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Repair, not replace

Instructor Matthew Bloch teaches basic bicycle repair and maintenance Wednesday at the Summer Skilled Trade Camps for Kids at the Jacobetti Complex at Northern Michigan University. Other classes include culinary cuisine and cosmetology. (Journal photo by Christie Bleck)

MARQUETTE — Twelve-year-old Luke Mead is like any other kid who rides a bike. It’s fun.

“I just like the feel of it because it’s super flowing,” Luke said. “You can do jumps and all that.”

However, those free-wheeling acrobatics might be hard to do with a flat tire or broken chain.

That’s why the Marquette youth took the bicycle repair and maintenance class Wednesday, one of several offered at the Summer Skilled Trade Camps for Kids at the Jacobetti Complex at Northern Michigan University.

He wants to avoid such breakdowns.

Other camp classes included automotive and small engine repair, cosmetology, culinary cuisine, crime scene investigation and welding. The camp, geared toward youths in grades 7 through 12, took place Tuesday through Thursday.

Hands-on activities were essential in getting the youngsters to understand these various trades, which in the bike repair class involved learning how to lubricate a bike chain and change a tire, among other things.

Instructor Matthew Bloch has plenty of experience, working in mechanics and sales at Lakeshore Bike in the city of Marquette.

It’s that knowledge he passed down to the young students, and that expertise wasn’t only about repairs.

As with cars, bicycles need to maintained to avoid having repairs in the first place.

“We’re doing a tire change, chain maintenance, basic shifting/brakes, safety checks,” Bloch said. “That’s the biggest thing. We’re making sure these bikes are safe for the kids to ride.”

Those bicycles were their own.

“We’re going to get them familiar with their own bikes, which is important too,” Bloch said.

Bicycles are an investment in their health and fun, he said.

“It’s sometimes their main transportation during the summer,” Bloch said. “A lot of them mountain bike for fun, so a lot of these bikes can be expensive.”

Broken bikes lying idle in a garage won’t do young riders any favors when it comes to their physical and even mental well-being.

“We want to make sure they know how to properly maintain them, and that way they can last for a long time and they’re not constantly not riding,” Bloch said. “Keep them riding essentially is what we’re trying to do here, and keep them having fun.”

Also, the skills they learned Wednesday were well within their capabilities.

After all, they literally weren’t reinventing the wheel.

“It’s very basic stuff today,” Bloch said.

One of the fundamentals they learned was the importance of performing a bounce test to check a bicycle’s condition.

Finding out on the road a bike has a problem isn’t the best time for this discovery.

“You don’t want to ride on a trail and your handlebars are turned, or your wheel falls out,” Bloch said.

He also showed them how to lubricate their bike chains as well as change them.

The class was to culminate in a bicycle ride — with safety helmets, of course.

“I’ve always wanted to learn how to fix bikes,” said Brenden Bourdage, 13, of Marquette.

Anyone who rides a bicycle long enough probably will experience a breakdown, and Brenden has had the unfortunate experience of dealing with such a disappointment.

He wants to be ready the next time it happens.

“I didn’t want anyone to pay to fix it,” Brenden said. “I wanted to fix it myself.”

Christie Bleck can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 250. Her email address is cbleck@miningjournal.net.

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