More students may soon be screaming the bike-riding chant “Yeah Bike!” on campus.
Student Government and the Environmental Conservation Organization at LSU held the annual LSU Bike Auction on Wednesday between Free Speech Alley and Coates Hall, making $4,050. The Bike Auction raised $4,000 last year, which went toward the bike pumps around campus.The two rows of 144 used bikes, collected by the Office of Parking, Traffic and Transportation at the end of the summer semester, were packed like sardines as the auction began at 10 a.m. By noon, only the nicer and pricier road bikes were left to sell.”It’s environmentally friendly because we pick [the bikes] up and recycle them back to the students,” said Gary Graham, Office of Parking, Traffic and Transportation director. Graham said his department tags the bikes during the summer to warn the owner of the tow period. He said students have 90 days to reclaim their bikes before they are donated to SG and ECO for the bike auction.Lynette Overholser, environmental sciences graduate student, won two $10 bikes, but she doesn’t plan to ride them.”I’m going to try to make [the bikes] into a spinning wheel to make yarn,” Overholser said. “The chain’s a little rusty, but the gears are in good condition. I’m a recycler.”Overholser said a cheap, new spinning wheel can range from $300 to $600. She plans to cut the bikes and reweld them herself.Not all students went to the auction to bid on a “cheap” bike.Alex Richerand, biology graduate student, waited at the bike auction for a couple of hours to bid on a yellow vintage bicycle with a long banana-like seat, even though he    already bought another bike for $30. Richerand said he paid $150 for the yellow vintage bike, which he plans to fix up and hang on his wall. He said he bought the $30 bike to play bike polo on weekends with friends, and he has another bike he rides to school.Cas Smith, SG sustainability director, said a 1970 road bike sold for $380 — the highest bid of the day.Danie LaRock, environmental sciences graduate student and treasurer of the Environmental Graduate Organization, said students who bought a used bike at the auction will have to fix the bikes and in turn, will increase their bike knowledge.LaRock said the Baton Rouge Advocates for Safe Streets organization has a workshop every month to teach riders bike repair and maintenance. SG will also host a Bike Repair Workshop today at 5 p.m. at the UREC Fix-It Station.SG and ECO also had a table set up at the auction to petition against LSU System President John Lombardi’s recent recommendation to add a $500 per semester fee for every student. In the past, Lombardi suggested tuition and fees at the University are too low, especially when considering the nice cars he sees in the parking lots around campus.SG and ECO members gathered petition slips from students that said they ride bikes instead of driving cars to campus to send to Lombardi.—-Contact Mary Walker Baus at [email protected]