Bellingham (WA) software firm's bicycle shop

Facebook Twitter More...

When your company does something that you're proud of, you want the world to know.

That's the impression I got from Ryan Burns, an employee at the Logos Bible Software company up in Bellingham.

With Bike-to-Work Day coming up on May 15, he wanted to brag a little about the in-house bicycle shop that Logos has funded.

You wouldn't be surprised to hear something like this about Microsoft, which has a bike repair shop for its hundreds of employees at the sprawling campus in Redmond. But Logos has just 170 employees, many of whom are serious bicyclists who work on their own bicycles.

By the way, Bellingham has been named a silver level Bicycle Friendly Community.

Here's a story that Ryan wrote up about the bike repair shop:

“Equipment purchases at Logos Bible Software typically include laptops, servers, and networking gear. So company president Bob Pritchett was surprised to see an IT department purchase request that included everything necessary to set up a bicycle repair shop.

” “It was a great idea. Many of our employees bike to work, and others gofor rides during the day. Having a fully-equipped bike shop on site is a great way to encourage healthy habits that are good for the environment, too,” said Pritchett.

“With more than 170 employees, Logos has a number of serious cyclists who work on their own bikes. Their willingness to help co-workers with everything from simple repairs to getting a long-unused bike back into shape is encouraging more employees to trade four wheels for two.

” “Since installing the bike shop, I've been super motivated to ride to work,” said Jim Straatman, Logos' IT manager.  “Also, my bike is running exceptionally smooth now that I have a place to work on it.”

“Bellingham is a cyclist's paradise, surrounded by bike lanes, mountain trails, and cliff-side drives. Logos' on-site lockers and showers made it easy for employees to add their commute to their list of regular rides. The new bike shop and a bike-friendly downtown location provide a great motivation for those who haven't ridden since childhood to get rolling again.

“Logos Bible Software's bike shop consists of an 8-foot workbench, a bike stand, and a peg board full of tools. The total investment was around $1,500, and occupies less than 100 square feet.

” “In the space of a single office, and for less than it would cost to cater lunch for the company, we've been able to make a healthy investment that our employees really appreciate,” said Pritchett. “By making it easier to fix little things like a flat tire or squealing brakes, we're getting more of us up from our desks and out of our cars.” “

A version of this story also ran at the Logos blog. I had to laugh at one of the commenters:

“It's funny, as I read the article part of me was thinking “That sounds like a great place to work.” While at the same time the pragmatic side of me was saying “Only on the west coast…”

Maybe it is a “west coast” thing, but there's no reason to prevent other companies from following suit.

Picture from Logos blog used with permission.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/05/10/bellingham-wa-software-firms-bicycle-shop/

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.