Even after riding to and from the UW campus for more than a month and doing some quick research on bike resources on campus, I had no idea the university had self-service bike maintenance stations, including (in theory) air pumps.
Thanks to a classmate who’s also biking for pointing this out. The campus has five repair stations next to bike rack locations, although they’re easy to miss if you don’t know they’re there. Even with the map of the locations, it took me a second when I got to the spot before I found the tools handing from a repair stand.
The tools are a nice touch, but what I was really looking for was the air pump – I realized my tires were woefully low. At the first spot I tried, the air pump was simply missing. At the second, the pump was missing the presta valve fitting. With my tires still hurting for air, instead of continuing to try each of the five locations to see if any of them had functioning pumps, I simply stopped by the ASUW bike shop in the HUB and used one of their floor pumps.
The self-service stations are a good idea. It’s a shame they’re not better marked (and a few signs alerting bikers to their existence at other main bike racks around campus would also help), and a bigger shame the air pumps – probably the most commonly needed tool – aren’t there.
