About two weeks ago, my bike started to sound like a saw through steel: squeaking, whining, crunching–and for a week I pretended not to hear it. I deluded myself with complex It’ll-go-away-on-its-own scenarios because, living in an apartment on a student’s budget, I have neither space nor resources for most of my DIY bike projects. In the past, I’d always been able to go to the Grease Pit, a wonderful, volunteer-run bike shop on the West Bank stocked with all the tools and bike parts a biker needs, and all for whatever you’re able to donate. But just before my bike started what seemed like its broken finale, I heard that the Grease Pit was closed.

They’d been booted from their building (the same building as Palmer’s bar) along with the Bedlam Theater because the building’s owner (incidentally, a mosque that a volunteer at the Grease Pit said had been a great co-tenant and very friendly) needed more space. So, knowing I couldn’t take my broke-down bike to the Pit and not prepared to pay a mechanic way more than I would’ve spent fixing it myself, I stalled until I heard that the Hub’s Minnehaha store has a DIY bike stand where, for five bucks an hour, you can use tools, chain oil, and grease. So I went, and after an hour of very friendly service (and some help) from the staff, I left with a bike that’s now singing a new (silent) tune. Thanks, Hub!