crates of Celsius in order to increase our odds of winning this bike. Now that I have it, it’s a bit of a community bike. I lend it out to certain members of my community.
If your bike could talk, what’s the first thing it would say to you?
I wish we could get to know each other more.
If you could change one thing about your bike, what would it be?
I wish it had more Celsius branding.
Edie Carey - Shirley
If your bike could talk, what’s the first thing it would say to you?
Hello.
Mayim Richman - unnamed (formerly Frankenstein)
Which Beatle would your bike be?
Can I look up a list of beetles? It’s saying that a firefly is a beetle, so I’m just going to say that.
Roman Lafia - unnamed
If your bike could talk, what’s the first thing it would say to you?
It would probably just groan sort of happily.
Lydia Rommel - Princess
What’s your bike’s life story?
This is not my primary bike. This is my art bike. I found the frame under the staircase outside the practice room in South. I started building the wooden bike seat right when I found the frame, and I chiseled butt divots into it. Pretty uncomfortable, but I thought it would be funny. I’d wanted a disc wheel for a while, and I thought it would be funny to make one out of cardboard and packing tape and zip ties. Right now, I have a pastoral scene painted on the other side, but it is actually ad space for rent. If anyone wants to pay me five bucks I’ll put whatever they want on it. Even two bucks.
What about the pony bike seat?
The wooden seat took a lot of maintenance and wasn’t very well attached. So I was like, “I could either fix it or do something new,” and I chose to do something new. So I stripped all the stuff off an existing bike seat to get the frame of it and I embedded it into the pony and sewed it closed.
Erik Inglis, Mildred C. Jay Professor of Medieval Art History - unnamed
If your bike could talk, what’s the first thing it would say to you?
It’s been a good life.
Closest you’ve come to dying on your bike?
I have never come close to dying on my bike.
Anything else to share?
Everyone who’s able to ride a bike should ride a bike.
Francis Gallagher - Baker
Anything to share [about your bike]?
Having a bike is the best thing you can do at Oberlin. I think it really opens up the possibilities of what you will find out about this campus.
Lorenzo Jose - unnamed
Which Beatle would your bike be?
I don’t know anything about The Beatles. Ringo?
You could just do an insect.
Dung beetle.
Lily Nobel - unnamed
If your bike could talk, what’s the first thing it would say to you?
Why don’t you think of me as a human being?
Noble Walter-Hawkins - unnamed
What’s your bike’s life story?
I built it in one night because I found it out on the street outside of the Bike Co-op. I just keep changing out the parts just to make it look freakier and freakier. It’s kind of an art project.
Closest you’ve come to dying on this bike?
I got really hit by a car in front of Finney Chapel, and I broke three windows because I was using a box as a sail, and the bike doesn’t really have brakes. That was pretty gnarly.
Benjamin McHarris - unnamed
If your bike could talk, what’s the first thing it would say to you?
Ride me.
