(Photo © J. Maus)
Bike-oriented development on N. Williams Avenue isn’t reserved for bricks and mortar businesses. Yesterday while biking home I met Dan Sloan, a man who is offering free bike repairs and advice to anyone that stops by. His business consists of a hand-painted sandwich board sign, a bike repair stand, and some tools.
Do you work for tips? I asked. “No, although I took some Skittles one time.” Sloan says he’s written off the workaday world and just wants to do something good for people — perhaps in exchange for something good in return. “Everyone’s time is worth the same as everyone else’s… If everyone just did something they were good at for others… I mean, $15 to adjust a headset, that’s like two hours of work at a job you hate for a lot of people.”
Besides his sign, which reads, “Free Bike Help and Advice,” Sloan’s main marketing tool is the big smile he flashes at the steady stream of bikes rolling by. In the few minutes I was there, he got a lot of thumbs-ups and appreciative yells.
Sloan says he plans to stay at that spot, adjacent to a vacant lot just north of Cook Street, during the evening commutes. “This is a good location,” he says, “lots of traffic.”