Get Ken Hill an Allen wrench, stat. Juneau’s newest doctor, Hill has rusty, silt-caked bikes to work on.
The cycling enthusiast and one-time member of the Coast Guard, 50, opened his Mendenhall Valley retail and repair shop The Bike Doctor a little over two weeks ago. From his economical space next to Valley Restaurant, Hill explained that he wants to provide a service to Valley residents that hasn’t been available for some time. Namely, patching up and treating Juneau’s rusty, often dirty two-wheelers.
If your bike’s too far gone, he’ll also sell you a new one, he said.
“There’s a large cycling community and not everybody has the ability to get a bike downtown,” to Juneau’s other bike shop, Cycle Alaska, Hill said. “We wanted to have another affordable alternative for folks who are just getting into it, or who maybe are looking for a second bike or maybe they have friends, family coming to town that they want to give something to ride.”
The Bike Doctor sells used bikes bought in Lower 48 auctions and a small selection of new bikes. In Hill’s estimation, not every rider needs the newest, latest and greatest technology, he explained while standing next to a Schwinn from the 1980s.
“I think there’s something to be said for the simplicity of the older bikes. The welding on this one is really unique. If you look at most bikes nowadays, the welds are pretty pronounced,” Hill said, pointing to a bumpy, raised weld on a used mountain bike next to the Schwinn. “But this is an old brazed frame, so they actually fill in where the weld is to kind of give a smoother look to it.”
Hill’s journey to cycling hobbyist to full-time professional took a roundabout route. A Juneau resident since 1988, Hill first came for an assignment with the Coast Guard. He didn’t want to buy a car in his new home, so he purchased a bicycle — a convenient conveyance for his short trips to and from work.
He fell in with the Juneau Freewheelers, a local cycling group, for some time (“I wasn’t really a racer, but it was a good time,” he said). Hill eventually left the USCG because he gets seasick, he said, but decided to stick around Juneau, taking up work as a bicycle mechanic at Adventure Sports and another now-defunct Juneau shop until about 1999.
After turning wrenches, Hill worked in tourism and contemplated opening his own shop. Recently, he “ran into the right person at the right time” — local businessman Wade Bryson — who’s Hill’s hands-off partner at the Bike Doctor.
The shop does repairs and tune-ups. Hill said he does deliveries, pickups and works with outlying communities like Gustavus via air freight. He aims to push bikes out in less than a week, so one can drop a bike off early in the week and have it ready to go for the weekend.
More space to make
Art, craft and invention take space. Up until recently, Juneau Makerspace didn’t have enough of it.
Now, instead of 1,100 square feet of space to saw, throw, paint, create and compute, the local nonprofit collective has 6,000.
That means no sawdust on the computers, Juneau Makerspace President Sam Bornstein said at a Saturday work party at their new digs on North Douglas Highway. It wasn’t an ideal setup working out of their previous space on Anka Street, which they had occupied since April 2016.
“Everything we have that will be split out in these different shops in here was all crammed into one space, which was not the best for some stuff. With this space, things will be easier for members,” Bornstein said.
Aided by donuts and pizza, six volunteers worked on Saturday to remodel the space. New paint, carpeting, light fixtures are all needed, Bornstein said.
The new makerspace, which Bornstein said used to be a church, lies less than a half mile from the Douglas Bridge. Several workspaces about the size of a guest bedroom line the outside of a large venue space, complete with a stage opposite the entrance.
They’re designing the space in separate uses. One room for woodworking, another for ceramics and another for electronics work, or the “hackerspace,” as Bornstein puts it. They’ll also offer two private studios to rent out to artists. The space comes with a kitchen, which they’ve tentatively named the “bakerspace.”
Membership to Juneau Makerspace currently runs $50 and includes 24/hour access to the makerspace for members and their families. Members get a discount on classes the space runs periodically, but those are also open to the public. The best way to stay up to date is through Juneau Makerspace’s Facebook page, Bornstein said.
“We want members of the community to be able to access this space to use it for projects and things but to also be able to rent out the main hall if you’re not a member,” Secretary Arielle Parker Fargnoli said.
• Contact reporter Kevin Gullufsen at kgullufsen@juneauempire.com and 523-2228. Follow him on Twitter at @KevinGullufsen.
A vintage Schwinn bicycle at the Bike Doctor, a new Mendenhall Valley business. (Kevin Gullufsen | Juneau Empire)
The new Juneau Makerspace on North Douglas Highway, pictured, is nearly six times larger than their old space in Lemon Creek, President Sam Bornstein said. (Kevin Gullufsen | Juneau Empire)
Juneau Makerspace’s new space includes enough room for a multi-purpose event venue, complete with a stage. The group still has more work to do, but hopes to move into their new North Douglas Location fully soon, leaving their much smaller Anka Street location. (Kevin Gullufsen | Juneau Empire)
Stephanie Andrew, a board member for Juneau Makerspace, takes construction materials out of a space that will become a woodshop at the nonprofit’s new location during a work party Saturday. Juneau Makerspace is currently renovating an old church on North Douglas Highway, turning it into a mult-purpose workshop, studio and event venue. (Kevin Gullufsen | Juneau Empire)
