You may be asking yourself, "Hey, wasn't national Bike to Work Day Friday, May 17th?" The answer is yes, but SparkFun is in Colorado so everything is different... and today is Bike to Work Day!
I usually ride my bike to work to avoid the traffic that comes with the seemingly endless population growth in Boulder County, but on this day I welcome the extra crowds on the bike path. This is one of those rare days where the electronics we build and design aren't the main reason I'm excited to come to work, so I'm going to brag a bit about how SparkFun enables us to take the road less traveled.
Last year our cultural engagement team designed The Spoke House: part bike garage, part DIY bike repair station, all SparkFun – and complete with tools and spare tubes to perform basic maintenance and fix any flat tires you may get coming to or from work. This is also a popular stop to show on tours, so if you are ever walking through feel free to push the big red button to show off some SparkFun flair!
Bikes are plagued with umpteen different standards for fasteners and bottom brackets, but 3D printers have so far solved every issue we've come across so far! This is a bottom bracket installation and removal tool I made just the other day.
If you find there are not enough hours in the day for all your bike maintenance needs, we have a local bike mechanic who stops by once per month to perform any tune-ups and repairs that are beyond DIY. Shout-out to Rob for keeping us riding in smooth, blissful, squeak-free silence!
The SparkFun bike library includes a collaboration with Community Cycles in Boulder, with two bikes employees can check out to ride to lunch or a post-work happy hour. We have a great network of trails just outside our business park that lead to countless restaurants and six breweries within four miles!
Last October SparkFun won the Denver area Bike-tober challenge (we will be defending our title this fall). Below is one of our congratulatory television commercials captured by one of our employees!
Here are some of the other perks our cyclists have in house:
- Locker rooms and showers
- Bikes from previous Burning Man adventures (wild colors, and dirtier than I have ever gotten my own bike)
- Several iterations and varying levels of success on DIY electric assist bikes
"Get on your bikes AND RIDE!" - Freddie Mercury
